Walking East Journal
Sep 2010 03
I have been reading past posts here to remember things more than a year and a half ago. I have to follow up on a 12 November 2008 post. We had found $2.69 on the road as of that time as we did our preliminary walking. We projected finding around $68 as we crossed the [...] [...more]
I have been reading past posts here to remember things more than a year and a half ago. I have to follow up on a 12 November 2008 post. We had found $2.69 on the road as of that time as we did our preliminary walking. We projected finding around $68 as we crossed the US. In fact, we found $58.06 along the way to New York. But the interesting thing is that we found only one 2-cent coin in Europe. What is that telling us?
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Aug 2010 24
We have dwelled a month in the mountains and are now back in the costal area of California. It looks like we will be back in Arles in a few weeks. Stay tuned.
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We have dwelled a month in the mountains and are now back in the costal area of California. It looks like we will be back in Arles in a few weeks. Stay tuned.
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Aug 2010 06
We are in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California on Edison Lake south of Yosemite National Park. We have spent a couple weeks here in different campgrounds. Tree-lined mountains topped with bare rock surround us on three sides. Just trees stand on the other side of the lake. It has rained only once and that [...] [...more]
We are in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in California on Edison Lake south of Yosemite National Park. We have spent a couple weeks here in different campgrounds. Tree-lined mountains topped with bare rock surround us on three sides. Just trees stand on the other side of the lake. It has rained only once and that was more thunder than rain. The sun bakes us though the temps are only in the 70s (22-25C).
This is a good place to reflect on where we have been, where we are, and where we are going. We can take long walks on little used paths into the mountains or just sit in our 12 x 12 (3.5 m x 3.5 m) screen tent to avoid the day’s flies and evening’s and morning’s misquotes.
When will we return to Arles? Today we don’t know when and if we will. Our time here in the dry fresh air will tell us. We will decide when it is time to decide.
Remember and follow your dreams!
This journal is and always has been about a dream, our dream to walk a very long walk, a walk of one to two years duration to see who we become because of it. We have done that; 15 months for Petra and 16 for me; over 5,000 miles (8,200 km). But I have not written all these words just for me, for us. I have written them for you too.
I hope our story will inspire you remember your dreams, whatever they are, whether they demand you walk, paint, visit a close or far away place, record the stories of elders on video, write a book, make a movie, go to India by boat, or something else. Now is the time. Don’t wait too long or your dreams may fade leaving a big hole in your being.
Follow your dreams and tears (and while we are at it, your goose bumps). Follow them all. They tell you why you are here and answer the question, “What should I do?”
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Jul 2010 14
We arrived well in America. After spending a few days with a friend in Berkley we have come down to Atascadero to visit other friends. The weather is warm (to hot) and delightfully dry save for the 18 drops of rain that came the other day in a thunderstorm. We are resting well.
We will soon [...] [...more]
We arrived well in America. After spending a few days with a friend in Berkley we have come down to Atascadero to visit other friends. The weather is warm (to hot) and delightfully dry save for the 18 drops of rain that came the other day in a thunderstorm. We are resting well.
We will soon be in the mountains where we’ll likely be out of touch with the Internet and you, our friends at WalkingEast. So we are not ignoring you. We are just away for a bit. Before we know it we’ll be back ready to hit the road again.
Yesterday we were on the Pacific coast for the first time in a year and a half…It’s still there. In the time since we were last on the Pacific, we have stood on both coasts of the Atlantic and on the Mediterranean coast.
Thank you so much to all who have supported and encouraged us with your comments and emails over the past year and a half.
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Jul 2010 06
I changed the header here to include our path so far in Europe. It is on the second map header page. I also added the map to the Route East graphics page.
Tomorrow we fly from Germany to San Francisco. Soon we’ll be in the Sierras.
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I changed the header here to include our path so far in Europe. It is on the second map header page. I also added the map to the Route East graphics page.
Tomorrow we fly from Germany to San Francisco. Soon we’ll be in the Sierras.
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Jun 2010 23
This afternoon we were sitting here in Arles under big trees in a square. The sun was bright. The shade was cool. the breeze was gentle. The temperature hung around 77 (25 C). Tonight is just as beautiful. It’s a fine time to be here. But there has been an overriding call to go to [...] [...more]
This afternoon we were sitting here in Arles under big trees in a square. The sun was bright. The shade was cool. the breeze was gentle. The temperature hung around 77 (25 C). Tonight is just as beautiful. It’s a fine time to be here. But there has been an overriding call to go to the mountains for a while. After so much discussing and so many ‘yeses’ and ‘nos’ in the past several weeks, we have decided to stop the walking part of the pilgrimage for now.
We are going “home” for a while. We want to go on retreat into the western US mountains for two or three months. Walking is even too fast for us now. We have to stop, to sit, and to see what the Universe has to show and tell us. And that’s what we are going to do.
This afternoon we booked the flight to San Francisco for two weeks from now (July 7). In the meantime we will rest here and visit Petra’s mom in Gütersloh.
Will we ever arrive in Jerusalem? We don’t know. It is important that we recognized the call and acted on it. The journey is and has always been the destination. And as we said in the last post, we have walked 5,000 miles (8,200 km) of the journey. We can take on the last 3,000 or so miles (5,000 km) sometime in the future–if we ever do.
Come back for updates.
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Jun 2010 21
We posted the text below the line just a short 15 hours ago. But all is not so much in stone. The strike-through text is not valid as of this minute. We have been thinking and talking about this since Spain. We thought we had a decision. But now we have other solutions and [...] [...more]
We posted the text below the line just a short 15 hours ago. But all is not so much in stone. The strike-through text is not valid as of this minute. We have been thinking and talking about this since Spain. We thought we had a decision. But now we have other solutions and there is a good chance we will be continuing. We leave the post here to let you know that we are not always totally sure what is going to happen even the next day as we walk east.
We have ended our pilgrimage for now here in Arles. We will be returning to the US soon. It has been a great 500+ days. Wow! It has really been 16+ months and we have walked over 5,000 miles (8,200 kilometers). Now it’s time to rest and digest for a while.
We leave the Alps, Italy, Greece, and Turkey for another day. The resting and digesting are likely to be only a few weeks now.
Thanks to all of you for your support. We look forward to doing our best to answer all of you who have commented on this log or emailed us during our
continuing odyssey.
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Jun 2010 11
We arrived in St. Jean de Fos today after walking over a mountain into a newer and drier environment. Though it rained later in the afternoon, the vegitation is all more dry-climate like with smaller and thicker leaves than what was on the other side of the mountain. And the air smelled drier.
After establishing ourselves [...] [...more]
We arrived in St. Jean de Fos today after walking over a mountain into a newer and drier environment. Though it rained later in the afternoon, the vegitation is all more dry-climate like with smaller and thicker leaves than what was on the other side of the mountain. And the air smelled drier.
After establishing ourselves in our chambre d’hote, we walked up to St. Guilhem-le-Desert viewing the Heraut Canyon. The canyon was interesting. But the town was mostly an oppressive tourist trap.
This evening I added a page of pictures from the Somport Pass to Barran. That along with the one from the other day for Barran to St. Gervais adds pictures that cover France up to about a week ago. Spain will come later. Click on the
Pictures tab to see both new pages.
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Jun 2010 08
It has been sooooo long. The internet just hasn’t been along the paths where we have passed since our long-ago Auch post. Or more accurately we should say, we have had a couple opportunities but have not had the time to make something happen. Since Auch we did have a chance to update the Statistics [...] [...more]
It has been sooooo long. The internet just hasn’t been along the paths where we have passed since our long-ago Auch post. Or more accurately we should say, we have had a couple opportunities but have not had the time to make something happen. Since Auch we did have a chance to update the Statistics sheet in Revel. Since then we have overnighted in En Calcat, Langarrique, Angles, Fraisse-sur-Agout, Felines,St.-Gervais-sur-Mare, La Bousquet d’Ort, and tonight Basse.
To show you some of what we have been up to, I have added a page of Barran to St. Gervais pictures. Click here to view it.
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May 2010 21
I started this last night but could not post it because the connection was now good enough. So now that we have walked 19 or so more kilometers (around 12 miles). I give it to you now from Auch. We had another clear and sunny day of walking, a real joy.
Tonight we stay in a [...] [...more]
I started this last night but could not post it because the connection was now good enough. So now that we have walked 19 or so more kilometers (around 12 miles). I give it to you now from Auch. We had another clear and sunny day of walking, a real joy.
Tonight we stay in a pilgrims’ gite in the small village of Barran in southwestern France six days east of our stop in Bizanos. Since then we have stayed in a Hotel, another pilgrim’s gite, a campsite chalet, a farm gite, and a chambre d’hote.
So what are all those places we are staying?
- A hotel is like a hotel in the rest of the world.
- The chalet is really just a cabin on a campground as you might find at any KOA in the US. The difference is that there are four or six beds so more than one pilgrim can stay in the same place. In our case we were luckily the only ones to stop that night.
- A gite is a private home’s place for one to stay. It can be a dormitory like the alberges in Spain or a room like any hotel. Gites also sometimes offer evening dinner and breakfast for an additional price.
- A Chanbre d’hote is like a bed and breakfast in the US or England.
We had great dinners in the farm Gite and Chambre d’hote the last two nights before tonight. If we keep eating like that, we’ll have to walk faster and longer to keep the weight off.
We are really enjoying this part of France. High rolling hills with young grains and trees stretching as far as you can see. Churches and the ruins of castles peek up through the trees on the ridge lines of many hills.
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