We woke up this morning to a scene that would have been most welcome last Christmas. It is white all over. Central Oklahoma is right smack dab in the middle of a large nasty ice, sleet, freezing rain, and snow band. It actually thundered and lightninged (I don't have spellcheck and I don't even know if this is a word) last night and it did some sort of precipitation that pounded the roof of the RV like a mid-summer thunder storm. I fully expected to wake up to 5 or 6" of something, but it was only about 2" thick and very compact. Still, it was slick and traffic is pretty much at a standstill.

We are supposed to go to OK City today and have a meeting with my oncologist tomorrow morning. Valda & I have decided to wait and go down with our son-in-law and let his fingers do the driving. I have a lab at around 9:00 AM and then the doctor meeting at 11:30 or so. Then it will be a wait for Trace to pick us up and bring us back to Cushing. Valda doesn't think I can navigate the icy roads.

Nothing more to report except that I feel pretty good. I guess I will keep the beard. I got a lot of emails telling me I never looked so good as when I covered up half of my face. So, not to disappoint anyone, I'll keep it. Never mind that it itches and I'm the one who has to keep it halfway groomed. But I'll clue you, once it starts getting warm...it's gone.

Here are some pictures we took this morning when I went outside with Jude and Nic. They don't have a sled, so I taught them how I had fun when I was their age...I got a trash can lid and pulled them up and down the road on it. They both wondered how I was able to remember doing anything from so long ago.

I woke up on Thursday morning and the first thing that went through my mind was where did last year go. It doesn't seem like it was too long ago that Valda & I went to Decatur, IL and brought home our walk RV. Then a couple of months more to work for SCC in Chattanooga and we headed out for Southern IN to mothball our Bounder for the seven months of the walk. Little did we realize that when the New Year rolled around, the Bounder would still be in mothballs.

We had a launch party at my brother's home in Indy and then we took off for OK and a final few days with our grandkids and daughter and husband. We had about three weeks or so to get to Bodega Bay, CA and so we decided to take the long way around. Valda wanted to go to the Grand Canyon after the walk but we decided to go there before the walk. So, on to New Mexico, Arizona, and the Grand Canyon. What a glorious place that is. We just visited one area on the South Rim for about four hours, but it was a truly awe inspiring place.

Next we headed for Las Vegas. I had always wanted Valda to see the Freemont Experience in downtown Vegas and so we made it a goal. We drove into the city the evening we left the Canyon and stayed in the campground at Sam's Town. After a bus ride to downtown and seeing the Experience three times, we hit a couple of casinos and tried our luck at the one armed bandits. So much for that. Our luck is at least consistant. The next day we drove for real towards Seattle where Chris lives. We had never been there and who knew when we would have the chance again. We drove up the Western edge of Nevada through the desert and toward Fallon. I actually drove some of the same route I would be walking some two months later (only I was driving the opposite direction). We got north of Reno and crossed over into CA and immediately we entered into the Sierra Nevada Mountains. There was snow all over the place and I was a bit leery about having to walk through some of these same mountains later on.

Eventually we made it to Seattle, first crossing over into Oregon and taking I-5 on up to our destination. Itr was good seeing Chris again and seeing what all the fuss was over Seattle. I had heard from a lot of people that the place is a jewel and I suppose it is. It certainly is a large metro area but it has the mountains and ocean close enough to make you forget about that. I would like to spend some more time up there once I get through with my current project.

After a week of sightseeing we took off for the last leg of our pre-walk tour and headed for Bodega Bay via the coast of Oregon and California. It took us five days to drive down there and then after seeing every angle of the ocean and coast that we could, we were suddenly there and the reality of the Walk Across America hit me like a ton of bricks. In two days, I would start the walk and hopefully never look back.

Now, you all know the rest of the story and I won't bore you with repeating it. Just know that as I sit here in Oklahoma I think about the time between March 1 and November 2 every day and relive snippits of what Valda & I experienced. It makes what I am going through now a little easier to take.

So, for us anyway, I guess that is where 2008 has gone. It has entrenched itself in our memories and provides us with small oases of escape whenever we want. We can have outstanding conversations that take us away just by mentioning some small incident that happened somewhere along the route. It doesn't matter what happens to us, that will be ours forever. 

I know everyone out there who reads this had their own journey they took in 2008.  I know that journey is personal and strictly yours.  I just hope you got out of your journey as much as I got out of mine. 

Yesterday was another spent at the VA complex in OKC. I got into the OK VA system via the backdoor (or the ER) some three weeks ago and now it is time to go into the system through the front door. I had an orientation class that provided a great deal of info on how the OKVA works and got phamplets with phone numbers etc. I also got an appointment with my PCP (Primary Care Physican) set up for Dec. 30. This is the doctor that I'll see every time I need to renew my prescriptions or to have bloodwork done or if I have any general need for the doctor.

At noon I met with the oncology nurse educator who spent an hour with me going over the aspects of the chemo I'll start taking on Monday. The chemo is Xeloda (capecitabine) and this will consist of six 500 mg capsuls taken daily, three with breakfast and three with dinner for 5 days before I get a two day break. I'll also take Zofram for nausea. These have to be taken in conjunction with the radiation. If I miss a day of radiation, then I do not take the chemo that day. Now the chemo I took 5 years ago was through an IV and it was a chemical known as 5FU. It has now gone oral and that is good news. I'm not too sure my veins could take another 7 months of weekly poking. This trip to the VA finally resulted in a day with no injections into or withdrawls from my body.

The seventy-five mile drive from Cushing to OKC takes us on America's highway for a while, Route 66. I have included a couple of pictures from along the way. The place with all the license plates is no longer in business. This picture was taken about two years ago when the place was a bar or restaurant. It now sets abandoned just like the old gas station in the other picture.

Monday morning Valda & I will drive down to OKC and check in at the Lincoln Inn, just about three miles from the VA and OU Med Center complex. My first radiation treatment will be at 2:30 PM and then daily through the rest of the week. They will house us from Monday night through Thursday night and on Friday we will check out and go have our last treatment until the following Monday, when we repeat the process all over again. The chemo will make me a toxic person, and will make the weekends a time for me to very careful around other people. I have to be cognizant of my surroundings and not get into any situation where I might get an infection or cold or anything like that. I also have to watch being close to people. I can be, but must be careful not to let them drink after me or have any similar contact. I don't want them being exposed to the chemo which my body will be shedding on a daily basis. It all sounded pretty scary but I think I can adapt.

I'll blog on Monday evening after my first treatment.

Just a short blog this morning.  If you are reading this and haven't been on the website in a while, please go to the two blogs below this one to see results of recent tests and what type of procedures I've been through this week. 

I want to thank Paul & Bonnie Bawel for matching my 'money found' up to 100%.  I understand that Paul's employer MicroSoft, will match the donation up to 100% after the first of the year.  Many thanks to both.  It is much appreciated. 

Also, an update:  Vincent Yu, the young man from Tiawan whom I met just outside of Ely, NV is now back home in Tiawan after bicycling around the world.  I got an email from him this morning and he said the ride was finally over, nothing bad happened to him, and that he was very happy to be in Tiawan 'for a few days'.  I guess he's thinking of either a vacation or another ride.  He sent me a link to his website which is mainly in Chinese, and it being quite long, if you are interested in checking it out, email me and I will forward it to you.  Anyway, good news that Vincent is home and well and safe.

Thanks to all of you who are taking the time to email me with your best wishes.  I do appreciate reading them all.  Also thanks to those who are extending best wishes in the blog comments section.  They too are much appreciated.

Hopefully this afternoon, I will have more pictures on the photo gallery.  Also, there are some new additions to the media page. 

I have received several inquiries about where to send checks for those of you who have signed up to match my 'roadside money found'. I ended up finding $100.95 - wow!

Please send your checks for your amount to the following address. Make the check out to "Gateway for Cancer Research" and place "Rick Walks America" on the Memo line.

Rick & Valda Hammersley
411 Walnut St. #3438
Green Cove Springs, FL 32043

Thanks again to everyone who has supported my walk and Gateway for Cancer Research!

Here are some crazy stats that have come from the walk and some personal observations that have stuck with me as I made my way across the USA...not in any particular order.

3 things I do NOT care to ever see again: gravel, dump trucks, & road kill

Highest price paid for gas: $4.39 in Nevada

Lowest price paid for gas: $1.87 in New Jersey

State with best roads walked: Nevada

State with worst roads walked: Tie, California & Illinois

Best breakfast: Hotel Nevada in Ely, Nevada

Strangest sight: Maybell, CO International Dog Show

Strangest sight #2: Mini church rest area in rural Iowa

Favorite big city: Brooklyn, NY

Favorite mid-size city: Carson City, Nevada

Favorite small cities: Tie: Hastings, NE & Fallon, NV

Favorite town: Delta, Utah

Favorite scenery walked through: Desert

My highest weight: 234 lbs

My lowest weight: 179 lbs

Miles walked: 3206.75

Number of miles not walked on route: 2.9 (avalanche area in California)

Number of miles walked in error: 4.5

Number of times lost on walk: 0 (several times, always on purpose, I took another more scenic route)

Feet walked: 16,931,640

Inches walked: 203,179,680

Number of 30" steps: 6,772,656

Number of steps per foot: 3,386,328

Number of 7" Nathan's Hot Dogs walked (placed end to end without bun): 29,025,668

Valda's favorite state to drive in: Tie: Nevada or Colorado

Valda's least favorite state to drive in: Pennsylvania

Number of miles Valda put on RV during walk: 13,479

Weather days: Rain 15, Snow 1, Wind 1

Total days walked: 176.75

Total days off: 38.25

Miles per day: 15, includes all days: 18, includes actual days walked

Hours walked: 1069 (based on 3 mph)

Number of days I walked 20 miles or more:  72

Most consecutive 20 mile days:  9

Highest mileage day:  22.25

Shoe mileage: pair #1, 639.75; pair #2, 615.25; pair #3, 480; pair #4, 476.25; pair #5, 411; pair #6, 584.5

Most exhilerating moment: seeing the Atlantic Ocean at Coney Island, NY

New York stats:

Miles walked: 24.75 Average miles per day: 12.37

Days walked: 2 Days off: 0

Money found: $0.48 Average money found per day: $0.24

Average money found per mile: $0.02

Names and number of counties walked through, 2: New York and Kings

State highways: 0 US highways: 1 County roads: 0

Major bridges crossed: .5 (Hudson River) 1 (East River)

Most unusual find: box of clothing on street

New York...my final destination. It was a long time coming but well worth the wait. I found walking down the canyons of Manhattan very exciting and crossing over and walking through Brooklyn the most exhilerating of experiences. I had arrived. Coney Island was all I had hoped and Nathan's hot dogs were out of this world. All the people I met were fantastic and treated me like royalty. Our stay at the Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge was first rate and the NYC Marathon was a non issue. It was a two day span I had thought about for seven months and I was not disappointed.

New Jersey stats:

Miles walked: 80.75 Average miles per day: 14.75

Days walked: 5.5 Days off: 2.5

Money found: $13.54 Average money per day: $2.46

Average money found per mile: $0.17

Number of counties walked through, 5: Warren, Morris, Passaic, Bergen, and Essex

State highways: 1 US highways: 2 County roads: 0

Major bridges crossed: .5 (Delaware River) .5 (Hudson River)

Most unusual find: Paint ball mask

New Jersey. I had dreaded walking through this state from the beginning, mainly due to what other people had said about the state. But, like so many times before, I was listening when I should have been just experiencing. The people I met there are just fantastic, from the Boy Scouts who walked with me to people we met on the streets. I was in a great deal of urban area but I was also in a great deal of beautiful country. I battled some inclement weather and an uncomfortable medical condition, but other than that, my experience in New Jersey was top notch. I especially liked the lower gasoline prices. New Jersey rocks.

I'm in Cushing, OK and tomorrow I will head on down to Oklahoma City and start the process to see what's wrong with me. Valda & I finally got here after a stop in southern Indiana to pick up our car. We decided to take the Walk RV instead, feeling it would be a lot more comfortable for both of us.

It is strange not walking. I haven't walked a quarter mile since last Sunday and my legs have just stopped twitching at night. Last night I got the first decent sleep I've had in a while and it was mainly because my legs finally stopped aching. Now during the walk, it didn't bother me, but once I stopped and didn't walk again the next day, they really gave me fits. Also I've been a bit uncomfortable with the other thing and have had to deal with that.

I've got some more people to thank for walking with me last Sunday. We had a pretty good crowd and it was a real treat seeing all of you. Many thanks to Charlie Matlack, Olivia Emery, and Larissa Min, all from Seattle, WA. Also, Mal & Katja Sherlock, and sons Kiefer and Maverick, Flo & Robert Wang, and dog Ollie, Clara Herrera and Tom Nespeco, Teal Emery, Ashok & Crystal Eastman, and Desma Robles all from the New York City area. Also Greg Gopman from Miami, FL. And Paul Bogosian and Lauren Seifert both with CBS News.com and from the NYC area. Again, many thanks to all of you for taking time and spending money to come join me. I hope you all enjoyed the Nathan's hot dogs.

I have just received information from Gateway For Cancer Research with an updated list of contributors and will get that caught up as soon as I can. Bear with me, I may be busy for a while. I will blog as I can and keep you all informed of what I'm going through. Thanks again to everyone for a fantastic support effort these last seven months. I couldn't have done it without you and know that each blog comment and each email meant the world to me.

A few more pictures below for you, and soon I will get the NJ and NY stats together.