Not much going on here in Tullahoma, TN. I'm walking eight to ten miles a day trying to get through with the work here. I still have about 20 maps to do and quite a few miles left to walk. It's good training for my walk, and I get paid for it.

My son Chris sent me a link to a blog written by a realtor in Orlando, FL who once worked at Disney World. He had a rather lengthy posting about the underground tunnels (utilidors) beneath The Magic Kingdom. He seemed a bit bitter about WDW but had some good info concerning the utilidors. I read it and a few days later visited the site to read it again and couldn't find any indication of that particular blog at all. Curious. We had heard while working at WDW that they were extremely protective of info leaking out about their operation, and I wonder if they somehow persuaded the ex-cast member to delete it. If anyone wants to know about some of the inner workings of WDW, let me know and I'll post some comments about it. It was a great experience as far as I'm concerned and I don't think I'll spill any secrets.

No news on the walk this week. More later.

Well, not much going on today. Valda & I spent the morning visiting the only two distillers in Tennessee. Jack Daniels and George Dickel are both about 12 miles from where we are working and living here in Tullahoma. We went to Lynchburg, TN and walked around the small town. Lots of places to spend your money, but charming. It's interesting, but both these distilleries are in dry counties, and they cannot sell their product where it is made. Taking the day and doing emails and blogs. Typical hot, humid weather here in Tennessee.

More later.

Happy Cinco de Mayo. Okay, as promised: two or three weeks ago, while I was working in the Chattanooga area, three East Ridge, TN squad cars pulled up behind me as I was checking a gas leak on a gas main beside the road. This was a little bit unusual to say the least. I thought for a moment they were there because I was parked in the road, and was working in the road, and they were there to offer some sort of protection. WRONG!! Someone had called the cops on me. I have to snoop around houses, hunting gas meters on homes I have never been to before. The gas company provides us no information whatsoever, so I have to check out every house myself. Well...someone didn't like me in their yard I guess, so here comes the cavalry. It all turned out okay though. I showed them my ID and they called the gas company. Five minutes of a little tension (no guns were drawn, but they all had one) and they were on their way. It wasn't really that big a deal, but it was the first time more than one squad car had shown up to check me out.

Movin' on. We are in Tullahoma, TN. We came here on Friday the fourth. Someday we are supposed to go to Indiana, but who knows when. The walking regime has resumed. We have had a bit of a setback, but things are improving and Valda & I are looking ahead. By the way, once everything is set in motion, we will be offering opportunities to sponsor me on my walk across America. Hopefully we will have information where you can pledge so much per mile to either the Cancer Society or the Diabetes Society. There will also be opportunities to direct sponsor me if you want. More later as things progress.

Goodbye Chattanooga. We are on the move once again. We left Chatt. last Wednesday and drove about 50 miles north to Dunlap, TN. My employer, Southern Cross Corp. wanted me to do a 5 or 6 day gas survey in Dunlap and had me stop here on the way to Indiana. On Thursday, it rained all day, so Valda & I spent the day (our 38th anniversary) in the motorhome watching it rain, and cat-napping.

I'm not sure what you get each other for the 38th, but I think it is laminate. So, we went to The Huddle House, and I handed Valda a laminated menu and told her she could have anything on the breakfast menu...Happy Anniversary.

Neither Stump nor I died from the bite on my left leg. The Health Dept. gave me the okay to leave the area, and I guess Stump got paroled. I believe there may be a grand jury convened about Stump, so I don't know if he's out of the woods yet or not. The leg is healing, but still very sore. I walked 3 miles at work on Friday and was sure glad when the day was over. So it goes.

Valda's leg is feeling better (Sciatic nerve) and she is bouncing around a lot better lately. For a while, we had only two good legs between the two of us...good for a sack race, I guess.

A couple of the attached pictures show some of the scenery around here.

Next time I'll tell about the police action that I was almost in the middle of.

Well, a year from now hopefully, I'll be somewhere east of the Pacific Ocean, walking along some highway, wondering what in the world possessed me to want to do what I'm doing. I'm sure Valda will have been wondering the same thing too.

I can't really answer that question yet, but as of right now, it is just something I want to do. A month into the walk, I may not feel that way. Who knows? Right now, I'm getting a bit more psyched up for it, realizing that the next 12 months will probably bring ups and downs in my mood, thoughts about my sanity, and maybe questions about my ability to do it. All I can do right now though is prepare for the 3200 or so odd miles, and wonder just how I'm going to get through Pennsylvania.

This was a week I'd just as soon not have had to go through. Monday through Wednesday was okay, but on Thursday, doing my routine job of inspecting gas meters, searching for gas leaks, I was ambushed by a Pit bull. He was actually chained and staked to the ground, and behind what I thought was a secure chain-link fence, in another yard. I had actually visited his yard just moments before, and talked with his owner. After leaving his yard and moving next door, he was totally out of my mind. However, I apparently wasn't out of his.

He came under the fence and had enough slack in his chain to nail me in the left calf as I walked away from the neighboring gas meter. What a surprise! It hurt, it bled, and it made me mad. But, what do you do? After calling 911 and being tended by EMT's (or is it EMS's), I had to go to a Doc in the Box for treatment. It was either that or the ER. Actually, they were very thorough and attentive. They got me fixed up and on my way. The next day, I got news that the dog (appropriately named Stump) was in a ten day quarantine for outdated shots. As of this posting, Stump is still with us.

Anyway, it was a minor setback to my walking regimen and a minor blow to my morale. Monday, I'm back on the job, and unfortunately, I have to pick it back up next door to Stump's doghouse. Glad he's in dog jail.