About a year and a half ago, after seeing my tenative walking route, my brother Ron told me that when I got to western Indiana that he would buy me a steak dinner at The Beefhouse Steakhouse in Covington, IN. Tonight, he came through with his promise and although I didn't have a steak, I had a great meal at his expense. Thank you Ron, Valda & I both enjoyed the dinner and the company of you and Ande', Don & Pam, and Scott & Brenda. We both appreciate you all taking time to drive the 100 miles or so to see us.

I had a pretty good day walking. I got my 20 miles in and then had to hurry and clean up and drive from Muncie, IL to Covington, about 23 miles. I have been planning on getting into IN tomorrow sometime, and it's going to be close. I believe I'm right at 20 miles from the state line, but US 150 and US 136 join up and do some funny things in Danville and I may waste some miles walking north and not make the state line. I'll let you know in tomorrow's blog.

The events in Indianapolis next weekend are pretty much set. The 'Walk 10 laps for Cancer Research' is set for 8:00 AM on Monument Circle (come rain or shine, Gustav), and the Bowl-o-thon is set for later in the day between 2:00 and 5:00 PM at the Beech Grove Bowl. By the way, there will be a fire engine from the Beech Grove Fire Dept. at the B.G. Bowl for the kids. There will also be some items raffled off and of course, there will be bowling, pizza, and drinks. Then on Monday night in Carmel, I will be speaking at a Xocai meeting at the Ritz-Charles Hotel on N. Meridian St at 7:00 PM. All these events are fund raisers for Gateway For Cancer Research and any donations to Gateway are tax deductible. There will also be another raffle held on Monday night. All three events are shaping up to be a fun time so plan on attending one, two, or all three.

Had I been one day ahead in my schedule, I would have walked in four states in August. Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois were all part of the month, and I missed Indiana by one day. I think that's pretty good myself. When I get to eastern Ohio and go through W. Virginia and into Pennsylvania, I plan on being in three states in one day. Won't that be a hoot if that happens.

The pictures below are of me, Scott, Ron, & Don. Yesterday I walked through the University of Illinois main campus at Urbana, IL. The middle picture is of the President's Walk (note my skinny shadow). The bottom picture is a structure I ran across today. I think it might have been some kind of silo, but I'm not sure. It was next to some abandoned train tracks and could have had something to do with the railroad. It was out in the middle of nowhere.

Today's stats:

Miles covered: 20 Total: 2335

Money found: $0.63 Total: $67.20

Saturday's stats:

Miles covered: 20 Total: 2315

Money found: $0.69 Total: $66.57

The title above says it all. On Sunday morning at 5:00 AM I will be on the radio in Indianapolis. I will also be on the Internet on a 'stream', so everyone everywhere will be able to get up before the chickens and listen in. Afterward, I will be asking questions about the interview so I expect all of you to know the answers.

I had the radio interview with Kelly Vaughn this morning. She works for radio station B 105.7 FM and the interview will also be on stations 1070 AM The Fan, and 97.1 FM, Hank. These stations are in Indy. If you Google 1070 AM The Fan, you should get their website where they do live streaming of the radio show. Now, I haven't done this yet and I'm not sure exactly what you do, but Kelly said to Google the info above and you should get the radio station's website.

Today was a good day for walking. It was a bit warm and too humid, but I got the 20 miles in and am sitting in Mansfield, IL for the night. We should be in Champaign tomorrow evening. US 150 is a narrow road with no shoulders whatsoever. I have about twelve inches of pavement between the grass (weeds) and the white line. Thankfully it runs about a half mile from I-74 and there isn't much traffic and no semi traffic at all.

To answer a reader's comment, you can go to the side arrows on the right side of the blog screen and scroll down to access previous blogs. The blog you were looking for is below the 'State stats at a glance'. But to help you out even more, the Sep. 8 event will be at the Ritz-Charles Hotel on N. Meridian St. in Carmel, IN at 7:00 PM. I plan to speak for 30-40 minutes and will answer questions after I speak. This is a Xocai sponsor event and there will be people there that can answer your questions about Healthy Chocolate. I will relate how the walk has impacted me and how Healthy Chocolate has fit into my current lifestyle. It will be a fun evening and there are a lot of neat prizes that will be raffled off, with proceeds benefiting Gateway For Cancer Research. See the blog directly below this one for a copy of the flyer promoting the event. I hope this helps you Katherine.

Miles covered: 20 Total: 2295

Money found: $0.38 Total: $65.88

Today was overcast from the get go and fairly pleasant temperature wise.  The TV this morning said it was going to be in the mid to high 80's with humidity to match.  They got the humidity part right.  It actually rained on us today, about 11:30 to around 1:00 and we weren't sure if we were going to get the whole day in or not, but the rain stopped and I was able to get my 20 miles in with little to no daylight left.

Pete Koyak came and walked with me today (see picture below) and it was nice to meet him and his wife Merribeth.  Pete ownes Four Winds RV in Decatur and East Peoria, IL.  Valda got two new front tires on the RV today and it sure makes a difference in the handling.  We thought we needed brakes but the people at the brake place said they were okay for now. 

I had an interview with Troy Semple of the Heyworth Star this morning (bottom picture).  The interview will be out next week in that paper but will run tomorrow in their sister paper, the Panagraph in Bloomington, IL.  Look for it in about a week on our media page.  I want to thank Troy for the interview and the opportunity to tell about the walk.  Troy also walked about a mile with me while doing the interview.

We are currently about 4 miles from I-74 and US 136.  Tomorrow we turn southeast toward Champaign and then it is on toward Indiana and hopefully we will be there on Monday. 

Remember if you live in the Indianapolis area (up to 500 miles or so from Indy will be considered the area), you are invited to the Sep. 6 and 8 scheduled events to raise money for Gateway For Cancer Research.  Click on 'Newsletters' at the top of any webpage and check out the August Newsletter for details.  Check out yesterday's blog for details on the Sep. 8 event in Carmel.  Also be sure to see the blog directly under this one that updates my Iowa stats.  That's it for now.

Miles covered:  20  Total:  2275

Money found:  $0.53  Total:  $65.50

Well, I got over my ailments of yesterday, got a good night's sleep and woke up this morning rarin' to go.  It's amazing how you can feel so different from one day to the next.  We are currently in McLean, IL and I've got just a short stretch to go on US 136 before I start another route change.  I'm taking US 150 southeast to Champaign/Urbana and then east to Danville.  This minor adjustment in my route will save me about 6.5 miles of walking according to my navigator and chief route plotter.  We'll see.

It was a pretty good day today, I did 21 miles and had great weather to boot.  This particular section of the highway is between two Interstates and is heavily traveled with semi's.  I'll be glad to get past the last Interstate. 

Pete Koyak, Sr. of Four Winds RV out of Decatur, IL will be walking with me sometime this week, maybe tomorrow.  Four Winds is one of my sponsors and currently has a sponsor's promotion going on.  Click on 'Newletters' at the top of any web page and go to the August Newsletter for details.  I look forward to meeting Pete and walking with him. 

Valda spent a good amount ot time today on the phone and emailing people in Indianapolis about the upcoming events of Sep. 6 and 8.  You can go to the August Newsletter for info on these events too.  The Sep. 8 event is a Xocai event in Carmel, IN where I will speak for 30-40 minutes on the walk and Gateway.  The event is at 7:00 PM at the Ritz-Charles Hotel on North Meridian St.  You are welcome to attend and I hope to see you there. 

Not much else to write about tonight.  We are quickly moving on toward Indiana and I should be in the state on Monday.  I'll keep you posted.

Can you tell by the top picture we are in Illinois?  The second picture is another friend of Valda's. 

Miles covered:  21  Total:  2255

Money found:  $0.56  Total:  $64.97

Yesterday started out like so many other days have: get up, eat breakfast, take off walking and start clicking off the miles. About ten minutes into yesterday's routine, I looked down and saw a shiney gold coin and so I picked it up, thinking it was probably another car wash token or something similar. Well, it wasn't. It was a Thomas Jefferson $1.00 coin, and it spends like nobody's business. I didn't know such a coin existed, but I found it, and I want to thank the person who threw it out their car window. It is much appreciated.

Still thinking about that coin (it obviously doesn't take much to occupy my mind while walking), I was just amblin' along, minding my own business when I spied a young girl jogging toward me on the opposite side of the highway. Now, this isn't unusual in itself; I see two or three joggers a week (and I always wonder what possesses them to run like they are). But this jogger yelled "hey Uncle Rick", and I knew this wasn't ordinary. Now, there are only thirteen people who can call me 'uncle' and mean it, and only nine of them are women. So...I strained my eyes and finally had to yell back that I wasn't sure who she was. Of course she was getting closer and closer (I think I stopped and may have been backing up just to protect myself from this strange person) when I realized it was my niece Sharri Jackson of Indianapolis. She and her dad, my brother Don, drove over to surprise me. Mission accomplished. I was totally taken back.

We talked for a minute and started walking toward where Valda and Don were parked. After a short visit with him, Sharri and I went ahead and walked till noon and then were driven into San Jose for lunch. What a treat. It was really good to see them and just a great pick-me-up. Thanks you two for what you did yesterday. I also want to thank Sharri's two daughters, Maggie & Sarah J. each for donating a bag of coins for Gateway. It too is much appreciated.

After all that, I walked the rest of my 20 miles and then we drove into Lincoln, IL to have lunch with Valda's cousin, Ann Aut and husband Larry (bottom picture). They live in Springfield and drove up to see us. They also have loaned us a GPS system to use the rest of the way. I want to thank them for that and for dinner last night. I guess Larry felt sorry for me when Valda told him about my taking the wrong road out of Havana the other day and walking a half mile the wrong direction. Not the first time that's happened, but now it should be the last.

I also want to thank Lois Mauney of Lincoln, who I met this morning in Cracker Barrel, for her donation to Gateway. Thanks Lois, it is much appreciated.

We are currently in Lincoln, taking a much needed break. I haven't felt too good today and hope to get over whatever is making me puny. I want to let you all know that I am currently sitting at 52 pounds lost. I'm just 7 pounds away from my goal of hitting my basic training weight from way back in 1969. I'll keep you posted when that happens.

The top picture is of a field of grain sorgham, used to feed livestock. It is the first field of anything but corn and soybeans and hay that I've seen since before Nebraska. I wasn't sure what it was but was informed by a farmer. Till later.

Miles covered: 20 Total: 2234

Money found: $1.26 Total: $64.41

Last Friday morning, we left Carthage and took a route change south of town and out in the country. I found an alternate way to go that let me bypass Macomb, kept me out of some road construction, and put me on a seldom traveled country road (see picture). It wasn't a shortcut, but it was pretty good. We spent the night at the farm of Rosie & Duane Smith somewhere off that country road and we want to thank them for their hospitality. When you get done walking and you stop at a random farmhouse that looks like they have a lot of room, you never know what to expect when you knock on the door and ask them if you can borrow part of their driveway for the night. So far, everyone we've asked have been more than gracious, and the Smith's were no exception. Thanks to them for a good night's rest.  Check out the barn I passed on this 'shortcut'.  Took some doing to get that looking right.

Saturday morning I resuemed my 'shortcut' and came back to US 136 at Table Grove. We then hooked up with Carol & Leonard Suprenant (Super-naw) who are Southern Cross techs working in Peoria. We met them over the Internet and on Saturday we met them for real. They came to walk with me and spent the whole day doing so. Valda & I want to thank them for their company, and for a couple of meals they bought but shouldn't have. Personal to Snuffy & Illene...wish you'd been here with us. It was a fun day and we covered some 12 miles walking together (picture below).

Today I crossed over the Illinois River at Havana on a bridge I was apparently not supposed to walk over. I did not see any signs telling me not to, and I would not have been any wiser if it hadn't been for some guy in a truck stopping and informing me. I thanked him and kept walking. No problem. We got through Havana and stopped for the night at a really nice roadside park with a lot of trees. We are about 8 miles east of Havana and are 90 miles exactly into Illinois. What a week.

Valda bought a watermelon from a guy in a pickup truck today and we've been eating on it all day. She's spied a roadside market with cantaloup and will probably end up with one of those tomorrow. It's hard to pass up all this home grown produce.

Personal to Penny Bennie: good job getting people to sponsor you for your laps around the Circle. Penny has gotten pledges totaling $50.00 so far. Thanks Penny, it is much appreciated. Also thanks to Martha Ellen Talyor of Indianapols for matching our 'money found' fund. It too is much appreciated.

Today's stats:

Miles covered: 20 Total: 2214

Money found: $0.27 Total: $63.15

Saturday's stats:

Miles covered: 17 Total: 2194

Money found: $0.34 Total: $62.88

Friday's stats:

Miles covered: 20 Total: 2177

Money found: $0.00 Total: $62.54

John Denver said it pretty good in his Annie's Song about filling up your senses. On this walk, I've spent a night in a forest, I've seen the mountains in Springtime, and today I took a walk in the rain. I've also seen a storm in the desert and in Bodega Bay, I saw a sleepy blue ocean.

This morning we woke again to the sound of rain and got started a little late because of it. I started walking through Carthage and when I got out of town, the shoulders were wide enough that traffic didn't bother me. I then hit a four lane portion of US 136 and then I got my wish from yesterday...I got smack dab in the middle of new road construction and paving of the old road. Now normally this would have created a problem that I would just have to deal with, but today, no one was working because of the rain and I walked the new portion all by my lonesome. In some places I had a forty foot wide ribbon of asphalt to myself and all the traffic could do was pass me and look. It was pretty nice. Now, I'm past that I think, and I am in Colchester, IL. Tomorrow we set out for a small town called Table Grove and are actually taking a route change to bypass Macomb and to alleviate some of the traffic. Should be fun.

It finally stopped raining this afternoon and turned quite nice. On the cool side for August and a bit humid, but we managed. So far, other than some of the roads, I'm real impressed with Illinois. The picture below is another friend of Valda's taking a bath and a sign at the Mississippi River telling about the eagles.  Speaking of eagles, I must have seen about 40 or 50 as I crossed Nebraska and Iowa.  They liked to set on top of phone poles and flew from one to another as I approached.  They would not let me get too close before they would fly off to the next pole.  Some of the eagles would do this eight or nine times before flying off.

Miles covered: 20 Total: 2157

Money found: $0.46 Total: $62.54

Illinois at last.  I crossed the Mississippi River at 10:05 this morning and have put 13 miles between the river and my stopping point this evening.  We are in Carthage, IL and tomorrow we keep on truckin'.  The road US 136, is in pretty bad shape compared to all the other roads I've been on the last four and a half months.  The shoulders are crumbling and there are large chuncks of asphalt I have to walk around and through.  I almost turned my ankle a couple of times today and you'd think a US highway might rate a little priority when it comes to resurfacing.  Oh well, such is life. 

I want to thank Barb Clem of Bowen, IL.  Barb saw my interview this morning in the Burlington Hawkeye and got on my website.  She then tracked me down and gave me a donation for Gateway.  I like her tenacity.  Thanks Barb, it is much appreciated. 

The TV is talking rain tomorrow and who knows.  We have seventeen days to get to Indy with two days off.  We have no room for rain. 

It was a real treat crossing the Mississippi today.  I've divided the walk up in several milestones and crossing the Mississippi was one of them. The next one coming up is walking through my old hometown of Indianapolis.  Of course the last one is splashing in the Atlantic.  I can't wait.

Miles covered:  19.75  Total:  2137

Money found:  $1.34  Total:  $62.08

Currently, I am sitting 6 miles from the Mississippi River Bridge at Keokuk, IA. Valda & I took today off and got caught up with things and this morning we drove down to the bridge (see middle picture). Tomorrow, at about 9:30 AM or so, I should be walking across that bridge and enter Illinois. By all of our figuring, we should have 220 miles to walk across IL and then it's into Indiana. But first, we have to cover that 6 miles in Iowa.

Yesterday was a typical day I suppose. The cornfields were all around me and the gravel shoulders were always present. I was on three highways though, and that was a bit unusual. Also, Valda stopped and got some produce from a lady and her two daughters at their farm and I got a free ride on a 4-wheeler. It seems the lady, Karen of Alley Greenhouse on US 218 wanted to buy one of my books and wanted me to sign it. So, there I was, bebopping along and these two pretty young girls offer me a ride. They said it was okay with my wife. Anyway, I want to thank Karen, Toni (the driver), & Molly for the produce, ride, and for buying the book.

Today I had an interview with the Burlington Hawkeye. The article should be in the paper tomorrow and will be on our 'media page' in a few days. Thanks to Nick Bergin for coming out and talking with us.

I also want to thank Doug Osting of computer consulting services, inc. of Princeton, KY. Doug dontated a laptop computer to Valda & me to use as needed. We have gotten to the point where one of us was always waiting on the other for computer time. Now, that problem should be eliminated. Thanks Doug, it will be put to good use.

So tomorrow we hit another state, our seventh. It's always exciting to cross state lines and I believe the last of the big states is behind us. Hopefully the next eight states will go smoothly and we'll be in NYC before you know it. If you are going to be in the NYC area sometime around the end of October, why not come out and walk the last mile with me. It promises to be an interesting time...probably fun too.

Yesterday's stats:

Miles covered: 20 Total: 2117.25

Money found: $0.46 Total: $60.74