Stranger Danger...

(Back story) Just after high school I had this group of friends that I hung out with and lived with off and on. I remember this one guy in particular named Dave (not his real name) who was a little strange. In our early 20's, life changed quickly and we all just grew apart. I kept in contact with some of my friends but Dave and I never stayed in touch. I heard rumors that he was into drugs, in and out of jail and had a possible mental illness. Fast Forward to Friday night the 11th. It was a long day of walking for me and I was ready to find a spot to crash. I saw a cop and asked if it was possible to pitch my tent in the city park for the night and he said it was fine. So I posted on facebook that the police said it was ok to camp at the park and headed to the spot. I started my routine and set up my gear, got comfortable and settled in for the night. At about 10:30pm a car pulls up and flashes its lights right at my tent and honks his horn. So I got up and got out of my tent. The lights from the car were blinding me and I couldn't see anything but a figure walking in my direction. A tall thin man approached me and mumbled a "Hey" before I could see his face. By the time he got closer I realized it was Dave from back in the day. I was utterly shocked! I greeted him with a awkward half side hug but didn't know what to say. My mind was filled with rumors that I heard from the past and I have to be honest, I was a little freaked out. We tried to break the ice but he would just mumble questions at me with no eye contact whatsoever. I asked him "how did you find me?" and he said that he was able to track me down from my last post on facebook. He mentioned that he had some camping gear in the back of his car that he wanted to show me so we took a look at it for a few minutes. As the conversation started winding down, I was ready to go to bed and asked him what he was doing tomorrow morning, maybe we could do breakfast... but he said he was thinking about staying and camping out tonight as well. I assumed he would sleep in the tent that he brought but as I walked away, he followed me with his sleeping bag and some shorts. I got in my tent and laid down, completely confused as to what was going on. Dave followed me in, moved my dog, spread out his sleeping bag and jumped in. The 30seconds of silence seemed like forever before I started asking him questions. He shared with me about his life, how he got into trouble, fought with cops and was taking medication to help him be less violent and more rational. He then randomly jumps up, runs out to his car and comes back with a brief case full of handcuffs, mace, random documents and what looked like a private investigator badge.....now if there was ever a point in my life when bells went off/ alarms/ red flags, this was it! He started telling me that he was a private investigator and all the crazy cases he's been on... that he works for the attorney general... I was struggling to believe any of it. Things just didn't seem to add up... but I chose to overlook it and focus more now on my safety. As he told me story after story of getting in fights, I made up a story of how protective Louie was and how he attacked this guy once for messing with me. Looking back now, I'm really embarrassed but at the time I was really scared and thought the story might keep him from messing with me. As the night went on we trade stories and he suddenly decided that he was going home. I mentioned breakfast to him again but also said I wanted to sleep-in and get some much needed rest before putting in more miles the next day. He went home but I stayed up thinking about all the stories he told me and if he could possibly come back to hurt me in the middle of the night. At 6am Dave shows up again, banging on my tent. I get up and he says he wants to take me for a short hike to a waterfall. So I packed up my stuff and agreed to go with him. We drove back to Yelm and I got us some breakfast at Starbucks. Then we got back in the car and drove another 20-30miles into the woods. When we finally got there, Dave grabbed a few items to take with him including a rope. I asked him what the rope was for and he said we might need it to climb down the waterfall... I didn't see any harnesses or anythings like that so I was pretty confused but didn't ask anymore questions. We started off into the woods and Dave reassured me it was only a few miles to the falls. At this point I was seriously scared for my life and started playing scenarios of what "could" happen to me out here in the middle of nowhere...but after a while I got to the point where I thought, if this is how I'm going to go then I might as well share my testimony with him. I spent the next 9 miles(not couple of miles) sharing everything that the Lord has been doing in my life, including confessing my deepest darkest secrets/sins. I could tell he was getting uncomfortable when we finally arrived at the water fall... and let me tell you, it was nothing to write-home about. We stayed there for a few minutes, then turned around and headed back. On the walk to the car Dave finally started opening up to me and I realized that all the creepy awkwardness I was feeling earlier was not him trying to be threatening but more like fear and shame... insecurities. Eventually the front he put on was gone and I felt foolish and guilty for thinking he would try to hurt me... this was my friend after all and he still is. You can look at this story as one of two ways. One, I made a lot of foolish decisions and am lucky I'm not dead or two, God set this up and I was meant to run into Dave. If I went with how I felt I would have missed out on this opportunity to reconnect with my friend again and show him that I cared for him.

Safety First.....

We have hit a few bumps in the road this week... but that's ok. I'm back on the road and about a mile outside of Roy, Washington. This morning when I woke up, I packed LeeRoy in the car and was driven back to Spanaway Lake. I had received my new goat pack and was eager to try it on him minus the pack weight (so just the saddle and empty bags). We headed down the road slowly, paying close attention to LeeRoy and his stride... making sure he wasn't limping at all. Later that afternoon I noticed that he started walking uncomfortably and decided it was best for him to get more rest so I had him driven back to the barn while I walked on. I called the vet and arranged for him to be examined/ an all around check up and am waiting on the results. Meanwhile, Louie (Plan A) is keeping me company on the road. No packs, just walking along side. He'll be with me till Thursday of next week then he'll head back to the barn. As long as LeeRoy is ready for the road, he will join me once again on Sunday the 20th. That will give him 10 days to rest and receive more training. I want to say thank you to all who have expressed concern for LeeRoy and want to reemphasize that he is being well taken care of and his health closely monitored. I am currently taking a short break and cooking up some maple/brown sugar oatmeal for dinner.. yum! It looks about ready so I better get going! -Later.

Problems and situations...

Day 5

I woke up behind a grocery store, by a dumpster in a sleeping bag without a tent... it honestly was not that bad. I felt like I got a pretty good nights sleep. I've been worried about LeeRoy cause it seems like he's struggling a little bit. So i decided to take some of the weight he's carrying and put it in my pack. We started off very slow and only made it a few miles before he started to limp. I immediately was concerned... feeling his legs, muscles, making sure there wasn't anything torn or broken. He didn't give me any indication that he was hurting, so I assumed it was probably his feet. I was faced with a decision to  either get to a spot where we could rest for a couple days or send LeeRoy back to Seattle where he can get checked out and relax while I walk on. After giving it much thought and prayer, I decided it would be best to send him back so I called my friend Sarah, who happens to be an equestrian coach, to come pick LeeRoy up. Once she got out here, she also looked him over and we agreed that it was his feet. She thought that he would be fine if we made some shoe like booties to protect his feet. The new plan was to drive LeeRoy to Spanaway lake while I continue walking there. I was hoping we could camp out there for a few days to give his feet a break but once I got there I realized it was a day park and there's no place to camp.

Mean while I got a text from Darren (a guy I met earlier in Puyallup) who volunteered to pick me up and take me back to his house for dinner, then take me back to Spanaway lake. I shared with him about my goat problem and he offered to have the both of us stay with him and his family at their house for a few days. So here I am with Darren, his wife Corey and their 4 amazing kids taking a much needed rest. After staying up and chatting late into the night, we got to know each other really well and have a lot of things in  common. We both go to the same church (Mars Hill) and grew up going to the same concerts (Tom Fest)... we immediately hit it off.  I am so grateful for them and their hospitality... what a blessing! We will be staying here another day and heading out Thursday morning. This is truly special time for me and I believe that I have found a lifelong friendship with Darren and Corey.

Bold Move...

Day 3
When you pitch a tent anywhere other then a camp ground, its a BOLD MOVE. I pitched my tent on the side of the interurban trail with no shame. Instead of hiding in my tent, I sat out front with LeeRoy and greeted every single person that went by (jogger, Biker, walker)... I admit I look crazy yelling out things like "I like you bicycle" however once they see the goat, we get to talkin, everything seems to be "a Ok". To my surprise , I had a lot of visitors that night, friends that came out to see me ( Sarah and Joe Carter). There are few men that I respect in my life or even look up to, but I have to say Joe C is one of those guys. He came out to see me, brought his family, brought me food/coffee at like 10pm at night out on the trail. With that said, people we're knocking on my tent till late at night, wanting to pet my goat and to find out what I was up to. A very sweet lady named Kim crossed me a couple times on the trail and ended up coming back late at night to give me a donation for Needle2Square and to check up on me to make sure I was safe. Its people like her whom I've never met before this walk that show me so much kindness and support. Its extremely humbling and inspiring at the same time.

 Day 5
I'm currently in Summit, WA around 38.5 miles from the Space Needle. Yesterday, I was flagged down by some people in front of the Meeker Fellowship building in downtown Puyallup. They said they wanted to see my goat! Through a series of interesting events, I ended up staying the night at a hotel instead of camping out. This hotel allowed pets (dogs) but not goats however I managed to sneak him in anyway. BOLD MOVE #2! It felt so good to sleep in a bed, freshen up, charge my gear and be ready to get back on the road. I checked out out late, and headed to a laundry mat to wash my clothes. I brought LeeRoy in with me, BOLD MOVE #3, and got to washin all my clothes including the ones I was wearing (don't ask). You should have seen the look on people's faces when the saw a goat in the laundry mat... it was awesome. I'm now back on the road headed south towards Spanaway. - Side Note- LeeRoy is struggling a bit today and not wanting to walk. It might be because of the heat but I'm not sure. Please keep us in your prayers.

Blisters on my feet....

Day two was rough. LeeRoy and I got soaked to the bone and had to find a spot out of the rain. We came across a bridge by a train track and decided to stay there for the night. I pitched the tent and went to sleep. I woke up in a frantic panic every couple hours from the high speed trains shaking the ground and the blaring horns as they went by. I pretty much got no sleep. Add insult to injury, my feet are an absolute mess right now... major blisters everywhere. I put some moleskine on them and continued on but I have to admit I'm blasted... hurting...wet... ready for bed. Gonna post up for the night.

Rookie mistakes

Last night I got to the place I wanted to set up camp at and realized it was a bad idea so I moved on. I ended up walking another couple miles and found a strip of land with power lines and decided to camp underneath them. Being my first night, I tried to find a place away from the roads so I could be relatively safe.... boy was I wrong! As I'm setting up camp, I hear sirens, cop car after cop car pulling up just on the other side of the fence.... and I'm freaking out "THIS IS IT, I'M GOING TO JAIL, THEY'RE TAKING MY GOAT!!!" All together around 13 cop cars with dogs show up all rushing into this group of houses. About an hour later I see them bringing a guy out, walking him to the car and then taking off. I sat there thinking... Is this a safe place to camp... but ended up staying hoping it was an isolated incident.

I organized my tent, cooked some food, read my bible, tied LeeRoy to a stake in the ground and got in my tent. The next thing I know, LeeRoy pulls out the stake and takes off running across the field. I fly out of my tent barefoot, chasing after him on sharp rocks and thistles at least 50 yards away from the tent. Time for PLAN B. I tied the rope around my waist making sure he doesn't get away again and went to bed. At some point in the night, I hear howling and barking right outside the tent. LeeRoy is awake with the rope tugging on my waist. I grab my flash light, throw my boots on, jump out of my tent and start yelling "GET OUTTA HERE!!!" I grab a few rocks and pitch them aimlessly into the field hoping to scare away whatever is out there. I decided to let the goat sleep in the tent with me to keep him safe from all outside predators.

After that incident, I was out and slept well through the night. I got up early in the morning to a tent full of goat poop. What a disappointing start. I unzipped my tent to pouring rain and my only pair of boots full of rain water. What a rookie move!

Needless to say, the first day was amazing however the night.... not so much.

Day 1...

I am absolutely over whelmed by all the text messages, phone calls, facebook messages, etc that I have received from my friends and people supporting Needle2square. I am beyond grateful! Last night it really hit me that I'm walking across America with a goat. I actually got scared... couldn't sleep... mixed feelings of stress and excitement... but now that I'm on the road I am soooo jazzed about it! At 8:30 this morning I touched the Space Needle and started my walk.

The response on the streets has been crazy. People stopping asking questions, city buses full of passengers pulling over wanting to know what I'm doing. I've been handed money, coffee, food, gotten offers of places to stay across the U.S. all in the first hour. I met a unique man along the walk who gave me a birthday candle and told me to make a wish. He also told me to remember that time travel is real and that I really haven't left yet. I actually have a video of the entire thing and will post it soon. I've learned you meet a lot of interesting individuals on the streets.

I am currently at Starbucks in south Seattle 4.4 miles from where I started. Which puts me at about 1 mile per hour. That's a disappointing pace however I've been sharing all morning with people about Uzima and Needle2Square, which is the whole point of why I'm doing this in the first place. Looking at it like that, its been a very successful start!

In my previous post, I said I would share about why I chose to leave May 2nd. Exactly 20 years to the day, my father passed away of cancer. I was 12 at the time. Leaving May 2nd is my way of including him on this journey. Dealing with the death of a loved one is never easy and even years later it still effects me heavily. With that said, I get to spend a lot of time thinking about him as I walk today.