Exploring the Valley of the Sun

We woke the next morning colder than we had hoped to be, but refreshed all the same. We set out straight away to visit Montezuma Castle National Monument and Tuzigoot N. M. These

monuments are both within 30 miles of each other and about 5 miles from where we had spent the night. So, in short, we had a busy morning. Both of these National Monuments feature old ruins and cliff dwellings survived from ancient times when the first Native American's inhabited the area. Both sites were unique and exciting to see but all in all Katie and I feel that we jumped the gun on our ancient ruins exploration. The

first ancient ruins site that we visited was at Mesa Verde, and more specifically, the Grand Palace. We got to take a tour into one of the largest cliff dwellings in the US and since then our other ruin experiences have somehow not added up. Still, we do enjoy seeing these places and learning their history. I like to think that nothing is lost on us and we both understand the magnitude of all these ancient dwellings that we encounter, but a little voice inside my head keeps me reminded that Mesa Verde was an experience which was leaps and bounds above the rest. After visiting both of these National Monuments, we decided to take the back roads to Phoenix through the mountains. This lead us through the mountain side mining town of Jerome, over the mountains, braving many narrow roads and tight switchbacks, and finally emptying us into the town of Prescott. Here our hunger finally caught up with us and almost serendipitously we spotted The Prescott Brewing Co. We snagged a quick lunch and some drinks then rolled into Phoenix about 3 p.m. where we were greeted, open armed, by my Aunt Bernie and Uncle Ted. They would be our hosts for the next 6 nights and days. They were both very gracious, opening up their house and lives to us, offering to include us in almost every aspect of their daily routines. Unfortunately, Katie and I were not interested in such luxuries. We took advantage of our time in Phoenix to explore the

surrounding areas and visit with our many friends and relative which both of us had in the area. Saturday night, not long after our arrival, Aunt Bernie and Uncle Ted treated us to an excellent Mexican dinner at one of their favorite spots followed by us spending the rest of the night talking and socializing with one another until almost midnight. On Monday we had a relaxing morning just lounging around and enjoying Uncle Ted's world famous breakfast. During the afternoon we drove over to the nearby White Tanks Regional Park and did a short 2 mile hike.

The trail is famous for being lined with numerous petroglyphs as well as featuring a waterfall at the very end of the trail that only flows after it rains. That night we met up with a friend of Katie's from college, Ish, for coffee, then headed back to the house to spend the night relaxing,

beginning to again acclimate ourselves to life not on the road. Though we had a place to call home that wasn't Calamity Jane, we still spent a large portion of our time in the Phoenix area within her confines driving around. In our many encounters with family and friends over the following week we heard time and again that we had explored

more of the area in a week than they had done in years. Tuesday morning we woke early and headed south to explore Organ Pipe National Monument. The crazy thing about the Arizona monuments that we visited was seeing the abrupt change in landscape once within the bounds of the park. As

soon as we crossed the boundaries, cacti of all shapes and sizes began to spring up all around us. This monument was no exception. It featured the organ pipe cactus, a cactus species that is found throughout Mexico but is found nowhere else in the US besides this small park. Though it is named for the organ pipe, there are just as many saguaro and cholla cacti

throughout the park as well adding to the brilliance of the surrounding scenery. At the visitor center, which is located just 4 short miles from the US-Mexico border, we learned a great deal about cactus plants in general from the bored, knowledgeable rangers. We learned how the saguaro cacti have a wooden skeleton that supports their massive structures and instantly began to notice the fallen among the fields of cacti; something Katie and I were oblivious to them before this. We did the standard nature trail hike and watched the

informational video then hopped back in the car to drive the 22 mile scenic loop, a must when visiting the park. We would have

liked to spend more time in this park and do a few hikes, but we had dinner plans that evening back in Scottsdale with my friends from college, Gabe and Heather. After the scenic loop we began the 3 hour trek back up to Phoenix while passing through 2 different border patrol checkpoints along the way. These checkpoints were very laid back compared to our previous encounter and only asked if we were US citizens and if we had been to Mexico, then let us on our way. We learned at the visitor center that the National Monument, which borders Mexico for some 50 miles, is a notorious drug trafficking route because of the undeveloped nature of the park, thus all the security. We spent the night with Gabe and Heather, reminiscing our glory days back in college and catching each other up on our lives since then.

Meeting People on the Mother Road

Today we spent most of the day in the car, retracing the exact path of Rt. 66 through the rest of

California and into Arizona. In this part of the country the route pretty much follows I-40 only at each small town you pull off and drive down main street then hop back on the highway a few miles down the road. In certain stretches it follows the frontage roads, occasionally veering south or north to run through another small

town. After we crossed into Arizona we stopped at an old Phillips 66 gas station that had a mural painted on its side. As we were parked there, taking photos from inside the car, two people approached us and began to talk to us about the old gas station and the garage sale that they had going on inside. We decided to get out and humor them for a bit, rummaging through the oddments while making small talk about our travels with them. They were both older and clinging to the last bit of the Mother Road that made sense to them. Their lives seemed very simple, living in the loft of the old gas station, creating music, and trying to sell all their old junk. They told us how they planned to make the gas station into a coffee shop where they

would have local bands play to draw a crowd. We looked though the shop and found nothing that was remotely worth looking at twice. Eventually it turned into a "well aren't you gonna buy something" atmosphere so Katie and I casually told them that we were traveling light, shook hands, and headed back down the road departing with farewells and

blessings. We continued on the road until we pulled into the unassuming town of Oatman. As we approached, we noticed that several bushes along the side of the highway had been decorated with Christmas ornaments. Each time we would pass one, Katie would get really excited and begin to ooh and ahh as we passed. As we

pulled into main street, passing dozens of wild burros which roam the streets, we found the road completely blocked off by a large crowd standing in the middle of the street. We noticed after a couple of minutes that no one was moving so I shut the car

off, right in the middle of the street, then walked to see what the commotion was about. It turned out to be a gunfight! Well at least a recreated gun fight, complete with a bank robbery and murderous outcome. Once the show was over and main street was again cleared, we crawled through the bustling downtown then back into the undeveloped country that surrounded this small western

town. We continued on Route 66 without too much excitement,

again following the highway and frontage roads with our occasional side trips to a downtown. Its pretty interesting to see how some towns embrace and popularize the fact that they were once a proud stop along America's Main Street while other towns completely ignore the fact. One such town that embraced its Route 66 heritage was Seligman. As we drove down Main Street we passed a restaurant called The Roadkill Cafe. Knowing I would never forgive myself if we didn't stop, I turned the car around and we pulled in to have a look. Luckily, we had eaten

earlier at Mr. D's Diner in Kingman, another Route 66 town proud of its past. The meal at Mr. D's was large and filling and thus we felt no temptation to sample the Roadkill's fare. We did stop in for a drink though and it was here while talking to some

locals that we discovered the existence of the Javalina. Above our heads the creature's torso and head protruded from the wall as if it had run at the other side full speed. After learning some things about the fauna of Seligman, both human and beast, we continued on down the road as the sun began to fail. We reached Flagstaff a little after dark and pulled into a Barnes and Noble to use the internet and waste some time

before going to bed. Ever since our daylight hours peaked in Alaska, we have been losing precious hours of daylight faster and faster as we head south. We often remind each other that when we first entered Alaska the sun did not set until 10:30 p.m. Now on the west coast the sun is setting at 4:30 p.m. and we find ourselves at a loss, and a 6 hour loss at that. Since the majority of our sightseeing requires daylight to fully enjoy, we continually find ourselves wondering how to waste our evenings. Of late, driving has been the best way to occupy the time. We would sight see or hike all day at one place, then hop into the car at dusk and camp out close to the next days activity. This however is a problem on Rt. 66 where driving is the attraction. If we spent the night driving along the road we would surely miss many roadside attractions. Thus driving at night now ceases to be an option. Instead, we have begun again to resort to Starbucks to waste the time which is exactly what brought us in to Barnes and Noble in Flagstaff. We updated and typed for about 3 hours and were just getting ready to leave when the guy sitting next to us approached us and asked if we were traveling Route 66. The maps on our table were a dead give away and when we told him that we were, he became really excited and told us he was doing the same thing! It was incredibly fun to share our road stories with a fellow traveler. He was traveling the road east to west headed for Santa Monica where we had just begun our eastbound trek. We shared stories of sleeping in cars and offered opinions about which spots we thought were best to park at overnight. We talked of car trouble and various run ins with the law. We talked for hours, until the place closed down and no one was left in the building but us. Soon we parted ways offering blessings and best wishes to one another. Its always such a rush to encounter people who are sharing the same experiences that you are going through at that same moment. We instantly had a connection to this stranger that many of our closest friends and family will never be able to understand. Life on the road. Being truly free. Carrying our home with us everywhere we go, like a turtle with its shell. These experiences and the obstacles that inherently come along with them can be relayed to others but inevitably something will be lost from the true experience. That something we were able to share with this complete stranger, this fellow traveler. We didn't even exchange names but we understood one another as if we had grown up in the same house. Energized by this chance encounter, as well as the caffeine associated with a Starbucks visit, we began to drive south from Flagstaff, hoping to find a rest area at a lower elevation. Flagstaff is somewhere around 7000 ft. and freezing this time of year. After about an hour of driving we were at 4000 ft. Here the weather was much warmer. Not the blistering heat that comes to mind when you think of Arizona, but at least we could no longer see our breath as we lay in the van waiting for sleep to take us.

Beginning at the End

The next morning we again were faced with the problem of not knowing what to do. We were heading in the general direction of LA with plans to hit Santa Monica Pier and begin our trek back to Chicago along the infamous Route 66. When we picked up our map in the morning we found out that we were only about 30 miles from Joshua Tree National Park and knew that we had to go. Joshua Tree National Park is placed at the convergence of 2 deserts, the Colorado and the Mojave, and the landscape of each is drastically different. We entered from the south

in the Colorado Desert, which is also the lower of the 2 deserts, and almost as soon as we crossed the parks boundary cacti and yucca plants began to pop out of everywhere. For the most part, the low desert was barren and flat, filled with giant flood washes that stretched for miles and miles. Along the road, we passed some crazy plant life that we had seen no where else in the surrounding desert. The funny part about it was that each plant seemed to have its own little garden, as if it was intentionally planted in one area of the park. The first of these gardens that we passed was filled with the ocotillo tree. It looks like a cactus

from far off and continues to look that way until you are about 2 ft. from it when you realize that the plant is actually covered in tiny little leaves. They are spaced symmetrically and the bark twists around the tree as though it were wrapped. We were extremely lucky to see these plants so full of green as they were. During the majority of the year, they are barren, looking as though the plant is dead and dry. No leaves or flowers

on the tree whatsoever, only long intimidating thorns. However, following a rainfall, these plants spring to life, blooming with flowers and leaves until all of the water is used up at which time the plant returns to its deathly state until the next rainfall comes. The Ocotillo quickly became my favorite plant life we had yet seen on the trip until we came to the next garden on our stop; the Cholla Cactus Garden.

Here the cacti literally seemed to glow as the sun filtered through their finely clustered needles creating the illusion that they had been plugged in and illuminated. These cactus plants stretched as far as the eye could

see and we had to get out there and walk amongst them on a nature trail. After the hike we moved on to the northern, higher Mojave desert and though the change was subtle, it was obvious. Here the dominating feature of the landscape was not the barren plains and cacti of the lower desert, but the tall Joshua Trees scattered like a very spacious forest. Here the landscape was mountainous with many large granite rocks

protruding from the earth. This part of the park is apparently

known worldwide as one of the best spots to rock climb. Evidence of this came in the form of overpopulation. There were throngs of people at each parking area and along every single granite surface you could just make out tiny little dots that were people climbing throughout the park. We took a hike back through Hidden Valley

and it was almost too crowded with people all trying to find the best spot to climb that the hike lost some of its natural wonder. We read along the trail that this is actually becoming a problem in the park. Too many people trying to find the best spot to climb and trampling on plants or scaring the wildlife that lives on the cliffs, disrupting their habitat. Needless to say, we were not surprised to read

about this information. After this hike we left the park and slowly made our way back toward LA and the Santa Monica Pier to start Route 66 in reverse, back to Chicago. It took us quite a while to ride I-10 all the way through LA but we still reached the ocean at about 3:30 p.m. We parked the car and walked around at Palisades Park which

marks the official end, our beginning, of Route 66. It has a plaque commemorating the road as Will Rogers Highway and the official "END" sign which we decided to make a photo stop. Next we walked the pier, something that we weren't able to do during our previous visit to the Santa Monica Bay. At the very end of the pier we stopped at the Last Stop Shop which was full of Rt. 66 merchandise and talked for a bit with the owners who were interested to hear that we were starting the trek back east moments

later. We left the Pacific Ocean just as the sun was setting, hopped in CJ, and turned down Santa Monica Blvd. officially beginning our Route 66 adventure. Katie pulled out our special Route 66 maps and began to lead me through turn by turn from the Pier all the way to Barstow, 130 miles away. Though it was dark, we still saw most of the highlights of this stretch of the road. The coolest thing we saw was the Wigwam Hotel where 15 or so teepee's were scattered in a field and you could pull up and rent one for the night. I was seriously tempted to stop and spend the night in a teepee but we had to make it to Barstow that night so we could have daylight for the rest of our drive to Flagstaff the following day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

As if our first trip to LA wasn't touristy enough, this time around we headed to Universal Studios Hollywood for the day. Steve had to work and left us early in the morning but we made plans to meet up for dinner again in the evening. Katie and I busied ourselves around the hotel for a bit in the morning since Universal didn't open until 10 a.m. The drive there wasn't too bad and we managed to skip almost all of the traffic along the highways until we pulled into the parking lot where there was a long line of people waiting to pay $15 to park. Resigning to the fact that this day of tourism was going to cost us a small fortune, we paid the parking and then began to walk toward the park. Conveniently, in order to get to the park you have to pass though a large shopping center full of stores and restaurants called the City Walk. Through some act of God, I was able to walk through this entire section, Katie at my side, and wasn't forced to enter one single shop. We got our tickets and joined the

throngs of people entering the park. Just inside the park, Katie spotted our first and only star during our entire trip to LA. There was a crowd of people gathered and a camera crew nearby and just as we were wondering what all the commotion was for Katie spotted the back of Jay Leno's head. We think that he was doing a Jaywalking segment or something. Regardless, we snapped a quick photo for proof, then moved on. The rest of our day was pretty typical for a visit to Universal Studios; filled by hours of entertainment in the form of 3D rides and live performances. We did every ride and saw every show, even doing a few things twice. Our favorite was the

Simpsons Ride, a virtual roller coaster that was shockingly

lifelike. We also took the famous Studio Tour and rode rides with themes such as Shrek, Jurassic Park, Terminator 2 (staring the Governor), The Mummy, Waterworld, and even walked through Haunted House. Before we left the park, we stopped by at the Simpsons ride to visit the Kwik-E-Mart where I picked up a Duff

energy drink for the ride home. I couldn't resist the authentic Duff can and had to have at least one sip from it. By the end of the day

we were both happy to sit in the car and endure the evening traffic for a bit. We met Steve back at the hotel room and instantly set out for dinner. We drove around the Torrance / Redondo Beach area in search of a Thai restaurant that Steve had visited during one of his first visits to the area. Though we were unsuccessful in our search, we did end up at a Thai restaurant all the same. This place met and exceeded all of our wildest dreams both in terms of food and price. We ordered 2 appetizers, a bottle of wine, and each had and entree for just over $50. Again we headed back to the hotel room with a couple of beers and spent the rest of the night reveling in each others company. The next morning Steve cleared out for work again bright and early while Katie and I slept in. We had no where to be today and still weren't entirely sure of our plans, so we figured there was no need to rush things. It was the day before Thanksgiving and we both weren't sure where we wanted to spend Thanksgiving Day itself. We still wanted to make one more trek down to San Diego in order to visit the Stone Brewing Company and see Salvation Mountain and Slab City just east of the Salton Sea. We thought that we could accomplish all of these feats in one day, then spend Thanksgiving Day in San Diego with my cousin Jim. We headed south to Escondido where Stone is located and ate an amazing, though overpriced, lunch. The Stone Brewery is a bit of an anomaly. Its logo is a gargoyle which is draped all over their beers and throughout their brewery creating the rough, rigid, ambiance that goes along with gargoyles. Their most widely distributed beer, Arrogant Bastard, boasts of being aggressive and states on the bottle "You're Not Worthy" all adding to this tough facade. As you step through the entrance of the brewery however, it is as though you were transported into a five star restaurant. Though gargoyles still surround you, the setting is now elegant and elite, feeling very out of place featuring such bold beer. Both Katie and I thought that Stone screwed up by taking this route. They had so much potential to have an awesome brewery setting but in our eyes fell short, though the beer is still undeniably good. When we got back in the car and looked at the clock we realized that we had wasted too much time this morning back at the hotel. It was already 3 p.m. and it would be dark now by the time we got to Salvation Mountain, so it was pointless to even attempt the trip. Instead we headed for San Diego hoping to get ahold of my cousin and spend the night with him. In order to waste

some time before Jim got off work, we headed to Cabrillo National Monument which is located on Point Loma overlooking Coronado and San Diego. This is the first National Monument at which Katie and I were unsure if this place needed to be classified as such. The area housed the first lighthouse in the area and was apparently the landing spot of the first explorers to San Diego, but when visiting the park these elements seemed obscure and lacking information if not downplayed. It seemed that most people there were either visiting tide pools or else enjoying the views of the setting sun and the panorama of San Diego rather than focusing on its history. In any case, we stayed here until the park closed at 5 p.m. then headed over to Jim's house where we hung out with his girlfriend Patty until Jim came home from work. That night we all headed down to the Gaslamp Quarter and spent the night at an Irish bar called The Field which featured live Irish music all night long. Thanksgiving Day we all woke up a little worse for wear and spent the morning lazily watching football and the Thanksgiving Day parade. Around 2 p.m. Jim and Patty had reservations for a Thanksgiving feast and they left about an hour before to

make the reservation. Katie and I followed soon after and made our way to Salvation Mountain. Along the way we had planned to

stop at Subway and get a turkey sandwich or something, but every place we looked to stop at was closed for the holiday. Instead we opted to feast on our own supply of peanut butter, cheese-itz, and granola bars on the way into the desert. We got to Niland about an hour before dark which gave us just enough time to walk around at Salvation Mountain and drive through Slab City. For those of you who don't recognize these names, they were made famous in the book and subsequent movie "Into the Wild" as the onetime home of the main character

Christopher McCandless. Salvation Mountain is a giant hill made out of mud, straw,

and lots of paint. It was made and is maintained by Leonard Knight who is a permanent Slab City resident. Though we were not lucky enough to meet him on this trip, we were greeted by many of his signs of welcome and love entreating us to explore the mountain to its fullest. We both climbed to the top and even explored what looked to be his home on the side of the

mountain. Afterwards we headed into Slab City, and old WWII marine barracks which is now just a large collection of concrete slabs that people have made their homes on and dubbed it "the last free place on earth." We drove around hoping to see some of

the residents together celebrating Thanksgiving but either because it was too cold or because they don't have much to be thankful for out there, no one was around. We made our way back to the main road and headed north toward the interstate. Along the way, we were roped into a Border Patrol

Station located near the center of the Salton Sea. Though our road did take us within a mile of the Mexican Border, we never once crossed its bounds and had no idea why we were being forced to stop. After watching them pull over the semi in front of us, we pulled forward with an ominous "here we go again" feeling. The patrol stopped us as they walked a dog around our car then asked us to pull over. We did without complaint then the officer came and told us that his dog had found either smuggled humans or drugs inside of CJ and this was our last chance to tell him the truth. We did, saying we had nothing of the sort, then we were asked to get out of the van and sit outside in the freezing cold while this guy ran a dog inside and out of van for 15 minutes determined to uncover whatever we were hiding. We sat outside and got to talking with the other patrol officers who all were very nice compared to our accuser. About the time my teeth began to chatter the guy with the dog muttered "clear" under his breath and we again left another unprovoked invasion of privacy without so much as a "sorry" or "thanks for your time." Luckily, the odor from our dirty cloths and sleeping bags could not get any worse with the addition of dog to it, so once we hit the road and let the windows down a touch, we were back to normal in no time. We made our way to Palm Spring and after driving around for a bit, found a theater that was playing Harry Potter 7 and spent the rest of the night at the movies.

0 to 60 in 3 Days!

We left LA early in the morning. 6 a.m. to be exact. The LA traffic before us, we wanted to be 100% sure that we made it in San Diego by 11 a.m. to pick up Russ from the airport. The traffic was pretty bad, but we had not accounted for the use of the carpool lane which let us fly by all of the worst parts and resulted in us getting to San Diego about 9:30 a.m. We spent the rest of the morning in a park on the water called Mission Bay Park. Little did we know that during the next 3 days we would get to know this park all too well and that part of our 60 mile trek would take us along most, if not all, of its paths. We picked up Russ right at 11 a.m. and we had to rest of the day to ourselves. We had all done some minor research about the city of San Diego before coming and all of us really hadn't found much to do in terms of tourism. The big things, Sea World, The Zoo, and so forth, all involved lots of walking as well as cost lots of money. We were all trying to conserve our feet for the days to come, so we opted to just spend a relaxing night around the hotel room. Russ was exhausted from his flight, so after we ate a great lunch near the water we went back to the hotel room so he could take a nap for a couple hours. That night we also went out for some Mexican food, being sure to load up on our carbs for the 20 miles that we had to walk the next day. On Friday morning, we woke up at 5 a.m. in order to get to the opening ceremony by 5:30 a.m. Russ had made us all great shirts with Mom's picture on the front and the beautiful quote "Cancer may have taken her body, but her spirit lives on in us" on the back. When we got to the racetrack, which is

where the event started from, we dropped off Russ who had to deposit his gear for camping, then parked the car. Since Katie and I weren't officially entered in the walk, we stood in the background during the opening ceremony and waited until Russ passed by with the rest of the walkers to join him. The opening ceremony was very emotional as the speakers, rather than trying to inspire everyone, basically make everyone cry before embarking on the first 20 miles. It was even worse for Katie and I who were on display as we waited for Russ to walk past. With

Mom's picture on the front, everyone who walked by gave us sorrowful looks and many people came up and hugged us bringing many emotions to the surface for both Katie and I. Though this experience was hard to endure it also felt comforting to have so many people understand what we had been through and be so willing to reach out to complete strangers. It really gave us a sense of community right from the start which is one of the main goals of the walk in general. After what seemed like hours, we finally spotted Russ in crowd and we hopped in file to join him, anxious to just be one of the crowd. There isn't much to say about the following 3 days and 60 miles that we walked around San Diego. It is definitely an experience that can't be related

but rather must be experienced first hand to completely understand what goes on there. The walking is quite therapeutic. Amidst the moments of shouting and cheering which comes and goes, there is a silence that takes over the group as everyone trudges on. It feels as though just by walking, life has purpose. People get inspired. You get the sense that you are part of something that is bigger than yourself, bigger even than everyone there. Even though I am not quite sure what that is, it felt good to be doing it. As we walked through the various towns, people flooded the streets to stand and support us calling us heroes and angels. Its odd to get this much praise for just walking. Many of them offered gifts from food and drinks to high fives and

hugs. There was a select group of people who dubbed themselves "walker stalkers" who everyday stood along the side of the road and cheered us on until everyone passed, then drove back to the front of the line and did it again. This created the effect that you would pass the same group of people 3 to 4 times a day, aside from the countless others who just came out in front of their homes or businesses. At the end of the first 20 miles, our feet were hurting and we couldn't wait for the end. One guy stopped us and gave us all a shot of tequila which made the last mile go by much faster. With Day 2 came the rain. In San Diego it is said that it rains

about 5 days a year and we had 2 straight cold wet days; what luck! But even this, in my opinion, gave more purpose and meaning to the walk. As we sat at lunch and watched the number of walkers continually get thinner and thinner, it made us feel more resolved that we could not be one of those people. By the end of the day we were all completely soaked, literally head to toe, and Russ decided to abandon camping for the night opting

rather for a warm, dry hotel room. At the hotel room we all were walking around like 80 year old people. Barely able to bend our knees and our feet covered in blisters, we looked forward to finishing our last day of the walk. That night we still made it out to the Pacific Beach Ale House where we met my cousin Jimmy and his girlfriend Patty for dinner and drinks. Still, we were in bed by 9p.m. being sure to get our rest before the last day. Sunday came and we were still limping like senior citizens when we got out of bed. I still do not know how we made it through those last 20 miles. On the way to the starting line that morning Katie said to me that she didn't think she could make it and said that I couldn't be mad if she had to drop out. I told her that wasn't an option, that we were finishing no matter how long it took, but throughout the rest of the day, the thought never again crossed her mind. Once we were walking again, seeing that everyone else was feeling just as sore and tired as we were, we again felt a sense of community and responsibility, one that you could not just give up on. We made it to the finish with not too much difficulty, though at the time walking felt unbearable and with each step came pain. Its funny, when I first heard about the walk and considered doing it, I never once thought that it would be too difficult. I figured with the amount of hiking that Katie and I have been doing, it would be easily done. After all, its just walking and doesn't require too much physical exertion. Though this is true and apart from our feet and legs, the rest of our bodies were not worn out at the end, the stiffness and pain in the lower half of my body was unlike anything I could have ever imagined. Even a week later my feet still hurt when I walk and my blisters have not all healed. As Katie puts it, 60 miles is 60 miles, no matter how you look at it. Anyway, after walking victoriously past the last mile full of onlookers and across the finish line we quickly found a cab and headed back to the hotel where we put our feet up and nursed our wounds before heading out for an excellent, well deserved, Mexican dinner. On Monday, Russ' flight didn't leave until 6 p.m. so we had all day to spend in

the city. We slept in for once and had a lazy morning, packing up Russ' luggage and getting the van ready for living once more. We visited the Hotel de Coronado and walked along the beach for a short while. Then we proceeded to drive around the city, stopping at various places along the water for food and drinks. We revisited a couple of places that we passed during our 60 miles of

fun, one of which was the Wavehouse. This place is basically a halfpipe for surfers. A continual wave is flowing in a stationary place while surfers enter and perform tricks before eventually wiping out. We had front row seats at the bar, enjoying some beer and watching the surfers until the water suddenly stopped and the session ended. We ate dinner in La Jolla then dropped off Russ at the airport. After this we made our way to LA once more, again to stay with Steve who was back in California on business. That night we joined him at the Red Car Brewery where we talked about the week or so since the last time we saw him, eventually retiring to the hotel room for the night.

A special thanks to all of you who donated toward Russ' goal in memory of my Mother. You cannot imagine how great it is to have the love and support of so many people! Thanks for everything!!!