Since beginning the Walk, I’ve known with whom I’d be spending the night at day’s end, until now. After a pair of nights with John & Jodi Altendorf, today’s trail down Oregon Hwy 99-W led to Junction City. I set out with no idea of where I’d be resting my head for the night. I was ready to break out the tent for the first time, and simply camp wherever I thought I may be able to get away with it. Until today, my fully, heavy backpack had been carried forward for me by family, friends, and friends of friends. Now, the full weight of my new world was on my body, and each mile felt like several miles. I was no fan of all this extra weight, but knew I simply would have to grow used to it for the many miles ahead. I enjoyed walking across some very beautiful farmland throughout today, including green fields of a variety of crops, forested hills a couple of miles to the west, classic red barns, and the occasional goats that I could say hello to through a wire fence!

Ten miles into the day, I was tired, and truly getting a feel for the tremendous amount of miles ahead of me with this heavy backpack. This was a tough realization, though not a defeating one. I pushed on, and within just a few minutes, a soccer mom’s minivan pulled off to the side of the road to talk to me. The passenger-side window came down, and a fourteen-year-old girl unflinchingly asks me: “you need a place to stay for tonight?” I glanced across to her very caring mother, sweetly staring at me from the driver’s seat, and immediately profiling them as a good, safe, easy fit, “Yes. Yes, sure– thank you!” They got out and we introduced ourselves. They’d read my story in today’s edition of the Corvallis Gazette-Times. They were the Vandenberghe Family, and they lived just a handful of miles up the road. Fortunately, their home was actually on Hwy 99-W. Natalie, the mother, was on her way to taking Allie, the daughter, to volleyball practice. “Can I go ahead and leave my backpack with you now?” I asked, volunteering this heavy-duty loads off my shoulders at first opportunity. “Yes, sure. We’ll meet you back at the house,” they told me, having given me an address and description of their home, in addition to the family phone number. I met them at the house later, Mom & daughter, and also son Quin and Ken, their father. They gave me the kitchen + vegetables to fix a filling vegetarian dinner for myself, which I promptly did, appetite of an elephant. Though I didn’t get to meet Ken, the super polite father, till the end of the day, when he finally returned home from work, he and I sat up talking well after the rest of the family went to bed. Sadly, I was exhausted from the long miles on the road, especially with the weight of the pack on my shoulders through all those miles, so I didn’t make the best conversational companion. Ken was wide awake, and I was having trouble staying awake, my body craving rest. Nonetheless, I fascinatingly learned of Ken that, just as a “calling” to do something greater from humanity had led me to leave my job and ultimately embark on this Walk of Inspiration Across America, despite the fact that Ken makes good money working the local tech job he does, he also thinks about whether or not he’s making the contribution to society that he most would like to make. Through the many miles ahead, I’d come to learn this is far more common to be the case amongst the professionals, and across social class lines. Having begun my first day in which I had no idea of where I’d be resting my head at the end of the day’s miles, this was the very first of many end-of-the-day jackpots that I’d ultimately be hitting across the thousands of miles to come…