After a terrific trio of nights hosted by Andrew and his house of six twentysomethings, it was time to amble on to Beaumont.

Today’s walk pulled me past the outer reaches of the greater L.A. metropolitan area. Having now reached expansive orange groves, sheep-covered hillsides, and the smell of fresh horse manure for the first time in weeks, the big city now feels far behind. I’m still not quite into the open desert yet, and don’t predict I will be till this coming weekend, when I walk into the vast, open, dry, unpopulated stretches east of Indio.

Moving from the dense, concrete urban beach-patio jungle of Los Angeles to the endlessly boring sight of strip mall after strip mall after strip mall (see– even to read it three times gets boring!), the open expanses of hills and fields felt refreshing, as did the air, even if a whiff or two of manure was apparent from time to time. I guess I’m ready for dung over diesel, days before dust dominates both…

About a half dozen different people stopped to chat amidst today’s 20k. Among them, a fascinating motorcyclist from Goa, who road his motorcycle through thousands of miles in southern India. “God is watching you,” he told me, with the look in his eyes of a wise math teacher who patiently knows the answer to the problem you’ve been spending so much time and effort stressing over. ”You’ll be hearing from me.” I imagine I will be…

Enthusiastic to pick me up shortly after dark, Shane & Mary, tonight’s hosts, met me at the bottom of the mile-long, uphill ascent to their home. This ended up working out quite well for me, as not only is a large hill at the end of the day a least favorite feature of any given day’s walk, but the hill itself is actually off the route. Off-the-route rides are generally welcome…

Shane & Mary are originally from the Pacific NW. So despite the fact that I don’t drink any of the stuff, they don’t look at me funny if I say pop. We also say the word “bag” the same way. Shay laughs at my pronunciation of the a in bag, but I get to feel at home with my pronunciation in this house!

Of course, now that I’m headed east, I’m wondering when hearing “you guys” will begin transitioning into hearing “y’all.” I’m also wondering just how fast this will happen– is there a specific split somewhere..? Probably not. I imagine that just as I see newspaper delivery boxes slowly change from one city to the next, I will hear a first localized “y’all” at some point, and then slowly begin hearing more of them, as “you guys” dies a painful Texan death. We’ll see!

I noticed some Adventist literature around the house here, and especially since I just walked through the Seventh-Day Adventist stronghold of Loma Linda, I had to ask them if they were Adventists. They confirmed this, and a newborn, hour-long conversation regarding faith captured our combined attention. I’m much more careful and cautious when entering into such discussions nowadays, not nearly so enthusiastic to do so as when I was in my twenties, but given the fact that it blossomed rather well, this conversation felt quite fulfilling. I truly look forward to spending another night here with Shane & Mary.

Shay plans to catch up tomorrow as well, after a weekend trip to San Francisco. (Unlike me, she’s obviously not devoted to having to take all the steps across.)

Shay and I have been walking through endless sunshine since Santa Monica, and admittedly, I haven’t even been checking the forecast since leaving the coast. So I smiling admit to being surprised to waking up to rainstorms this Saturday morning, first day off since leaving the coast.

Saturday with the twentysomethings in Redlands was a sweet experience. Lauren, a friend of Andrew’s, asked her grandparents if I can stay with them as I approach Indio this coming week. She was headed there this afternoon, but first invited me to explore downtown with me. She was also new to Redlands, despite living less than an hour away, in Glendale. We had fun walking up and down through the main street of the very inviting town. She hosted me to the most delicious chai tea ever before she left, and our great conversation made me very happy about the positive direction into which she’s heading.

I brought back all the necessary burrito-constructing ingredients from Trader Joe’s, and made burritos later for Kristen, Michelle, Steven, and Andrew (everyone who was home). What a great feeling to be giving something back to these wonderful people who are hosting me!!

It rained, it poured, and it hailed today.

Sunshine is forecast for tomorrow, when I’ll be headed across San Timoteo Canyon to Beaumont.

I’ll miss this house: Andrew, Casey, Kristen, Michelle, Steven and Shala are people that you’d love to spend years with– which makes it obvious why they’re all living so harmoniously well together. One by one, I found each of them on Facebook, so that we can stay in touch!!

Some of (Claremont host) Taylor’s friends are headed up to San Francisco this weekend, and as Shay absolutely loves San Francisco, she enthusiastically accepted their offer for a ride there and back. This will be a great recharging break for her, I figure, and since I’m the only one devoted to walking all of the steps across America, I’m glad she’s making the most of such opportunities which come her way.

Andrew dropped me off back at the intersection of Marygold & Sierra, in Fontana, where we’d all left off the night before. Knowing that I’d simply be returning to his Redlands roommate-filled funhouse today, I left most of my heavy stuff there.

Upon being released in Fontana, I decided to first visit Sal’s favorite restaurant before moving on. Stepping inside, I was delighted to be addressed by the staff in Spanish, and I readily responded en español.

Andrew dropped me off back at the intersection of Marygold & Sierra, in Fontana, where we’d all left off the night before. Knowing that I’d simply be returning to his Redlands roommate-filled funhouse today, I left most of my heavy stuff there with Andrew, Kristen, Michelle, Casey, Steven and Shala– the sweet sextet who looked at me hesitantly when I referred to them in this way.

I didn’t walk the most direct route to Redlands today. The Blue Zone of Loma Linda added about a mile to the route, but something made me want stroll through this super-health conscious Seventh-Day Adventist Stronghold. D arkness fell upon my arrival to Loma Linda (I’m not speaking metaphorically), and the only locals I spoke with were a pair of pleasantly-retired ladies living just shy of the medical school. One touched religion momentarily, and I suddenly felt the long lost memories of my brief involvement in the Seventh-Day Adventist churches and schools, in fifth grade.

Taking it slow, taking multiple meditative breaks along the way, I didn’t reach the house in Redlands till 9 PM.

I was happy to be “home,” and looking forward to taking Saturday off…

Salvador stayed in touch with us, and we met him where Interstate 15 & Route 66 meet, where Shay and I had left off the day before. He brought his two lovable, year-old, chocolate doberman pinschers. He allowed me to walk one of them (the more well-mannered one), and walking a energy-rich doberman pup felt like having a medium-sized machine pull me forward– the same sort of sensation one may feel when steering a self-propelled lawnmower– only far more unpredictable with a young doberman in front of you.

We didn’t arrive till the early afternoon, and Sal joined us for the rest of the day’s walk. We thoroughly enjoyed walking and talking to him for hours. Sal is a rock guitarist who is originally from Guadalajara. As part of Shay’s family is from Mexico, and I’ve spent eight months in Latin America since 2007, we all enjoyed our cross-cultural conversations.

Upon reaching central Fontana, a very nice woman named Cynthia was with her daughter on the same street corner of Marygold & Sierra, next to one of Sal’s favorite local restaurants, and offered to buy us dinner, food for the dogs, and a few bucks for the road. We couldn’t eat at Sal’s favorite restaurant, because despite the fact that the three of us are all vegetarians, there are more animal ingredients in their food than Shay’s stomach can tolerate. So, Cynthia took us across the street to Sizzler, paid for salad buffets and gave a tip, then said goodbye as she and her daughter hit the road before even joining us. How wonderful is that!? Imagine…

Some of the locals call Fontana “Fontucky.” Well, with Fontucky being this hospitable, I’m also tempted to investigate re-routing the Walk to actually walk through Kentucky!

Andrew, friend of Kyle’s in Azusa, picked Shay and me up at the end of the day, and took us back to his place to spend the night in Redlands. He’d mentioned that Redlands is cool, and we both got the vibe that his opinion could be well trusted, so it was easy to take Andrew up on his offer, and skip the potential of walking a “V” shape down to Riverside before actually reaching Redlands.

Andrew lives in a recently remodeled old home in the heart of historic Redlands– a very beautiful place. He shares with five other friends, all in their mid 20’s as well, all super cool, all having known each other since at least high school. He invited us for three nights. Tomorrow’s plan is to walk back to the house from Sierra & Marygold, in Fontana; Saturday will be a day off!

Shay and I walked to the far eastern edge of Rancho Cucamonga today. We met kids, construction workers, and Mormon missionaries along the way. During the latter half of the day’s walk, we looked back to see an abandoned complex of condos ablaze and filling the sky with smoke. We’d walked right by them just a short while earlier, and nothing seemed suspicious to us. Isn’t it funny the difference that a few short minutes can make..?

We waved to several passing, honking, and waving drivers, and as darkness spelled the end of another good day on the road, despite walking through endless miles of seeming stripmall eternity.

Salvador, a Couchsurfing host that we almost were to stay with in Ontario, told us he’d like to join us for tomorrow’s walk. (Cool!)

Kyle showed us the best way out of Azusa from his home. Before leaving, we exchanged info with Andrew, a former roommate of Kyle’s who also spent the night, and was inviting us to stay with him at his new home in Redlands.

Shay and I walked a combination of Route 66 as well as parallel streets to reach Claremont. Along the way, shortly after noon, the parents of a group of home-schooled children stopped us outside a park, inquired about the Walk, and asked if we’d speak to their kids, who appeared to be around 10-12 years old. Shay and I spoke to a dozen of them and their parents, answered questions, and enjoyed the experience. We are both very enthusiastic about speaking to more groups of kids.

Speaking of kids, I spoke to Mrs. Shamhart again today. Mrs. Shamhart’s 5th grade class, just outside Phoenix, AZ, has been following the Walk for quite some time now. The students wrote to a local running store and lined up a new pair of shoes for me upon my arrival to Phoenix. I’ve written to them, they enjoy the letters, and I’ve begun writing to them more consistently now. I’ll be sjpeaking to them upon arriving to the Phoenix area, and they are in the process of contacting other schools, as close as in Indio, CA, to encourage them to invite me while passing through as well. Both Shay and I love talking to the kids, and we’re excited about what’s to come of this!

Taylor is the name of our Couchsurfing host in Claremont. He lives in a cozy apartment above a dry cleaning business in the populated college district of Claremont, city of trees and PhDs. Taylor is a fun 24-year-old engineer, and invited us in for two nights. We plan to continue walking east tomorrow, but will return here by bus at the end of the day.

Comfy couches translated to sound sleep for Shay and me, again…

I guess you can call it a sunny orange afternoon when walking through a cloudless environment in which you’re given fresh-picked oranges all along the way. Today turned out this way.

Carlos and Erin had a tall orange tree in the backyard, from which they invited us to take as many with us as we could carry. Of course, we knew we’d be receiving more oranges from George before leaving town, so can you imagine refusing the opportunity for an extra load of delicious fresh citrus gems..? (We did.)

Carlos dropped us off at the George L. Throop Construction Company, which was only about a mile from his home. Shay and I spent at least an hour there listening to George answer our questions about the history of the business, show us around the construction yard, explain to us the concrete focus of the business, and tell us about his pitching days with the Houston Astros. George and I then got some pics in front of the company signs– a fun post for the day to the website.

After about an hour with George, he dropped us off at the intersection of Colorado & Fair Oaks, where we’d last left off on foot, and it was on to Azusa from there– some 25km away.

We spent the rest of the day walking to Azusa, passing through the cities of Arcadia, Monrovia (HQ of TJ’s), and Duarte along the way– each only distinguishable by roadside signage.

Just after dark, our host Couchsurfing host Kyle met us in Azusa near Route 66, about a mile from his very musical domicile. I first shook Kyle’s hand while upside down, as Shay and I were spending a few minutes propped up against a wall with our feet in the air. The inversion state feels beneficial to our feet after so many miles of pounding the pavement.

We reached Kyle’s place, and ended up meeting over a half dozen friends and roommates, all in their early 20’s, each of whom were a band member or otherwise heavily involved in the arts. They were a fascinating bunch, and being around them definitely brought back those fun college crowd memories…

After having started the day with oranges, we ended it with pears, yogurt, and other goodies…

We began the morning by eating a fresh, tasty bagel & steel-cut oats breakfast compliments of Tom & Kristen. Kristen showed us some of the super-charming kitty-cat cards she’d designed with photos of felines + flowers, fixed and formed with nifty software. She gave us some for the road!

Shay and I enthusiastically took them up on their offer of attending Hollywood’s Farmers Market with them. We joined them to the many blocks of delicious fresh citrus (proof was in the samples), veggies, prepared foods, and jewelry. I walked away with some three pounds of tangerines, but later found myself questioning how quickly I’d be able to eat them, after having sampled from nearly every booth for blocks. (Oh well.)

We set out for our 20k walk to Pasadena just before noon– knowing we’d be able to make it there well before dark.

WILL THE REAL GEORGE THROOP PLEASE STAND UP?

I had entered into contact with George L. Throop III (I am George C. Throop IV),

Though I’ve never met another Throop who is not a family member, years ago my dad (George III) had met another George Throop III, President of the George L. Throop Construction Company in Pasadena, CA., after learning of him through their throop.com website. On my way to Mexico in February of 2007, Dad, my brother Ryan, and I all joined George for lunch before continuing through the area.

Funny coincidences: both George Throop IIIs were born in 1950; their George-Throop fathers were born in 1924; their sons Ryan were born in 1977. Unlike Dad, Pasadena’s George didn’t pass the name on to any George IV; apparently there was enough confusion within the family construction business, which has existed for over 80 years, over which office call was for which George. (As my paternal grandparents had lived with us for a while during my upbringing, I remember the triple-George confusion quite well.)

George is an incredibly nice guy. George and Marcia, his wife, invited us to dinner at Le Grande Orange, a classy restaurant in Old Town Pasadena.

After dinner, they showed us around town. We drove by Caltech, formerly Throop University, founded by Amos Throop in 1891. We stopped at the Throop Church, a Unitarian Universalist church, for a pic next to the sign.

They ultimately delivered us to the cute, cozy, fixed-up home of Carlos & Erin, our well-traveled, full-of-great conversation Couchsurfing hosts.

Parting with George truly did feel like parting with family. We promised to be in contact the following day– George was going to bring us a sack of oranges, and we’d stop by the business to visit him there and pick up the oranges.

Another great day complete; more to come…

George L Throop, pitcher for the 1979 Houston Astros.

George L Throop’s office displays the raw ingredients to the concrete off which his family thrives…

The evening we arrive to Pasadena, George L Throop & Marcia Throop, his wife, show us the variety of Throop fixtures around Pasadena, including the Throop Church!

We meet with George Throop the following morning, to say our final goodbyes before proceeding east from Pasadena.

Nothing like just meeting someone on the side of the road and then coming to spend the night at their house, eh..?

The “official” Santa Monica departure was from the pier this morning, and photographers from two local newspapers came to shoot us. We spent at least an hour and a half with Brandon then Margaret, the two fun photographers. To our great fortune, the 50% chance of rain and slight chance of thunderstorms in the morning had all passed the night before, when heavy rains seriously got underway at about 8 PM. As luck would have it, this was about the time that I stopped walking last night– at the corner of Santa Monica Blvd & Normandie St.

Santa Monica Couchsurfing host Dan accompanied Shay and me to the pier for the event, and after the photographers were finished with us, we went back to Dan’s to prepare for the rest of the day. It took a while to leave Dan’s, and after doing so, a bus was taken back to Santa Monica & Normandie, where the trail was picked up exactly where it was left off last night, and I moved on to Silver Lake.

Tom and Kristen Abraham, who had stopped in the storms of Big Sur to say hello and take our picture, had stayed in touch since then, and invited us in for the night. We took them up on their invitation, and Shay and I are spending the night here. Kristen walked the last mile with me to the house, which is in a very quaint neighborhood just a few blocks from Sunset Blvd. Tom & Kristen invited us both to dinner at one of their favorite local restaurants, and a lovely, energetic octagenarian neighbor of theirs joined us.

We stayed up into the night for hours chatting away, and I look forward to the Sunday morning Hollywood Farmers’ Market that Tom will be taking us to before we walk on out of here to Pasadena.

Yes, we’d spent not even a minute talking to Tom & Kristen in Big Sur– it was raining too hard for them to get out of the car. But Kristen added me on Facebook, seemed trustworthy enough both during and after that first minute, and we never thought twice about accepting their warm invitation on our way east to the Atlantic…

Great times!

Time to turn east. From the Santa Monica Pier, atop the Pacific Ocean, the end of Route 66 and beginning of I-10, Shay Emmons joins me as we team up for the first steps east.

“Having started in Washington State, a thousand miles have already been walked to arrive here. From here, I will continue on foot for thousands more miles till reaching Florida, then shifting north, up into Washington, DC.”

Shiny Happy People!

Daniel Hayes hosted us in Santa Monica, and joined us for a walk from the pier. Great guy!!

There are SO many signs and other external stimuli competing for anyone’s attention that we were barely noticed while walking. That said, among those that did notice us was a radio reporter from a small town in central Oregon, who wanted to record a quick interview on the spot.

I logged a few miles today without Shay. Shay has walked from Santa Monica to downtown L.A. in preparation for walking with me. So, as far as I’m concerned, I’m catching up to miles she has already walked. Therefore, as she caught up on personal+joint business, I went alone to the crosswalk we both left off at in West Hollywood, on Santa Monica Blvd., and walked a circuitous path through Sunset Blvd and Hollywood Blvd until ultimately dropping back down to Santa Monica Blvd and Normandie St., where the rain began pouring as I awaited the bus with a half dozen other locals. (Thank goodness for streetside awnings!)

I’d once been told by L.A. expats that, unlike Portland and Vancouver, locals here simply do not talk to each other on the bus. Well, boarding the bus with signs saying “WALKING ACROSS AMERICA” must drastically twist those social norms. Three separate conversations presented themselves to me as a result of people seeing the signs– despite the fact that I’d taken them off before boarding the bus back to Dan’s– tonight’s host in Santa Monica.