Today’s 14 miles took me from the Lunenburg County line, where I’d last left off with Bill Bradley, all the way into Kenbridge– to Bill’s auto shop. Unfortunately, I’d forgotten the sunscreen, and thank God it was cloudy 90% of the day, because my neck was slightly affected by the sun for the few minutes it was out– I would have been toasted had it been sunny all day…

On his commute back and forth between work and home, Bill Bradley brings me back to the Virginia’s Mecklenburg/Lunenburg County Line, where I resume my 14 miles into Kenbridge.

It starts out, as Mr. Rogers would say, as “a beautiful day in the neighborhood.”

Funny– I never see advertisements for blackberry plants back home. We can’t keep them under control there!

Ten miles shy of today’s destination of Kenbridge, VA, I happen across some fantastic roadside wisdom…

Here’s another of many reasons it was so helpful for Bill to bring my Chariot to Kenbridge for me: fast, narrow bridges—

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Laura, Lucas, Lois Lane?
I don’t remember all of their exact names, I simply remember that all of their lovely names began with the letter “L.” After seeing me roadside earlier, they stopped and spontaneously delivered me a food care package: homemade turkey sandwich, lunch meat, cheese, crackers and water. I happily thanked them for their kindness, and kept quiet about being a vegetarian. Bill Bradley would later eat the turkey sandwich and lunch meat, telling me it “hit the spot” for him!
THANK YOU, “L” family!!

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Kenbridge, Virginia

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In light of the tragedy at the Boston Marathon:

“The Helpers” - Fred Rogers

(At least) 2 of my friends were a couple of blocks from the blasts in Boston:

BJ Hill walked across America in 2008; he advised me heavily in the lead up to my walk. BJ is from Boston, has worked for the American Red Cross, and was volunteering for the Marathon, two blocks from the actual blast. BJ is one of the “helpers.” This is what he wrote:

“I am OK, my team and I were stationed on the corner of Stuart and Berkeley, about two blocks from the incident. The sounds were like the slamming of a dumpster lid, hollow and metallic, and since there were a lot of trucks, buses and heavy equipment around, we just figured something had fallen. It was about five minutes later we started to hear the word Explosion over the radio. We held our zone, answered questions, pretended to be calm and looked after the runners until around 5pm the course was officially closed and the med team was disbanded. Because the streets were shut down, runners were forced to walk a detour the last half mile, and their gear (inc. cell phones) were all moved around from the designated pick up spots, it was pretty chaotic. I stuck around a little to help this little old French woman who spoke no English find her husband. (He was running the marathon at 81 years old (!)).

And I gotta say, Marathon Monday is one of my favorite days to be in Boston because I always felt there’s such a spirit of unity and endeavor in the air. Despite the senseless of what happened today at 2:50, the acts of both courage and selflessness I’ve seen today only reaffirm my belief that Boston is one of the best cities in the world.”

BJ reported today that he was completely exhausted.
Thank You, BJ Hill, for your tireless efforts to assist those around you.

ZOE ROMANO, whom I advised as her run across America was getting underway in 2011, ran the Boston Marathon yesterday, and finished a minute before the blast– slightly faster than she’d originally expected to finish. She was a couple of blocks away when the blast went off. This is her brief telephone interview on a local news station.

I SHOWER GRATITUDE UPON ALL “HELPERS” FOR BRIGHTEN OUR HEARTS AND SPIRITS IN THE FACE OF TRAGEDY ♥ ♥ ♥