Frank Mickel has been a close friend of Ryan, my younger brother, since they met in the mid 1990′s. Frank & wife JulieAnn now live a few miles from Woodburn, and they offered to play a support driver role for me for the day: I walked from Canby to Woodburn; they picked me up and took me to their home for the night. The next morning, they dropped me off at the exact point at which I’d left off in Woodburn, on Oregon Hwy 99-E.
JulieAnn, Alyssa Renee & Frank Mickel
When the idea of staying overnight at the homes of people you only meet via the internet (and haven’t yet met in person) first reached my ears, my automatic response was to be highly skeptical, probably somewhat fearful. However, through my recent, earlier-in-2009 travels through Mexico and Central America, I kept running into some of the most trustworthy, fun and open-minded people who were directing me toward Couchsurfing.org.
Had I become some Silicon Valley techie multi-millionaire in my 20′s, and had I still decided to embark on this Walk of Inspiration Across America, I don’t believe I would have even considered an idea like Couchsurfing– scheduling homestays with people you’ve never met and have no connection to. I was walking on a needle-thin budget, however, and given that Couchsurfing had been so emphatically applauded to me by some very admirable friends, I decided to create my own profile and look up some potential hosts within Oregon, the first state I was to fully walk across on foot.
Looking at Canby for CSers, I found Mike & Wilma Bruno, who were my age and both spoke English & Brazilian Portuguese, languages I speak as well. I contacted them via the website, and they invited me into their Canby home for my first overnight stay on CS.
I was a bit nervous as I walked into Canby this Thursday afternoon from Lake Oswego, but as I arrived to our slated meeting point, Mike stepped out of his car to greet me with the warmest handshake in the world. The look on his face was one of greeting a good old family whom he hadn’t seen in a very long time. I was sold immediately.
Mike & Wilma treated me to dinner at one of their favorite local restaurants, before taking me back to their handmade home, in the woods outside of town.
Mike made the house they live in, which features an outdoor outhouse, ladder to the upstairs loft (where they sleep). The house is bound with wooden nails.
They made sure I had plenty of blankets for a comfortable night’s sleep on the downstairs couch, and I nodded off shortly after they retired upstairs.
After a very restful and refreshing night’s sleep, I heard a calm, gentle voice call my name: “George– George, are you awake?” at the breaking of dawn. I opened my eyes to the sound of an owl, hooting in the trees just outdoors. There was no one near me.
Mike & Wilma proceeded to make me a delicious lunch for the road the following morning, before returning me to last night’s stopping point.
I’m eager to stay in touch with Mike & Wilma across the miles, and visit them again upon finishing the Walk.
Thanks So Much, Mike & Wilma!!
Mike & Wilma Bruno, and their newborn baby girl. (This pic was taken a year after they hosted me in Canby.)
Here is a three-minute video in which I speak about my Couchsurfing experiences. The video was made in South Carolina, in the fall of 2012, by aspiring documentarian Daniel McCord, three years after this first Couchsurfing experience, with Mike & Wilma Bruno.
I hadn’t planned on taking today off, but due to the August foot injury, and the fact that I was just now reconditioning my body as my miles were getting underway, I took Sam & Isil up on their ultra-hospitable offer to host me for longer, and I spent my birthday with them. As I would not be carrying any laptop, they allowed me to catch up on communications and web planning from their home computer.
They treated me to a delicious local Thai food restaurant later that evening, and nicer than my gear, Sam gave me his sturdy yellow-and-black rain jacket, which I remember him wearing through his college days, a dozen years ago. I would wear this honored gift for nearly a thousand miles before trading it up for something newer, lighter, and more waterproof.
Former Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber, who served from 1994-2002, joins me for a mile of walking from Portland's Pioneer Square, the heart of downtown.
A solid team of family & friends behind us, John Kitzhaber & I walk past Portland's World Trade Center en route to Salmon Springs Fountain at Waterfront Park.
As we finish our morning mile, Kitz & I conclude our discussion on the urgent importance of preventive health care. John Kitzhaber is also a medical doctor.
Once we arrived to Waterfront Park, multiple local TV & radio stations greeted us for the interview. Click here for the best-produced local TV story.
After meeting with Kitz and local media, Pastor Michael White, pastor for my mother’s 1985 funeral, who had joined us for this morning’s walk, took time out to say a prayer for me, calling for divine guidance, protection and providence for me across all of my upcoming miles. Pastor White’s prayer was powerful and effective.
Headed away from downtown Portland, I walked several miles up busy (and dangerous) Oregon Hwy 43, to reach Lake Oswego, home of my friends Sam & Isil. Isil is from Turkey, and she prepared an authentic Turkish dinner for me– which honestly turned out to be one of the most very delicious meals I’ve ever eaten! I’m so much more inspired to visit Turkey sooner!
Sam
Isil
After getting at least a few minutes of sleep last night, energized all night long for the hours-away first step of this project of a lifetime– which had been on my mind all day, every day, for nearly a year– I awoke to join my parents and Grandpa George for breakfast before heading over to my childhood neighborhood of Oakbrook, where I was slated to take my first steps of the journey.
Though I was to meet the crowd at Oakbrook Park, I asked Dad to drop me off a few blocks away, at the eastern edge of NE 35th Street; I planned to walk to the park from there. On my way to the park was my childhood home, where Mom had taken her final breaths of life on June 18, 1985, two days before her 34th birthday. Today, September 20, 2009, is two days before my 34th birthday– and from this highly symbolic point of life, I will begin taking many millions of steps across America, aiming to inspiring others to begin taking steps forward in their personal lives– starting with something so simple as a daily walk.
Though we’re unfamiliar with the current occupants of the house, I briefly set foot on the property, paid my respects, and moved forward to the crowd waiting at the park.
Donated by a locally-owned running store, these perfectly-fitting athletic shoes are ready for Day 1 of the Walk.
A couple dozen sweet souls, family & friends, greet me and prepare to join me for the first mile of the Walk.
Good Morning, Laura!
Chris & Justin, friends since high school, each of whom I'd lived with for five years, join me for the Day 1 send-off. Huey, my six-year-old dog, has been living with Justin for over two years, as I've been engaging in a number of projects and excursions that often take me far from home for long periods of time. These guys are the best-- I love 'em!
Vancouver Mayor Royce Pollard comes to see me off. He's interested in the details of my plan.
Before taking off, it's time to take a minute and briefly explain to all how preventable cancers and chronic diseases have already cost us far too many lives, and how each of us can and should begin taking steps forward to live a healthier lifestyle.
And AWAY we go!
Almost through our first mile, surrounded by the goodness of fine friends. I've also been walking happy little Huey the entire way!
As our first mile concludes, we meet and chat before the group splinters and I prepare to go it alone.
A month ago, while training on my 16-mile loop route in rural Oregon, my foot slammed into a nearly-invisible roadside spike and I was unable to walk (even to the mailbox) for nearly a week. The pain grew in intensity whenever I pushed too hard to get back to a multi-mile pace, so I made the very difficult decision to simply not walk any long distances until Day 1 of the Walk. I would have to physically condition myself all over again on the very day the Walk began. The plan worked out, for though I definitely had to work to achieve them, I couldn’t call Day 1′s first 15 miles overwhelming by any means. (Click here for today’s route from my childhood home in Vancouver to downtown Portland.)
Day 1 was so beautiful that for the first time in my life, I suffered a sunburn this late in the year in the Pacific NW. A freshly-shaved, milky-white scalp of course made me an easy target for sunburn amid fifteen miles outdoors on one of summer’s final days.
The day ended at the home of my friend Jim, a man a few years older than my father with whom I’d worked for several years.
I sustained a serious puncture wound over a week ago, while on my 16-mile training loop for the walk. With a steady, swift pace forward, my left foot stabbed directly into a very sharp, split, knocked over, nearly invisible steel roadside marker. Thank goodness for the athletic shoes, and the strong point of where the shoe met the sharp point of the steel marker, or I may have risked the spike-like steel spear piercing directly through my foot.
I was only about four miles from the farm house, and though part of me felt this warranted a call home for a ride, another part of me knew that I’d be running this roadside risk across the thousands of miles of America. I therefore toughed it out, and walked home in pain.
Though I felt “accomplished” at the end of the day’s walk, later that night, I would pay dearly for the decision to tough it out earlier in the afternoon– as I awoke to go to the bathroom and found that my left foot would NOT allow me to use it– screaming in pain at any attempt to place even a pound of weight upon it.
I was relegated to hopping on my right foot till morning, and then found my way into some crutches. Nearly 72 hours in, the pain was still intense, so I bit the bullet and, without insurance, exercised the only option available to me: I visited the ER of the local hospital (ouch!). They took some x-rays and ensured I’d broken nothing. The expert diagnosis put me at ease– for starting September 20, I would still begin walking across America. Within a few days, the pain slowly proceed to dissipate, and I ultimately transferred from crutches to cane. The progress became good that a week after the injury, I jumped the gun a little by going for a five-mile day– only for my foot to follow up by loudly screaming: “Knock it off! Let me heal first!” (spoken with a serious spike in pain which endured for days).
I didn’t like the idea of this, but I would be needing to suspend all serious walking-related physical conditioning till the morning of Sunday, September 20– the very day I planned to begin the Walk itself.
Luckily, the patience ultimately paid off– as I would ultimately feel some residual pain upon beginning the Walk on time, but having taken the time to heal kept the foot from any serious, start-of-the-Walk suffering.
Given how the injury occurred, I knew there would be many other roadside hazards amid the miles ahead. The overwhelming majority of roadside hazards, from spikes to snakes, would be spotted and evaded well ahead of time. However, I knew that unless I were to adopt a sloth’s pace on the road itself, I’d run the risk of sustaining another debilitating roadside injury. Luckily, it took thousands of miles for that to actually come to pass…
FYI: this blog written & updated well after the fact…