One Door Closes, Another Opens (Giving up on that missing sleeping mat!)

Ange, the mother of my current Beaumont Victoria House hosts, took the time today to drive me up and down the route I walked yesterday, in search of the missing sleeping mat. Michelle (previous host) also promised to keep her eyes peeled. We didn’t find it. No anger/frustration though– as unexpected challenges happen from time to time, and you never know what silver lining may be interwoven.
Well, I’ve been finding out:
First, I have to be happy for whichever homeless person likely found the mat, and now has a warm pad to sleep on for however long (s)he possesses it. Next, as I consequently wasn’t leaving town today, Ange enthusiastically took me to visit The Art Studio, which was founded as a non-profit in 1983, by local artists to encourage other artists to practice their disciplines in Beaumont and SE Texas. I was given a personalized tour by Greg, the founder, Ange’s former husband. The Art Studio is an inspiring place with bright people painting, creating ceramic pieces, making music, and much more… VERY cool! Greg told me that Janis Joplin and the Big Bopper hail from there area. A musically inclined family, he also told me he heard one of his kids was now part of another new band, Fat Gay Dads, this news was revealed to him by his son’s gf– a legitimate member of the band Scrotum. Through conversation, staff at The Art Studio actually altered my walking route: instead of walking through Vidor, I’ll now be walking through Bridge City to get to Orange and to the Texas-Louisiana border.
Finally, as Ange has learned that I have yet to see America’s Third Coast (i.e., the Gulf Coast), she thought it was very important I see it, and has invited me tonight to join her and her boyfriend tonight as they travel to a beach home on the Bolivar Peninsula– the very peninsula wiped out by 2008’s Hurricane Ike, the second-costliest hurricane ever to make landfall in U.S. history They’re hooking up a dear Houston friend & me with a room in a local B & B tomorrow night, in neighboring Crystal Beach. I’ll join my dear Houston friend for the remainder of the weekend, procuring a new sleeping pad in the process, before returning to Beaumont and continuing with a two-day walk to Orange.
All that said, I was NOT completely discouraged from logging any walking time today: I ended up walking a six-mile loop to the southeastern edge of Beaumont: Lamar University. I left off at the campus library, from which I’ll continue walking this coming Monday, on a completely revised two-day route, new sleeping pad securely tied to the cart! I’ll take a deep breath as more miles are postponed through this weekend. For now, Third Coast, new friends, new places, and new supplies…

Greg & Ange Busceme, The Art Studio, Beaumont, Texas, January 2012

Greg & Ange Busceme, The Art Studio, Beaumont, Texas, January 2012

Hunt for the missing sleeping mat!

Well, today’s weather is PERFECT for walking. My body feels very ready to continue on from Beaumont and keep counting down the 30 miles left to the Louisiana border. However, my sleeping mat must have somehow fallen out of the usual place where I have it tucked behind the cart, underneath my external daypacks. Yikes! The sleeping mat, a six-foot long, yellow on top, gray below mat which collapses like an accordion, is a critically important piece of camping gear. Not only does it separate me from bare concrete many times, it’s insulated– making all the difference in the world between a relatively “warm & cozy” night’s sleep outdoors, and freezing my butt off on a solid piece of concrete slab. I’m going to have to retrace some miles today– hoping to locate it– hoping it didn’t wash away in yesterday’s torrential rains…

Huffman to Liberty, Texas

Monday’s 12-mile day ended in Huffman.

Ben & Frieda Sessions met in post WWII Germany, married, moved to the States, and raised ten kids together :)

Ben & Frieda Sessions met in post WWII Germany, married, moved to the States, and raised ten kids together :)

Well out of Houston, Huffman feels like a tiny one-horse town. I was invited in by Ben & Frieda Sessions, who are in their late 70’s. Last night was my second night at their place. Ben is a retired high school German teacher. He met Frieda in Deutschland, just a handful of years after the fall of the Third Reich. Frieda was working in a counter-intelligence position for the Americans at the time, and as this brought her to be shunned by many in her home community, it made it easier for her to meet Ben, who was stationed in her native Bavaria at the time. Unlike the United States, in Germany it’s very common to ask “strangers” if you can join them at their semi-occupied restaurant tables. Ben & Frieda met when she took a seat across from him in a local restaurant. The two ultimately married and moved to Texas. They’re in their 54th year of marriage here; they have 10 kids, 20 grandkids, and 2 great-grandchildren.
Each has broken an ankle in recent months, and I was delighted to help them today with changing light bulbs, raking leaves, water plants, and relocating stuff on the porches of their cottage. Their three acres is on Luce’s Bayou, and it fascinates me to hear that they see an alligator every so often.
Ben offered me a ride to the next town, as so many other friendly hosts have done. While I love such generous offers, I must continue to turn them all down– otherwise I’m not WALKING across America. That said, 18-19 miles of Hwy 90 await me today, as I walk from Huffman, through Dayton, to Liberty, where the local Luxury Inn has invited me to a complimentary night’s stay. Forecast is for sunny skies, no wind, high of 61 F– EXCELLENT walking weather!!

18 Seconds of Great Basic Food Advice

Nutritional therapist Jennifer Doctorovich took some time out of her busy schedule to meet with me yesterday afternoon in Houston, to provide valuable nutritional advice. Recently in Houston, local naturopath Renald Stettler and nutritionist Faith Arch have done the same.
Though I’ve deliberately kept my outward message bumper-sticker simple, the broader message surely goes beyond taking a walk every day. Advocating a daily walk is basically a simple way to begin taking the first steps into an overall healthier lifestyle, which also includes healthy eating, and stress prevention/reduction.
Often, people I stay with and groups I speak to have nutrition-based questions for me. Though I’ve definitely collected some useful nutritional knowledge, I also feel least informed in this realm– so I’ve begun to reach out to professionals like Jennifer and many others, who’ve been responding quite favorably to me, meeting with me and taking their valuable time to provide me with useful guidance on how to craft a general message of healthy eating to groups I meet and speak to.
Though you’ll find differing recommendations from individual nutrition professionals, there are also many common denominators (e.g. drink enough water– clean water), which I’ll write more about in the future.

Though I’m a vegetarian, I loved this quick, broad, all-encompassing, 18-second, what-to-eat message Jennifer shares: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U95cFQE9N7E&feature=youtu.be

As Jennifer and so many others say, the more you eat foods that grow, the less you eat foods that come in packages (especially with long lists of unpronounceable ingredients), the better!IMAG2100
(Note: anything relegated to a miserable life in a cage also doesn’t meet the criteria!)