Today’s 20km brought me from New Iberia, Queen of the Bayou Teche, to Jeanerette, Sugar City. I’m loving the walk down Louisiana’s Old Spanish Trail (Hwy 182). Not only is it peaceful, pretty, with light traffic and a wide shoulder, many of the people I’m meeting here continue to be some of the most very hospitable ever! Go Louisiana!!!

Today’s walk was simply an afternoon walk, and though the weather was absolutely ideal for walking (sunny, 79 F, breeze), I had a pretty uncomfortable stomach ache upon setting out for the day. I’ve been pretty in tune with my body, and when I first wondered if I should be walking today or not, my body assured me that walking was definitely going to be better for me than not walking today, despite the fact that I was going to have to walk with discomfort.
I had faith that the walking would help, and though some pain had to be endured first, walking ultimately DID help.
As the mind-body connection is a VERY real thing, and with the way I live nowadays, headaches and stomach aches are very rare for me, I had to dissect what was going on and why I wasn’t feeling as well as I should. I narrowed it down to a couple of things: 1) some subpar white bread appetizer I’d had at a restaurant the night before, which didn’t “feel” right as I was eating it, but I’d mindlessly continued anyway, and 2) I’ve overloaded myself with stuff on my Chariot cart. I resolved to discard some empty containers I’m no longer using, mail a few items home, and figure out some other efficient ways to trim my load. I made it over 2,200 miles to El Paso with just the backpack, and especially since I have over twice the space now, I need to stop finding clever ways to “push” the load limit, and keep adding more “stuff.”
Funny how narrowing down the issues within can help to evaporate headaches, stomach aches, and other general aches, pains, and weaknesses…
I immediately began feeling better, and especially with the assistance of some energizing music through the rest of the miles, my body ended the 20k leap year day feeling quite a bit better and stronger than when it started.

16.5 miles of walking yesterday brought me from Lafayette, across Broussard, and past Cade. I’ll probably arrive to New Iberia tomorrow, yet may not make much progress this week, amidst warning of severe thunderstorms between tomorrow and Saturday. The clouds were moving in yesterday evening, and as the daylight was fading away, I saw long, sub-sandwich-style bands of clouds stretching across the sky. Though most of the stretched-out cloud bands appeared similar, a closer look revealed each to be quite unique. A single band of cloud would not have made for much of a sight; however, united as they were, their sky-covering presence was breathtaking. Not only did the amazement of this incredible sky show immediately join my soul’s wisdom of the greater definition of “beauty,” the clouds inspired me to ponder their spiritual connection with humans… We humans all have our similarities, yet we are all unique– and the more we can cooperate with each other, work together, and peacefully coexist, the more beautiful we all become, and the more we inspire the world around us ~ THANK YOU, LOUISIANA SKY! ♥

Over 125 miles of walking in Louisiana, and for over 99% of these miles, my stuff has been carried forward for me by fantastic people here. I pushed my Chariot full of stuff across the border as far as the Louisiana Visitors’ Center, and since then, I extend enormous THANK YOU wishes to Indica Healthyocean, Jennifer L Blackwelder, Jahshwa Terziu, Laura Landry, Jonathan M Landry, Cherri Foytlin, Danielle Fusilier, Sam Culliton and Annie Culliton for your AWESOME assistance across Acadiana!!

…Of course, if I were to list here all of the people who’ve been of tremendous assistance to me across the miles, I could continue writing well into the wee hours of the morning and still be nowhere close to finishing. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!!

One of the most common questions I receive upon meeting new people: “What has been your greatest experience of the Walk?”
Without hesitation: “The people!” An endless stream of Angels have been assisting me all along the way. (I write this blog from the home of a couple of these Angels.”
Angels have provided me with shelter, food, advice, directions, media contacts, speaking appearances, organizational visits, in addition to countless new friendship that will endure for many years to come…

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!

Since the Pacific Ocean, I’ve connected every single step, till now. Without a shoulder, this quarter-mile I-10 bridge between the Louisiana Visitor Center and the I-10 truck weigh station proved FAR too dangerous to attempt to walk (run) across. Having run my way across a similarly dangerous bridge in Orange, TX, just two days earlier (an experience that left me quite shaken), I’d resolved to no longer put my life on the line to connect every last step, while still connecting as many steps as “safely” possible (my alternative route when the LSP trooper shuttled me across the bridge involved facing three big, aggressive, unleashed dogs).
I’m not happy that I had to break the continuous line of steps, and a deeper part of me feels I’ll be back someday to find a way to “tie up” any such portions. However, when I think about the decision in light of the risks, I wouldn’t change my mind. Swampland holds countless bridges, and I’m hoping to be able to walk across at least 99% of them…

Walking across America, I've connected 100% of the steps, until this too-dangerous-to-pass bridge on I-10. Louisiana State Patrol drove me across.

Once I've finally finished packing my stuff into the front and back of the LSP Cruiser, and am enclosed in the back seat, ready to be transported across the dangerous bridge, the Trooper then asks me for identification. I gave him my ID; he called it in erroneously-- I corrected him in the process. No warrants for George's arrest, and we proceed on, to the other side of the bridge.

I'm traveling with enough stuff now, that I packed my stuff both in the trunk and back seat of the Patrol Cruiser

Louisiana State Patrols shows up to drive me across the dangerous I-10 bridge

All done. We've made it to the other side, safe and sound.

A fascinatingly new chapter of the Walk has opened– where I’m staying with and learning about fire stations. I’ve stayed back-to-back nights with 2 fire stations, as I’ve finished up my thousand miles of Texas. They’re totally awesome guys– real American heroes– and learning more about who they are and what they do paves the way for greater appreciation for the countless contributions firefighters make to society. Smiling for the camera is Travis, of Orange, Texas’ Fire Station #3. I rode along with the crew twice last night– first to a freeway vehicle wreck where the driver was trapped, and next to a call for a structure fire. Pretty exciting to ride in the back of that big red firetruck (”engine”)– and worth losing the sleep after an exhausting 17-mile day through mosquitoes and dangerous bridges… Regarding the departure to the structure fire, see this 30-second VIDEO.