Archive for February, 2010

Catching up on contacts, planning, and rest…

We’d been talking the talk, and today, we decided to see how well we’d do together, walking the walk.

Shay and I walked a good ten miles from Xan’s apartment to West Hollywood.

Shay’s tough, and I’m much more convinced now that she’s ready for the long miles ahead of us.  We’re both aiming to walk across America, and it would be nice to walk it together.  We have a lot to learn as the miles roll on, both about the upcoming challenges of the Walk, as well as about each other. ..

Colin Leath had business to take care of in Santa Barbara, and had only devoted himself to walking as far as L.A. with me.  He was unsure what the future would hold for him afterward.

Shay had been planning to meet me since we’d met each other in person in Portland, over my Christmas-New Year’s break at home to see the family.  Shay was inspired by the Walk, and spoke of joining me.  I didn’t know that she’d actually do so, until she beat me to L.A.

Colin left in the morning, after we’d walked a hundred miles together.  Shay arrived in the evening, ready to walk across America with me.

I’d been waiting for months to meet Xan (Zan). She’d invited me in after seeing a friend of hers mention the walk from Santa Cruz– so since 14-Dec in Santa Cruz, I’d been waiting to meet her and rest up at her place in Santa Monica.  I even sent a number of items forward to her from Carmel, so that I could catch up with them all upon arriving.

Katie joined us up and out of Woodland Hills this morning into the trails of Topanga State Park.  She released us from there, and we proceeded on, high between the San Fernando Valley and the Pacific for most of the day, until dropping down into Santa Monica only an hour or so after dark.  The hills were so beautiful and peaceful, that after spending the day and early evening there, I didn’t feel ready to come down all too fast. Commitments had been made though, so down we came.

We met Ryan Powell at the bottom, in Temescal Gateway State Park.  Ryan had been in contact with me through the previous weeks. He was about to start his own walk across America, and had spoken with me about possibly joining me from Santa Monica.  We finally met in the park, and after a couple of hours of in-depth conversation, it was simply decided that our aims and approaches to our respective walks differed enough to not realistically make them compatible.  Therefore, we wished each other well, promised to stay in contact, and amicably parted.

Xan had a concert to go to, which didn’t end till after midnight, so she suggested we hang out at Hollywood Swingers Restaurant to wait for her.  The restaurant is a cool place, and Colin and I treated ourselves to dinner on what was our last night of walking together.

Xan showed up just after midnight– we met, hugged, and all went back to her place for the evening.

Salim joined Colin and me for today’s 15-mile hike up and across the narrow roads of Box Canyon and into Woodland Hills.  It was the first time he’d taken this walk himself, and it’s easy to understand why– as canyon road portion of the walk was not at all pedestrian friendly.

The views were great in the sunny, 80-degree weather, however, as we climbed up and over the hills.  I didn’t know that Woodland Hills was officially within Los Angeles’ city limits, so to my surprise, today was the day that I reached L.A!

Kevin and Katie, who had read about the Walk in the Ventura County Star, invited us in to stay the night.

We attended a housewarming party with them on the other side of town, and later interviewed for Katie’s blog: Where the Sidewalk Starts.

The hosts who we had hoped to stay with in Thousand Oaks and Westlake Village just weren’t working out.  One had family issues to take care of, the other just stopped responding.  This ended up working to our advantage, as we modified the route in such a way that allowed us to stay another day with all-star host Salim, in eastern Simi Valley.

We left Sincham’s at about noon, and hustle-walked the miles to the southwestern edge of Simi Valley, where Thousand Oaks meets up.
Simi Valley is such a long, west-to-east stretching city that I had no desire to walk all the way to the east side of it, where host Salim lives, just to have to backtrack it all to go to Thousand Oaks.

Salim picked us up shortly after dark, where Oleson Road meets Highway 23.

He and Adriana, his wife, had a most mouthwatering meal prepared for us– with a variety of Afghan dishes that I kept going back again and again for…

Salim has an endless quantity of fascinating stories about life in the local area, and lucky for us, he likes talking/telling these stories. We all stayed up late, chatting till everyone was too tired to go on!

He’s offered to treat us to a new Iranian restaurant tomorrow!

What a privilege it is for us to be here with him and the family..!!

Warm farewells to K.C. and Bonnie started off the day, and after miles of flat, farm-field walking to Camarillo (including perhaps an hour of walking the wrong way), we arrived shortly after dark to the home of Sincham, and Indian man for Mumbai, who had been living in the U.S. for nearly six years.

As interested as I am in overseas living, I had non-stop questions for him for at least an hour:
“Which languages do you speak? Which language did you speak in school? How far before you cannot understand an alternative dialect of Marathi? How much traveling have you done within India? How do you explain the differences between the north and the south..?” And on and on. He seemed enthusiastic about answering my questions, so I just kept asking.

Kristen, a nice woman from Oxnard, gave us dinner money on the way to Camarillo, so we ended up spending it on a meal to feel the three of us, which Colin prepared tonight…

We spent the day walking and talking with K.C. and Bonnie, who took us for miles of walking down the coastline, to Port Hueneme and back.

Bonnie took me to Trader Joe’s earlier in the day, and I had enough time to prepare my signature burritos for her and K.C. by the time he arrived home from work, and before she left for her evening class.

Great discussions continued through the evening, as we all continued to get to know each other better and establish a much more substantive rapport…

The Ventura County Star spent quite a while getting and then photographing the story, and ran a good article the next day (link on my press page).

Dr. Rona Thau, D.C., brought me in for over an hour and a half of assessment, treatment, assistance, and tips for the Walk. What a super valuable experience!!

We arrived late to Oxnard, where K.C. and Bonnie had been waiting with a most appetizing and tasty vegetarian chili that Bonnie had prepared.

Conversations were going well, and they invited us in for a second night, which, given tomorrow’s isolated cycle of showers in an otherwise sunny forecast for the week, was an offer which was quickly accepted the next stormy morning.