Saturday, May 29th


The word for today is mosquitoes ! John and I both had multiple mosquito bites on our legs yesterday. Today, we took precautions and applied insect repellent. The wind picked up and that and the repellent seemed to work. We are on our way to Matador, Texas and should walk through there on Tuesday. We walked 11 miles and found 11 cents. Stay tuned .....

Friday, May 28th

We did things a little different today. We moved the RV this morning, leaving Plainview and arriving at Wayne Russell RV Park, a city owned park, in Floydada. If Ruth understood the lady at city hall correctly, the cost is $5. per night, pay before you leave town. Cheap!

Floydada got it's name from Floyd County and the Ada is the name of a prominent citizen's wife in years gone by.  Floyd County got it's name from Dolphin Ward Floyd, who died at the Alamo. It is also the Pumpkin Capital of the USA and there is a Boston Terrier Museum.

We walked through town, passed the Dixie Dog Drive-In, and were on our way to Matador. This is now wheat country. Golden waving wheat, just like the song. We did another 11 miles and found a penny. Stay tuned .....

Thursday, May 27th

Farmland, farmland and more farmland. That is what we saw for 11 miles today. Very flat farmland. As we passed through the small town of Lockney, a man asked, "Where are you walking to?". John replied, "Georgia". The man said, "Georgia !" somewhat surprised and then said, "Good luck". On we walked.

We did see several things that we hadn't seen before. There are scattered about, low places in the fields that attract standing water. And since it has rained here quite a bit over the last few weeks, there are several of these pools. One even had a no swimming sign. We saw four ducks at one of these water holes today. Haven't figured what type, but they were black and white.

We also saw a crop duster, which makes sense in this farm country, but how do you explain a helicopter? Don't know, but we saw one.

We are 4 miles west of Floydada and should be 7 miles east of Floydada tomorrow. Today we found a penny.

What do you think of Carol's toenails?  Stay tuned ........

Wednesday, May 26th

We started today under the shadow of a grain elevator. After a mile, we came to Shady Lane RV Park, where we are staying but kept on walking.

Before too long, we came upon a prison. The prisoners had just marched out and were in the process of working in a field next to the highway.

They were guarded by 6 or 7 men mounted on horses. It kinda looked like a scene from the movie, "Hud". John and I were glad they were wearing white instead of orange. Did I call it a prison, sorry, it is a "training facility".

On we walked toward Floydada. There are no hay fields here and no dairy cows, only cotton and corn. A big switch from west of Plainview, to east of Plainview. Today we found 54 cents. A big money day. Stay tuned......

Tuesday, May 25th

Today was a special day, Larry Brogden, Denise Anderson and Paul Garrett, all from the Amarillo Habitat affiliate joined us at mile 8 and walked 3 miles with us through Plainview. Larry is the overall ReStore manager as they have two locations, Denise is the affiliate office manager and Paul is the other ReStore manager.

We saw cattle of a different sort today. Many businesses have ceramic steers out in the front of their respective buildings. All painted up with bright logos.

The "three milers" walked to the finish, the 11 mile mark and we all piled into our car and Johns' truck  and headed for the Cotton Patch Restaurant. Lunch was on Larry, thanks Larry !

Denise found 3 cents today. Stay tuned .....

Monday, May 24th

Yesterday, being Presbyterian Sunday, we attended the First Presbyterian Church in Plainview. It was a full service. First it was Pentecost Sunday, they graduated a large communion class, two baptisms and they honored 4 graduating high school seniors. And we were only 10 minutes late.

After church, we met Larry and Priscella Brogden at the Little Mexico Restaurant. Larry is the manager of the Amarillo ReStore and has two locations. He is the former manager of the Hot Springs ReStore and as a side note, his daughter, Stephanie, was the manager of the Little Rock ReStore until very recently. They followed us back to the RV park where we had ice cream for dessert and got caught up on the latest Habitat and ReStore gossip.

Today we went out and walked another 11 miles. I try to keep these update on a positive note, but we see the same thing, day after day. Hay, irrigation equipment, cattle, grain elevators.  I want to see rivers and trees and mountains! But, we did see some sheep today! Isn't that exciting.

This is exciting! We have reached Halfway !

Tomorrow, Larry Brogden and some other folks from the Amarillo Habitat affiliate, will join us as we walk into Plainview.

We found 6 cents and a 1/2 inch open end wrench. Stay tuned .....

Monday, May 24th

Yesterday, being Presbyterian Sunday, we attended the First Presbyterian Church in Plainview. It was a full service. First it was Pentecost Sunday, they graduated a large communion class, two baptisms and they honored 4 graduating high school seniors. And we were only 10 minutes late.

After church, we met Larry and Priscella Brogden at the Little Mexico Restaurant. Larry is the manager of the Amarillo ReStore and has two locations. He is the former manager of the Hot Springs ReStore and as a side note, his daughter, Stephanie, was the manager of the Little Rock ReStore until very recently. They followed us back to the RV park where we had ice cream for dessert and got caught up on the latest Habitat and ReStore gossip.

Today we went out and walked another 11 miles. I try to keep these update on a positive note, but we see the same thing, day after day. Hay, irrigation equipment, cattle, grain elevators. I want to see rivers and trees and mountains! But, we did see some sheep today! Isn't that exciting.

This is exciting! We have reached Halfway!

Tomorrow, Larry Brogden and some other folks from the Amarillo Habitat affiliate, will join us as we walk into Plainview.

We found 6 cents and a 1/2 inch open end wrench. Stay tuned .....

Saturday, May 22nd

We walked another 11 miles today. We started a little early to beat the heat and the wind. We beat the heat, but not the wind.

We are still in farming/cattle country. They grow hay, potatoes, peanuts, cotton and wheat here. We are still seeing the big feed lots, but there doesn't seem to be as many. We see cattle and horses every day, and we even saw some sheep.

We walked through the town of Olton today. If it wasn't for agriculture, this town wouldn't exist.  John was going to buy us an ice cream cone at Dairy Queen, but they didn't open until 11 am, it was 10:30.

So, on we walked and saw more of what we had just seen. Today we found 16 cents, Carol, 14  cents and a Mexican 2 peso coin, John, 2 cents and me, Nada !  Stay tuned ....

Friday, May 21st

Update from Earth. John and I walked through Earth today. Earth as in Earth, Texas. As John and I walked through Earth today, we stopped at a taco stand to get something to drink. A young man by the name of Roman greeted us and he was very nice and pleasant to talk to.

We told him about the walk, gave him a pamphlet, paid for our drinks and were on our way. Five minutes later, Roman pulls up in a car with 2 bottles of water and two breakfast burritos. He had read our pamphlet and said we were doing God's work and that God had spoken to him and told him to help us. He made our day!

After 11 miles, we drove back to the RV park, hooked up and were off to Plainview, TX, were we are staying at the Shady Lane Mobile Home and RV Park. Their slogan is, "Large trees, storm cellars and quite". Storm cellars!, am I suppose to feel safe?

On the way to Plainview, we stopped off at Roman's again. We thanked him for the burritos and gave him an orange baseball hat with, "Coast to Coast Walk" on it. Also, bought a couple of drinks.

What do people from Earth, Texas call themselves? Click in the comment link at the bottom of this update. Best answer wins a slightly used New Mexico license plate. Winner will be announced on this blog.

Today we found 20 cents. Total found for Phase II $ 2.27. Stay tuned .......

Thursday, May 20th

We walked another 11 miles today. Everyone walked at some point. John put in 7 miles. Today was a good day to walk. The shoulder was wide, the sky was blue, the wind only a breeze,the weather warm, but not hot and we are walking due east, our favorite direction.

We found 70 cents, unfortunately it was all embedded in the asphalt. Tomorrow, we are carrying a small screwdriver with us to pry out any stuck coins. We did manage to find a 5/16 open end wrench not stuck to the asphalt.

We drove back to Muleshoe, and met up with Magann Reynolds and her son Gil Lamb at the Muleshoe Mule Memorial. They are owners/operator of Chanel 6, local cable channel. Magann interviewed us for about 15 minutes while Gil shot the tape. She said the tape will be shown tomorrow in Muleshoe, Earth, Sudan and some other small towns. We are going to try and get a DVD of the interview.

The Mule Memorial is actually very nice. No one thinks about honoring mules, but they have served our country well, even in war. Which reminds me of a fellow that both the Mattsons and Goodmans know. His name is Fred Randle and he served in WWII with Merrill's Marauders in the Burma Campaign. Fred was responsible for one mule and all the supplies that it carried. Fred wrote a book about his experiences, the title of which escapes me. If someone would like a copy of Fred's book, I can get it, let me know.

 

Tomorrow, a report from Earth. Stay tuned .....

 

Wednesday, May 19th

We started the day with coffee and donuts, compliments of the owners of the RV park. 

Starting on Highway 1760 and walking east, we came to Muleshoe after about an hour. Our RV park is just a short distance away, so we stopped there and picked up Carol and Ruth. Ruth and Carol took turns and walked through Muleshoe and out Highway 70 towards Plainview.

Just before entering Muleshoe, John and I saw something that neither one of us had seen. It was a nursery for dairy calves. Each one had her own stall and there must have been several hundred calves there. I suspect that they were too young to give milk and when they start giving milk, are transferred to one of the many feedlots we have seen.

Walked about 5 miles out of town, 11 miles total for the day. We found 18 cents, our first Texas money. Also found a dime an another socket, but they were stuck in the asphalt, had to leave them behind. Stay tuned .....

Tuesday, May 18th

We started on Texas Highway 1760, which was New Mexico Highway 202. There are no mile marker on Highway 1760, so we are using the odemeter in the car. We walked a total of 11 miles today, John walked 5 miles while Ruth walked 3 miles.

This is cattle country. Mostly dairy cattle and some beef cattle. There are large feed lots along the way, mostly for the dairy cattle. And when I say large, I mean hundreds of cattle feeding. You can imagine the aroma when you walk by. There is also lots of hay grown here. Hay is big business here in the west. They grow it in the fields and you see many flat bed trucks hauling hay.

After we finished the walk, we drove into Muleshoe, to see if they might have an RV park. Turns out there were four. We ended up behind the one at the Economy Inn. The lady that met us, said the rate per night was $35. John and I looked at each other and told her that was too high a price. She asked us what we had been paying and we told her anywhere from $18. to $22. She made a phone call the then announced the price would be $20. a night. That's more in the ballpark.

Muleshoe is the home of the National Mule Memorial, but more about that important fact later. Today we found an open-end wrench, a socket wrenchand an Ace bandage, which Carol said was probably for a horse it was so big. Stay tuned ....

Monday, May 17th

WE ARE IN TEXAS !!!. Ruth took me out to marker 4 on highway 202 and went back to collect John and Carol. We all met at marker 9. Carol was first and walked 1 mile, then John took over and walked 2 miles to marker 12. At that point, we had reachedTexas. Goodby Lobos, hello Longhorns ! Then, it was Ruth's turn and she walked 2 miles to marker 14, and the end of walking for the day, 10 miles.

Highway 202 runs due east, unfortunately, the wind was blowing due west. Quite windy today, making walking difficult at times.

 

I met a young college student today. He had pulled over into a field and was checking out the irrigation system. I asked him if those were peanuts and he said no, they were potatoes. He said he was a student in Las Cruses and that his family had grown potatoes here since the 1970's.

I told him about our walk and he said he would like to make a donation. I showed him the address to mail his donation to.

It is the same address that we would like everyone to send a donation to. In order to put a deserving family into a decent, affordable house, please send your contribution to Garland Co. Habitat for Humanity, PO Box 171, Hot Springs, AR 71902. Any amount will be appreciated and is fully tax-deductible.

 

Today we found a dime and two socket wrenches.  Stay tuned ......

Friday, May 14th

No walking today for three reasons, rain, cold and wind. Not a pretty day in Portales, New Mexico. So, what is there to do in Portales, NM on a rainy day ? Take a tour of the Sunland Peanut Factory. They process Valencia, Spanish and Virginia peanuts into peanut butter and other peanut products. It was a very interesting and informative tour.

Did you know that peanut butter was heated during processing and has to be cooled afterwards.

Hopefully, tomorrow will be a walking day. Stay tuned .......

Saturday, May 15th

Carol took me out to the starting point today and after 6 miles, I met up with Ruth and Carol. Carol walked 2 miles through Portales and then it was Ruth's turn. She walked 2 miles also.

But the good news is, JOHN IS BACK !. John walked 1 mile today, to the ending point, which just happened to be in front of our RV park. We set a new record today, everyone walked !! This is truly a team effort. Texas is only 14 miles away.

We were talking to some of the guys that stay here long term. They are construction workers that are building a hanger at Cannon Air Force Base about 8 miles from here. They said the coyotes come through the RV park every night. I guess we better keep Jolie Blonde inside. (we do anyway)

We found a hard hat today and will use it for de-construction. Stay tuned .......