A "BIG THANKS" TO OUR WIVES!

A Walk Up Alabama would not be possible if it were not for the support of our families. Thanks to Michele Bass, Cathy Campbell, and Cathy Williams for supporting and encouraging us to press on, be careful, and have fun. As we have said many times the experience of the walk and meeting so many people generated such a rewarding feeling of “what an accomplishment”. We had so many friends that supported physically, prayed for us and with us, and encouraged our efforts through comments on the blog, emails to us, and the calls to our cell phones. What a friend Doug is with David. Anyone that would take personal time from work, drive 6 hours, and walk 60 +/- miles in 3 days and drive 6 hours back home is certainly a dear friend. Need I say anymore about that friendship other than thanks to Cathy Williams for sharing Doug to walk? It was too much distance to cover for Cathy Williams to have a picture in and during the walk, so I have posted a picture here of Doug and Cathy getting ready to watch the Yankees play in NYC. Thanks Cathy for your encouraging support!

David's "SPECIAL" Walkers!

David had an entourage of his mother and some of his children and their friends join us outside the city limits of Evergreen to walk the final 3 miles to the end of first leg. Here is a picture made at the city limit sign and it was taken by Stephen Bass as he was walking also. Thanks Stephen!

Dalton's "SPECIAL" Walkers

Two of Dalton’s grandson’s (Michael and Zachary) joined the walk for a distance (1/2 mile) inside the city limits of Evergreen. Here are a couple of pictures of our approach to the home of Glenn and Glenda Brooks. As you have seen on an earlier post Glenn had provided lunch on the road for us. As we approached town Glenn called and said he had fresh watermelon, tea, and lemonade waiting on us.

Glenn & Glenda Brooks Backyard Party for the Walkers

Glenn and Glenda had quite a set up for the final break of the walk in their beautiful backyard. Here are some candid shots that Glenn made while we walkers were busy eating watermelon and drinking something cold from a glass with ICE. After serving us, then Glenn walked the final 2 miles to our end and made the picture of us at the end as shown in a previous post.

COOLING IT IN BIG ESCAMBIA CREEK!

A welcomed cooling in Big Escambia Creek in Flomaton took place late in the day of Day 4. This stop got us cooled off and ready to go to East Brewton United Methodist Church for a fellowship meal and come back after church to walk the first late evening walk. In the creek is where David met Amber and Michael and other family members in these pictures. As you can see from the pictures here, Doug cooled off in the water and chose to nap in the shade of the bridge. Shades were a premium on this trip and a welcomed sight wherever they could be found.

Neil Waer's Visit!

As we were approaching Castleberry, Alabama we met a guy walking south holding his head down looking at where he was walking so we couldn’t see his face. When we got close together he walked over toward us and said “Hey Guys, I am on a spiritual walk to Gulf Shores, Alabama, ya’ll know anyone that wants to go with me?”. David recognized him immediately. Neil Waer a very dear friend of David’s that lives in Auburn, Alabama had come down and hunted us down to encourage us on the walk. This was a special treat and truly represents the support that we received all week.

THURSDAY NIGHT WALK AND PICTURE AFTER DARK

We were walking and it was getting dark. We were walking in front of Kenneth Parker's house and he had seen us earlier in the day in Brewton and knew we were walking his way. He had some bottles of water chilling in the fridge for us and we got a picture made with him. It was dark by this time so it is not real clear. This is just one example of all the people we met and how nice they were to us. Thanks Kenneth for the cold water...

A WINNING FIND!! BIG STEVIE'S BAR-B-Q

On Thursday afternoon we were needing a quick water break and we approached a little restaurant on the side of Highway 31 north of Brewton, Alabama (man the smell of barbecue was terrific). The owner and workers invited us in and gave us cups of ice, water, and sweet tea. What a treat!! We had already decided to go on a late evening walk after dinner, so during this visit we decided to walk a little more and then shuttle back to camp, get cleaned up and come back to Big Stevie’s for dinner, and go for the late walk after dinner. After a swim and bath in Burnt Corn Creek we returned for a delicious dinner and great service at Big Stevie’s. We cannot say enough about the good food, good service, and great fellowship meeting everyone at Big Stevie’s. Therefore, we recommend you make a visit to Big Stevie’s! It is located a few miles north of Brewton, Alabama on U.S. Highway 31. You will not regret it!! They are open on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We had our picture made with the good folks and then started on the evening walk. We enjoyed our visit so much and stayed so long the closing of the restaurant was delayed, and we ending up walking after dark. It was well after dark as you can see the picture made with Kenneth Parker. He had seen us earlier and was watching for us to come by his house to give us a bottle of water.

THANKS TO SO MANY!!

There are so many people to thank for the support, shuttling and encouragement along the way. As we had shared in an earlier post we had two campsites. The first at the Stapleton Volunteer Fire Department in Stapleton, Alabama and then the second at the South Alabama Gas office and store in Brewton, Alabama. Both groups, the firemen and the SAG employees at the Brewton store went out of their way hosting us and allowing us to camp. They all went out of their way for our comfort and seeing that we had everything we needed. There are pictures elsewhere in the blog of some of the fireman. On Thursday (Day 5) morning we passed in front of the Brewton store and camp. We made the picture posted here with some of the Brewton office employees while stopped for a break. It was at this break that Joe Thomas (Editor of Tri-City Ledger newspaper in Flomaton, Alabama) caught up with us for interviews and pictures. He produced a nice article about our walk. MUCH THANKS TO ALL WHO HELPED US ALONG THE WAY!!!!

PICTURES WITH THE HAGAN'S PICNIC

FIRST LEG COMPLETE! WHAT A TRIP!! SO MANY NICE PEOPLE AND SO MANY BLESSINGS EXPERIENCED!!!!

Yes the first leg is complete and in the books.. The books are now seperated from Evergreen, Alabama to Murfreesboro, Tennessee. David has made it home and so did Doug and Dalton on Friday night. The walk was wonderful and we got to meet a lot of nice people. We have several pictures to try to get uploaded that can be posted, so as we are successful there will be more stories and pictures posted. I am going to have to get some help on my blackberry to get some pictures uploaded. If there is anyone that thinks they can walk me through a memory overload on a blackberry leave a comment. David will sometime this week have the pictures from his camera emailed to me for posting as well. If there is anyone following this along the way that may have made some pictures please email them to walkupalabama@yahoo.com and we can add those to our collection.

We will post again when we can get all the electronics worked out to load pictures and share stories with them.

The picture in this post is of Doug, David, and Dalton at the very end in Evergreen, Alabama where the first picture of the trip was made with David and Dalton by the camper leaving Evergreen.. I think you can truly see the difference of wear and tear on walking 124 miles.

Thanks for all your support, encouragement, and prayers. We will post more, and we did have an experience of a lifetime. Started from a thought and dream of Davids, and together we have made the First Leg a REALITY!!

LUNCH ON DAY 6

Lunch on day 6 was a surprise and sure beat the option of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches or tuna and crackers we had packed expecting to be out in a rural part of Conecuh County with no store. Dalton's friend Glenn Brooks knew the route we were going and called before we got into the area with "zero cell phone coverage" and shared the surprise of lunch. We agreed since he knew the route and no phone service that he would leave at 11:00 and come meet us and we would break wherever we had made it to. This was not Glenn's first picnic camping style by any stretch, our families have hiked, camped, and picniked together for Years!! The lunch was superb!! Fresh picked tomatoes for sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly and bananas for your favorite combo of fixin. Chips, crackers and snacks to choose from. Ice tea, water, milk to drink and some frozen bottles of water to replenish for hitting the road. Dessert too, or you ready for this! Fresh picked blueberries sprinkled with sugar and covered in milk... if you think it's not good you haven't tried it yet.
Glenn made several pictures and I am going to try to put some of them in this post.

We had just been met by several of David's family and some friends when Glenn pulled up right behind them. Glenn had spotted a great place for the lunch about a quarter of a mile ahead so several hopped out of the cars and walked with us to the lunch site before they left to drive to town to find a restaurant. The group will be in one of the pictures at least.
As you can see in the picture leaving lunch it is another hot one. The temperature went over a 102 degrees everyday....

Start of Day 5

Day 5 is completed and on schedule

Day 5 of walking was just as hot and tough as any day we have had. We walked approximately 19.6 miles getting us to the Camp McMillan and Victory Christian Church. This will give us the final leg to completion in Evergreen of appx. 17.5 miles. We had some super experiences along the way today. We also experienced telephone and camera issues all during the day. I guess they were tired also, We could only get most of the day a couple of minutes of conversation and then "dropped call". A bit frustrating for us because your calls to us have encouraged us kept us motivated, energized always perked up the pace. Thank you!! Sorry for the drops!
Our internet access is limited and slow at best. Therefore to get to sleep tonight I will not be able to upload any more pictures. We will get all the pictures posted after the trip is completed and we can get to a direct connection.
We started the day today between Flomaton and Pollard. We were expecting our first big break to be at base camp. We were approaching the base camp with it in sight and we saw a car pull off ahead of us and folks got out opened the trunk and was walking around the vehicle. We had begun to think what could be their problem and how could we help, because 2 miles earlier a couple was on the side of the road with a flat tire and we offered assistance. And as we approached the vehicle we couldn't believe our eyes. It was Rick and Kim Hagans and two of their children. Rick has been following our reports all week and called us numerous times offering support and encouragement. They had the trunk open pouring ice tea and then Kim started making tomato sandwiches as fast as she could. What a spectacular moment for such a friend driving from Auburn to Houston to visit a nephew that is diagnosed with Cancer, and coming out of route to treat us.
So after taking an extemded break we still needed to stop at base camp and restock with water for the rest of the day. Before we could leave a writer for the Tri-City Ledger newspaper had called trying to find where we were and he was told we were at the South Alabama Gas office resting in the cool and rubbing blisters. He had us wait for a few minutes for him to catch up with us and interview and take a picture for the paper. David thinks that CNN will be next.
There are so many more stories and David and I will regroup our notes upon completion of the walk tomorrow and get a wrap up to the first leg of our journey of Walk Up Alabama!
Also, we will be getting more pictures uploaded when we get a strong enough signal to email them from the phone.

Thanks for your interest, concern, and encouragement. We are not sure of our ETA for Evergreen. We will attempt (questionable coverage) to start at some point estimating the time and communicating with our families. If you can't reach our cells maybe you could contact them.

Happy Hiking to you from the Walkers!

First Late Evening Walk

After Dinner We started a late evening 3 mile walk to complete the day's journey. Dalton was refueled and ready for the walk to resume. This picture is taken at the creek crossing in downtown Flomaton.

Dalton's Day Off!

I am able to do this update early in the day since I am running shuttle today instead of walking. Yes, I have dehydrated before on a hiking trip and once you have it is easy to do again. Sensing and feeling the conditions and not trying to be heroes or win a race. I have chosen to stop and rebuild protein, carbohydrates, and electrolytes. We are really make this challenge a teamwork effort and David's friend Doug has joined us and I am shuttling today.
We have been meeting a lot of interesting people and everyone has been so nice and cordial to we smelling walkers. We met the Pastor of East Brewton United Methodist Church on Sunday in Stapleton and when he learned our route he invited us to eat with his church tonight (Wednesday).
I am about to sign off to go check on the walkers and schedule pickup time.

Also please remember, I really don't know what I am doing and what all I can do with posting to the blog. Reminding you that all the current postings do not come up on entering the blog, therefore you will have to read from the blog archive on the right side of your screen. Sorry for any inconveince but thanks to all of you that are following our walk. Your comments are great, supportive, and inspirational. Keep them coming.

After Lunch at Canoe Hitting the hot trail again.

I don't think you can feel the heat from this picture, but I am sure you can imagine!

During the Lunch Break we made a New Friend.

The young man with Doug and David is Stephen Busby. Stephen has Cerebral Palsy. There were three walkers hearts stolen by this sweet youngster.

Lunch at Baker's Store in Canoe

The clerk in the store is a real life hero. When we get all the notes together we can describe more as to why. She is the person taking care of Stephen Busby.

David's Blisters

Yep, Glenn Brooks this is a painful reminder to our 26 mile backpacking hike on Andrew Jackson Trail with all of us looking the same way. I haven't taken a picture of mine this time. I carried lunch to David and Doug today and so far Doug is doing good, blister-less! Let's hope and pray he stays that way.

David's preparation for day 4

Here is a shot of Dalton doing the daily bandage routine.

Close up of the Key to Alabama

Owen stated he thought the key to the state was well deserved for anyone willing to walk up it. Thanks Owen.

End of Day 3 and breaking camp in Stapleton

The great family friend Owen tried all afternoon to hunt us down and find us for a surprise presentation. Of course he gave us goodie bags well stocked, and then as only Owen could come up with and do, he presented us with Keys to Alabama.

At starting point in Nokomis area.

This is the Day 4 beginning spot. Doug and David are the only ones walking today, I am taking the day off.

Day Four Early at Brewton Campsite

Davids friend Doug Williams joined us last night in time to help set up camp. Here they are at camp before going to start point.

Friend and Business Associate in Bay Minette

Called Neal walking into town and just caught up with him before he was leaving on a business trip. I wanted to introduce David to as many friends enroute as possible.