Monday, November 30, 2009

THANKSGIVING DAY

This day was taken off from walking and spent enjoying time with our family.

WE DO HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT TO MAKE AND TO CHALLENGE YOU WITH!

DAVID HAS A FRIEND THAT HAS COMMITTED TO MATCH DOLLAR FOR DOLLAR ALL THE CONTRIBUTIONS THAT WE RAISE FOR "GRACE PLACE" THROUGH "WALK UP ALABAMA".

OPEN YOUR HEARTS AND POCKETBOOKS TO HELP "GRACE PLACE".

READ THE REASON FOR WALK IN RIGHT MARGIN TO SEE HOW YOU CAN MAKE A CONTRIBUTION.

DAY FIVE - WEDNESDAY BEFORE THANKSGIVING

As I shared in the Day Four post we had a late night going to the Huntingdon College basketball game. We were after 11:00 p.m. getting back to camp and to bed, therefore, day 5 was a good day to sleep in and have a later start time to walk. That is exactly what we did, after having breakfast, getting our vehicles positioned we started walking at 8:45 a.m. just east of Luverne, AL enroute to a finish at the east side city limits of Troy on Highway 29.

The only store between our starting point and Troy was a little over 4 miles into the day’s walk. We took our first break here and I think it was “Big Cat Convenient Store”. We enjoy taking our breaks near stores, because this give us more opportunities to share with people about who we are and what we are trying to accomplish. This stop was no different. We met Jim Free, owner of C&C Trucking out of Luverne. He has a small fleet of trucks and hauls groceries for Wal-Mart. We saw a tremendous amount of log trucks and Wal-Mart trucks on Highways 106 & 77. We learned that they were chatting back and forth on the CB radios about the hikers and they were all very courteous to move over as much as they could to give us smooth walking. Several of the log trucks made multiple hauls during the day and never stopping waving and sharing the road. All this talk about trucks reminds me of my work of over 25 years with trucking companies, and our favorite quote. Look around at your possessions, “If you have it, a truck brought it!”

As you can tell now this writing and all following writings are after the actual week of walking. We had several nights that we did not have internet available so our postings now are definitely after the fact. We have had several of you praying for us on this trip for us personally and the opportunities of the trip. I had shared with you in Day 3 of us meeting the Coggins family while having dinner. I have no doubt that was the work of God in answering prayers for us, to have us decide on Annie’s for dinner.

Now for another story here on Wednesday that will thrill your heart. Remember, this is Wednesday, day before Thanksgiving and we are headed toward Troy, AL. We are walking along as usual but David is talking with a friend on his cell phone (we really appreciate the calls, text, and emails that each of you sent our way), and a car slowed traveling in the same direction we are walking and pulled off the road and stopped. It was a lady driving the car and we could tell she was stopping to talk to us so we crossed. David was still on the phone so I started a conversation with her. She asked if we were alright and what was our destination. She specifically was asking about what our Thanksgiving plans were and I told her we were taking the day off and joining our families. She told me that she had met us driving to her home in Luverne and something kept saying to her you should check on those guys. She had almost gotten home and the voice was still tugging at her, so she turned around and drove back. While David was talking on phone and with her interest in us, I shared with her about our walk and how David makes mission trips every year to Mexico and him finding the orphanage last year that he has a real passion for and we have now placed it as our purpose to walk. So with a tear in her eye she said I know now why God was compelling me to turn around. I must do something to help the children and gave us a contribution for “Grace Place”. Thank you, Ms. Jackie Grima from Luverne, AL.

As we continued on with our walk we passed a cotton field and I made a picture of David picking some. We later stopped for a picnic lunch on the bank of Conecuh River approaching Troy. Lunch from the pack was good, the warm sun and sitting with boots off resting was a very refreshing stop.

Our next stop and break was by the radio station on the square downtown to look up a phone number of a friend of mine in Troy. Tried to call but he wasn’t home. We walked around the square to Byrd Drug Store that had a fountain and short order grill. We couldn’t pass it up and had to have an old-fashion milkshake. While we were being served a gentleman came in for what appeared to be his routine afternoon coffee and a piece of pie. Shortly another gentleman walked in and joined the first saying “I knew I could find you here for coffee at 3:00”. They were sitting a couple of tables from us and David got up and overheard one of them saying “Brooklyn”. Therefore, David said excuse me for interrupting and he started talking based on the Brooklyn comment. What a small world! We all started talking then because the second person that came in had roots in Evergreen. The first gentleman was a retired professor from Troy University that actually taught Cathy when she was a student at Troy. The gentleman from Evergreen was Robert Cary and I had worked with his sister the entire time I was with Poole Truck Line.
We enjoyed our extended break and conversation with them, but had to move on and walk a few more miles and push pretty hard to get to our finish point by 5:00.
We finished this day at Union Hill United Methodist Church with 19 miles bringing us to 85.8 miles week to date for this leg.

At this point we took a pause from our walk for David to go to Patsy’s in Opp, and for me to come home for Thanksgiving Day and we would meet up at Union Hill Church on Friday morning at 6:30 a.m.

Friday, November 27, 2009

DAY FOUR WAS A SHORT, FUN, AND SPECIAL ONE!

Day 4 was a good day and we saw sunshine for the first time on the trip. It was wonderful, bright and warming.

We started on Crenshaw county road 77 south of Rutledge, and had a different plan of attack because we wanted to stop walking in time for a special side trip. We had walk thru Rutledge and stopped at the Hooks BarBQ place on Highway 10 and 331 taking a break and my son-in-law drove up. He was working in the area that day and found us, and delivered some home-made cookies that Bethany had made. We walked into Luverne and had lunch at Annie’s since our visit the night before had been so good to us.

We recalculated time and distance we could travel to complete the walk for the day in time to get back to Dry Creek and shower and change and drive to Montgomery to watch Michael play basketball (Huntingdon had a home game with Emory University). Michael had a good game personally but we lost the game. After the game David, Michael, and I went out to eat and visit. This was the first time David had ever gotten to see Michael play high school, or college. We met some real nice folks that had come down from New Jersey to watch their son play (for Emory) and spend the holidays with him. His name was Michael Friedberg.

We met a couple of new little friends in downtown Luverne as we were coming into town at lunch. We did have pictures made. All of our pictures will be posted at a later posting.

We finished this day walking a total of 16.3 miles with a week to date total covered for this leg at 66.8 miles.

DAY THREE IS DONE AND BOOKED!

Day 3 was a wonderful day, except for leaving my PB&J Sandwiches in the refrigerator at home, and we were in an area with Little or NO cell service. We received emails and text and couldn’t get replies to go out. We would get notification of a voice mail and couldn’t get to voice mail or the call would drop while listening to message.
Day 3 had us starting at the closing point of Sunday evening which was in front of a high school classmate of mine, Richard Skipper. This was just a very few miles out of Georgiana, AL on State Highway 106 and we walked to about halfway up Crenshaw County Road 77 just south of Rutledge, AL a total of 19.9 miles.

I must tell a funny that occurred today. We were crossing Persimmon Creek and I normally carry my hiking stick in my right hand. I had shifted it to my left hand and while walking on the bridge it went into one of the drain holes and simultaneously my left hand lightened the grip and it slipped out and zip to the ground (thank goodness ground and not creek) below it went. I told Pat and David to hold on I had to go get my favorite stick. Reason being it is my favorite hiking stick. Cathy’s Grandfather and I Picked out and cut that stick in 1970 and it has been my favorite and on untold numbers of backpacking trips. I retrieved it with no problem and will post a picture of it before long so you can see the carvings representing nights on the trail while backpacking.

We stopped at Mrs. Smith’s store. It is owned and operated by Cathy Smith and we had a great rest break there. Cathy is married to “Duck Smith” that is younger than me and went to Georgiana High School. While at the store we met Wendell and Faye Powell, my high school classmate “Larry Powell’s Uncle and Aunt. Mary Elizabeth Wood came to the store to visit us and an acquaintance, Connie Till, stopped by and took our picture for us. We also received a contribution for “Grace Place” while there.

Today was Monday and it was still a rainy, cloudy, gloomy, cold day but we still found God’s beauty had a great walking day covering 19.9 miles today.

Cathy’s and David’s cousin Joe Lewis Wood and his wife Yvonne (Von) lives one mile off the route we were walking and that is where Pat (David’s Mom) ended her walk. Congratulations Pat!! She walked 29 and ½ miles over the 3 days, what a trooper and so much fun to have her along.

Joe picked us up on our route and carried us all to his house where Von had lunch prepared for us. Delicious, and a lunch saving for me with my PB&J in refrigerator at home.

David and I continued on to complete the day in Crenshaw County about half way up county highway 77.

After completing the day we starting measuring our route for Tuesday and measured to downtown Luverne, AL knowing we wanted to go farther than that. However, we had to find a place to camp. We went to the little restaurant named “Annie’s” to eat and see if we could get a lead for a place to stay. Some hunters told us about a campground named “Dry Creek” just a few miles south of town toward Brantley. David saw a couple having dinner and walked over to speak and share our adventures with them. They were Mr. and Mrs. David Coggins, the owners of Dry Creek Campground and they invited us to camp Monday and Tuesday night with shower facilities and the works at NO cost. How nice of them to do this and we learned they are really super people. Then at the campground we met David Coggins’ parents Mr. and Mrs. Percy Coggins. Wonderful, sweet, and kind people.

We turned in for a good night’s sleep with no internet coverage to update the blog.

Day 3 was a Great Day.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

DAY TWO IS DONE AND IN THE BOOKS

Today was a cold cloudy misty and sometimes rainy day. At 5:30 this morning the rain guage had 1.9 inches in it and it was 52 degrees. All this weather did not hold us back as we had a very good day. We saw three deer just north of the river while looking at the river and crossing the bridge. We cut the corner near Mckenzie on County road 9. While on that road we saw a coyote. Of course as we went by Tommy and Kaye Hall's we saw a lot of wildlife in the fenced area. It is almost a petting zoo. We walked about 21 and a half miles today. We did some zig-zagging in downtown Georgiana and visited some folks in the meantime. It was a great day even with the messy weather and thanks again to Glen and Glenda Brooks because their shuttle service made this distance walking possible.

We stopped today on the east side of Georgiana on Hiway 106. Specifically at my high school classmate and friend Richard Skippers house. Tomorrow, on Monday, we will aim for at least 20 miles and that will put us up somewhere on Crenshaw county road 77.

I am not sure what our potential for posting will be tomorrow night but I will try to post.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Day One of Second Leg is Complete





Day one of Second Leg, although a short day, is in the books. David drove down from Murfreesboro this morning and we actually started walking at 1:45 pm. We started walking where we left off in Evergreen on July 3, 2009. Thanks to Glenn Brooks he picked up where we left off also. As you may recall Glenn and Glenda Brooks made our arrival to Conecuh County and Evergreen very special on July 3rd and was at the starting point today to take pictures as we began. He made several pictures along the way and then picked us up at the end of the day to shuttle us back in. He is also graciously shuttling us tomorrow (Sunday). Big thanks to you Glenn and Glenda, we could not have covered the distance we did today without your help.

We walked 9.2 miles today, and Pat walked ALL the way. She was hoping to at least get in 3 to 5 miles, made it all the way, and plans to continue on Sunday. If the weather cooperates and the rain moves on out and we can make good time we hope to be through Georgiana on Sunday. We walked until dark today which was about 5:10 pm.

We continue to meet and talk with good people. We had a conversation while walking with a hunter headed in the woods to his stand for the afternoon. A couple saw us while driving by and stopped on their return trip checking making sure we were ok and prepared for the rain because it was beginning in areas. We did get caught in light shower but soon walked out of it. I have some pictures saved that Glenn has emailed me so I will post those with this and call it a night and get ready to walk again.

Thanks to all of you that are following us with this venture. Please help us and share the links and tell everyone you can about “Grace Place”

David's Explanation of Walk and Purpose




Hello. My name is David Bass. Normally I am the Associate Dean of the Engineering School at Vanderbilt University, a father of four kids, and the husband of a wonderful wife. This week however I am walking up Alabama with my cousin, Dalton Campbell and my Mom (well, she is going part of the way). We started this journey in the middle of the summer by walking from Gulf Shores, Alabama to our hometown of Evergreen, Alabama. That took us about a week. Our goal is to eventually make it up to the Tennessee line (actually I think we both would like to think we could eventually make it to Canada but we never discuss that for fear that we will not make it and people will laugh at us). We are now taking the week of Thanksgiving and are picking our trip back up in Evergreen and heading towards Auburn where I went to college (please note however that my cousin is an Alabama fan which will prove to be quite interesting as the iron bowl actually occurs during this leg of our trip), So, as you can see we do not walk continuously, but try to find a week here or there to put in the miles. I would love to walk the entire route at one time but I occasionally have to attend to the business of Vanderbilt so they can pay me and in turn my kids can eat.

During the first part of our trip we were constantly asked why we were doing this. Therefore I thought it wise to address that very clearly this time. The answer actually has two parts. First let me talk a bit about how the trip came about. You see, last year was quite a difficult year for my family. I was diagnosed with leukemia (CLL) last fall. Shortly thereafter I broke my arm playing in the waves at the beach (I really wish it would have occurred in a more dramatic way like being attacked by a vicious bear or something, so I could tell you a cool story about it). Around Christmas my dad was admitted to the hospital with an illness that turned out to be cancer and sadly he passed away on February 4, 2009. Two months after that a tornado hit my home in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. So as you can see it was not the best year of my life. I decided that it was time to do something crazy. Having been a big fan of Peter Jenkins I thought it would be a great idea to walk across America like he did. I soon realized that I needed to keep my "day job" however and better reign in the plans just a bit. Thus the idea of "walk up Alabama" was born. I soon called my cousin and he decided that he would join me. Which was a good thing because he is real smart and is a planner. I just talk a lot and dream big dreams. It has become apparent that if he were not involved with this trip I would be wandering aimlessly. So now you know how this idea came into being. That does not completely answer the "why" question however. There is more.

We are actually trying to raise awareness and money (awareness is a great thing but it takes money to buy gasoline and food) for an orphanage in Mexico. There are some really beautiful kids there that need some help and we wanted you to know about them. Maybe I should tell you how I met Julisa, Merari, Teresa, Gloria, Griselda, and Umberto. I had gone to Mexico the past few summers on a mission trip with my church to a very large city called Monterrey. We did some really cool projects there and met some great people. I heard about this orphanage that really is out in the middle of nowhere and asked if they could take me and my friend Rachel Walker out to see it. They arranged it and we drove further and further away from civilization until we were on a dirt road that seemed to be going nowhere. Then we drove up in the front yard of "Grace Place" where my life was to be significantly changed.

There we met Pastor Reuben and his awesome family as well as a bunch of beautiful kids that were living there. In about 15 minutes Rachel and I had fallen in love with these people. I had never met anyone who had given away there life as much as Pastor Reuben. It was like he really trusted God with everything. He gave up his career and everything else he had to start this orphanage. As I love to tell my friends - he read that passage in the Bible about helping widows and orphans and actually BELIEVED it. His whole family is involved in this great adventure with him. They are amazing. So amazing that Rachel and I could not speak the entire time we were there because we were crying (actually I personally could not have spoken if I had not been crying as they all spoke Spanish and I do not) after having been moved by what we saw.

Well, Rachel and I talked to some people at our church and we took a group back down there this past summer to hang out with them and do some construction projects with Pastor Reuben. We were really drawn to what we saw and wanted to get more involved. As we painted, and dug ditches, and built walls (have you ever tried to build STRAIGHT concrete wall? Impossible!!) OUR lives were changed. We came back home committed to trying to raise support for these people. I am also taking a Spanish class so that I can better communicate with my new friends. After four classes I am not exactly bilingual yet however.

We met with the leaders in our local church when we returned home and they agreed to collect any money that we raised and to send it directly to Pastor Reuben to be used in his ministry in Mexico. That allowed our friends who gave to also receive a tax deduction for doing so (since the money was collected by a church in the United States). I want to point out here that our church sends 100% if this money to Mexico. They (nor us) take any money for administration (because we actually don't have any administration as we are just some regular people who want to help some kids in Mexico).

Once we got the logistics set up we called all of our friends and asked them to support this worthwhile cause. Many of them have and Pastor Reuben and the children have already been blessed by this support. We decided that we would like to meet more friends and therefore send more money to this orphanage so they can take care of all the new kids that are coming to live with them. So.....now you know the other reason we are walking around Alabama. We want to meet people and encourage them to give join us in supporting Pastor Reuben. If I can be real honest here.....If you are reading this we would like for you to join us in supporting our friends in Mexico. We would also like to have you join us for our walk if you want. Feel free to come out and walk a day (or an hour) with us.

So how can you get involved with these children financially?

1. Write a check (any amount accepted) to Fellowship Bible Church. Be sure and write "Mexico Orphanage" on the memo line. As I have previously told you the church does not keep any of the money. 100% of it will be sent to our friends in Mexico. In case you think we are a cult of some kind please feel free to check out the church website at www.fbcrc.org.

2. Mail the check to: Fellowship Bible Church
6360 Franklin Road
Murfreesboro, TN 37128

If you provide your address (or if it is on the check) you will receive a receipt at years end for tax purposes


3. Please feel free to call me personally if you have any questions at all about this. My cell number is 615.631.2348. I especially like to receive calls while I am walking as it keeps my mind off the blisters on my feet.


Thank you so much for your interest in us and in the kids we are walking to support!!!

Pictures are posted here with David and his son Jason with children from "Grace Place".

Friday, November 20, 2009

Second Leg Begins 11/21/09





Well here we are a bit disorganized but ready to walk. David and Dalton have discussed and planned the second leg as an event that will be flexible and some periodic "winging it". We are excited and ready to get started. We are hearing weather forecast as some possibility of rain as we are starting our walk on Saturday afternoon in Evergreen where First Leg ended. It may be raining but our spirits are not dampened at all!

We may be "winging this segment" but we have defined our main purpose now for the walk. David has written a Letter with the full definition and how you can help. Please read that post very carefully.

You will now begin to hear us talk about "Grace Place". David and I were both blessed with Wonderful, Christian Parents. Therefore our walk is now in Memory of David and Lena Mae Campbell, Morris Bass, and in Honor of Pat Bass. "Grace Place" is an orphanage in Mexico that gives children a chance as if they had Parents such as mine and David's. Your financial support can help with the ongoing operation of the orphanage.

If I can remember how there will be some pictures posted here and as another post.

Second Leg
Day 1: Saturday November 21, 2009 – Starting in Evergreen where we ended First Leg. We will be walking north out of Evergreen on US Hiway 31. Mileage we travel will be determined by the amount of time we get to walk.

Day 2: Sunday November 22, 2009 – Starting at previous day ending point, walking on toward Georgiana. We will actually walk through town going by Dalton’s homeplace where I was raised and by David’s Grandparents home. We will leave Georgiana going east on State Hiway 106 going toward Crenshaw County. We hope to finish this day in the Georgiana area.

Day 3: Monday November 23, 2009 – Starting from previous day end and hope to be into Crenshaw county by days end.

Day 4: Tuesday November 24, 2009 – Starting from previous day end and traveling up Crenshaw County Road 77 hoping to be in Rutledge or Luverne area.

Day 5: Wednesday November 25, 2009 – Starting from previous day end and traveling State Hiway 10 east and hope to get into Troy area.

Day 6: Thursday November 26, 2009 – Thanksgiving Day – Day Off from walking, spending time with family – Happy Thanksgiving Everyone.

Day 7: Friday November 27, 2009 – Starting from Wednesday finish point traveling US 29 North and picking up State road 223 north toward Union Springs.

Day 8: Saturday November 28, 2009 – Starting from previous day end and picking back up on US 29 north and ending this second leg near Tuskegee.
Be sure to post comments as we enjoy reading your supporting and encouraging words. Watch for a post that has our contact information on it.

Happy Hiking!