Day 1060

We have walked down I-24 towards Nashville Tennessee; I am going to attempt to find the Natchez trace parkway. We will cut across to I-40 on a back road known as 48 then to 46 which will cross I-40, this should put us near the trace. The Natchez Trace use to be a very desolate road, preserved by the park service there are no stores or gas stations any where along it’s long twisting trek through two states. So we will have to stock up on supplies before we embark on it. I feel it is the quickest way to Pontotoc.

This last week has been a wet one, it rained for two solid days. In my eagerness to get further south we walked on and Hope got very wet and tired. So we are hold up in the town of Clarksville in an abandon house. We have seen a few people in this town but none have spoken to us, they see us from a distance, turn and walk away, very odd. The stores have been picked clean but we have managed to find enough to eat. The clouds look as if they are breaking up so we may head out tomorrow. Hope is not acting herself, so I want to make sure she is well rested.

I have seen my share of people on my journeys and it always seems strange how they nearly always come together in to a group or live in towns after all that has happened. Me; I like being on my own, but for the most part people tend to run in packs. Void of government you wonder how order is maintained and sometimes it maybe kayos but even it that there is order. Maybe this world would have been better off long ago if we had done away with government and relied on spontaneous order. People feel the need to be led I guess but I have always enjoyed walking a different path. As I look around at the world today I wonder what it would be like if we had not had a governmental system ruling us all? Would things be different now? Could they be any worst?

Men have always strived to conquer, to control, to lead, to build a bigger better kingdom only to see it fall. History has recorded they all fall no matter how big, rich or great there is always a great fall. Our arrogance in this nation caused most of our troubles. We set up a system of selfish greed. No one could have enough we all had to have more. We lived in our comfort blinded to the pain and suffering of the world around us. We set back and let the government solve the big problem and shook our fist in anger when it did not turn out the way we thought it should. Life’s of comfort became a right in our eyes instead of the privilege it was. So we let people we “supposedly elected” make all the choices for our welfare and we blindly let them until it was too late. Maybe it would have been different if spontaneous order took control as it does in nature. Birds migrate, wolfs run in packs, fish swim in schools, it was all set up to succeed if only man was not led by sin he could have lived with the world and not on it.

Enough of my two cents, night is falling and Hope is hungry. I found some oatmeal that said it was minute oatmeal; that would be great if I had a Microwave and an outlet that worked. Minute oatmeal, we could not even wait to boil water, had to have everything quick. Something’s are worth the wait, it fact rushing through life causes you to forget the journey; I found that out walking a once Great Nation. Long cooked oatmeal will warm up a little girls belly tonight; it will be worth the wait.



Go to Day 1064

Day 1053

Metropolis, IL; on the banks of the Ohio River, we cross it, and we are in the south (you might say). At least a southern State; Kentucky. From Mt. Vernon we have walked I-57, I-24 and wound up here, I am in the process of setting up camp, or taking a break from it. My plan as of now is to walk to Mississippi, a place were I spent 30 plus years of my life. I worked, lived, played and raise a family there. Although we never called it that, it was our second home. I know the area, but I walk by it every time I pass through the state. I stay clear of the north east area, maybe I want to remember it the way it was. I am trying for Pontotoc County to look for the Amish, to find Hope a home. If I have no luck then we will winter in the South and I will go north next spring and find them there. I must get her somewhere she will be safe if I fall ill or time catches up to me.


Our hopes of staying in Mt Vernon were dashed as the little community was slowly taken ill by the spread of an unknown virus. I had to get away from there, for I could not risk getting sick and I sure did not want Hope catching anything. I pray they will recover, but it seemed to spread fast. The teenager died a day after I got back with the meds, and the mother was not long for this world. Several others had taken ill along with Banker who told me he was paying for the sin of killing Janice. I told him God does not work that way, but I could not see any hope in his eyes. Regrets haunt even the forgiven and steal peace and joy from them. I hated to say good bye but I have got someone besides myself to look after and I don’t want to let her down. What they had, had all the signs of an intestinal virus cause from bad water, but it was also contagious. Living in the bigger cities may have brought this on, because the sanitation of water is non existent. The mother and son my have been infected in St. Louis in fact the whole town may be infected. This might be the start of another killer, another reason to stay away from the cities.


We have seen no one else the past four days. I had almost gotten soft sleeping in a bed, but it did not take long to get use to seeing the stars again. At night Hope and I lay on our backs and stare up at the clear night sky. The autumn nights are best for camping, I tell her stories, just like I use to tell my….. I tell her things I have not spoken of in years, she listens, she understands as her head rests on my shoulder. If the world had not changed this little one could have been my great granddaughter, If only I could have seen another generation born to my fam…… I have got to stop thinking of this; these old feelings need to stay buried. I can not change the past, I never will. What is the point of writing if the paper is wet with tears……. I miss you all………but thank God for Hope.

Go to Day 1060