The last few days flew by, nothing to exciting so I am grouping them together. My only really interesting story was when I in some road construction between Buffalo and Gillette and someone called 911 saying there was as woman in the construction zone with a baby in a stroller. So I Highway Patrol officer stopped to see what I was up to, and took one look at the cart and asked how they could confuse it with a baby. I laughed and said I don't know, and he was on his way.

Other than that, there was nothing to really say. I have stayed to last two nights with a great family in Gillette and after my half day walk today, the 30th, Kara took her kids and I to Devil's Tower and we had a little walk around. What an amazing site! 

Sorry I have nothing more to say, been so busy lately, haven't had much time to blog! Hopefully things will calm down pretty soon.








Fast morning 27 miles on 9 hours
Road construction  cop baby stroller
rain in front and behind me
good lunch
lots of wind in thre afternoon
dinner: cheese burrgers  on homemade bun, potato salad, qunowia and wine, good conversation

Well, today felt like a waste of a day. I started around 8:20 and it was very hilly for the first 10 miles, and I had a strong head wind all morning. Thank goodness it was cool out, that was the only nice part about my day.

As soon as I got out of the hills, the wind stopped and I noticed the rather large thunder head forming in the mountains behind me. I only got 12 miles in before it hit, and it rained hard with lots and lots of lighting. I sat on the side of the freeway away from my cart and waited for someone to call me back and either come get me, or wait for the storm to pass. I sat there for an hour, and not one single car stopped to check on me. What a day... Glad it's over. Howard, my next host that also lives in Buffalo, came and got me. We had a few scares with my cart because it wasn't secured properly. That nearly put me over the edge of my breaking point. The third time we stopped, I just jumped in the truck and laid it like I originally wanted to do and then we were go to go.

Howard and Virginia live in a beautiful log home in ranch-land. They have a nice view of the buttes and it is so quite. After I showered, I went up to the  house and we all sat outside drinking some coffee and watched the hummingbirds fight over the feeders. The temperature was in the 60's and it felt so good! For dinner we had fried chicken with potato salad and I went to bed around 8, hopefully tomorrow will be a better day.

Another beautiful day! Story, WY is just gorgeous; it's a picture perfect log cabin community nestled in the mountains with creeks and pines. Deer feeding with their fawns and the sound of Sand Hill cranes calling to each other. As well as turkeys hiding in the trees with their babies, and cowboys taking their dogs for a walk while riding their horses down the street to go check on their cows in the pastures below... I felt like I was in a movie, I don't think pictures could ever express how amazing this morning was. I didn't even listen to my iPod the first hour because the sounds of the mountains was just captivating. Birds singing, and creeks flowing...

The first few hours were also allllll down hill on a nice easy slope. Eventually I hit the freeway, and stayed on that for the rest of day. Once I got close to town, Allison found me and we talked a bit, and worked out when she would pick me up, which was around 2:30!!! Super early! Yay!

She took me back to her house and had to go back to work. So I waited around for the reported for the Buffalo newspaper to come and do an interview. He was there for about an hour, and then I showered and by that time, Allison and her husband, Kiley, got home and we set out to Crazy Days! Wasn't all that crazy.... But we had a great night hanging out at the brewery, and got home at 11PM! That is soooo late for me. But it was totally worth it, I had such a good time! Allison is hilarious, and I think we hit it off pretty well.

Today was a great day. It flew by and it was so beautiful. The weather has really started to cool off and I was still on the old high way so it was pretty quite all day.

On my way out of town, a reported for the KOTA TV station stopped and did an interview  <---- click!

I walked through downtown and a few people stopped who had read about me in the paper and I got a few donations. As I walked out of town, one of Jolly's friends, Betsy, stopped and walked me for awhile. That was nice, and she gave me a donation! 

After she left was about the time I started to go up... I gained about 1500 on elevation and watched as the clouds started to build over the mountains. It slowly went from grass and sage brush to pines and it smelled so good! I meet some great people up in the mountain when I had use the bathroom... I saw a woman out in a front yard, I was pretty desperate at this point, so I went up the yard and asked to use her bathroom. She said it wasn't her house, it was her in-laws but I was welcome to go around the back of the house and find a bush because she didn't know where the spare key was hidden... Okay fine, as I was doing that, a truck pulled in the drive and the guy got out and was asking the woman where I was... "Oh, she's in the bushes behind the house peeing."     Nice.........   lol

He was looking for me because he was going to get me a rain jacket if I didn't have one on me because the rain was probably going to be hitting soon. How sweet! I didn't need one though. I talked with them a bit about dino fossils in the area, and how the woman knew my contact in Sheridan. 

I said my good byes, and continued up the mountain and came to a 8% grade, which was close to the end of my day. Luckily, Dana showed up half way through, and I put BMW in her car, and walked the rest of the way up the hill. 

That night Dana and L.E. took me out to a really nice restaurant in downtown Sheridan, and I had a fantastic plate of linguine and clams, and afterwards we went down to The Mint. A famous bar that had been around forever and is decorated with lots of dead animals and pictures of cowboys. Super awesome place! What a good night, meet lots of nice people and drank some good beer, and ate even better food.

Had a quick 20 mile day into Sheridan. Spent most of it on the old highway, and only the last 5 mile son the freeway. Such beautiful country out here. Birds singing everywhere, huge trees hugging the creeks, and rolling hills for miles and miles.

A few people stopped today. One couple in-particular really got under my skin. They stopped to see if I OK, and when I said yes, and told them what I was doing, they went on and on and on about all the crazys out there and that I shouldn't be out here doing this alone. I told them that I have been looking for all the crazy people that everyone keeps telling me are all over the place, but I have yet to find them, but if I did, I would be sure to take the appropriate measures to ensure my safety. I was trying to be funny, but they didn't like my humor I guessand continued to tell me how crazy I was... I got tired of the bashing, and began to walk away as I told them to have a good day, the husband didn't like that either, and told me how rude I was for walking away from a conversation. I smiled and waved and told them that I had to be on my way. They drove off.

First people that really just didn't get it. Not bad for the first 2 1/2 months. After that it was smooth sailing, and as I got into town, a photographer came out to take some pictures for the Sheridan Post that will probably be out tomorrow. We decided to meet up later at my next hosts house, Dana and L.E. later on around dinner time so he could get some pictures of my time after walking.

Dana came and picked me up at the Kmart, and took me back to her place. We just sat down to eat dinner, when Justin the photographer came and we all went outside and had a conversation about my troubling route to Spearfish, SD. He said he would make some phone calls, so hopefully something comes through there. Meanwhile, a friend of Dana's called back and said that she could host for 2 of my 7 nights I need help with, so that's pretty awesome!

After dinner, I went upstairs to my room and got some work and went to bed. Tomorrow should hopefully be a short day with only 18 miles and an early start.

So much cooler today; a high of 88 made it a much more enjoyable day. I was still in the river valley, so it was still pretty flat, and tons of trees near the creek and pastures full of hay or cows in the surrounding area. I saw my first peasant today, I thought it was a road runner for a split second, but quickly realized it was yet another creature to check off my list of things to see.

The only hill I had was the hill to get me up to Wyoming! My 4th state! I was pretty excited when I got there, I stood and stared at the sign for awhile, just trying to take it in. That was just about the only real excitement for the day. Jolly came and picked me up around 4, and we went to a bar out in the middle of no where, and got a beer to celebrate. That bar cracked me up, it is literally in the middle of no where, on the old highway. An oasis in the Wyoming desert I suppose...

Went home and put on my bathing suit and went down to the river where Jolly's family was and stood in the cool water for a while and chatted it up for awhile. Super nice group of people, very open and welcoming. After a good soak, I went and showered and relaxed for awhile until dinner was ready around 7:30.

I love this house, it's such an old log cabin and has been built on so much, it has turned into a maze of hallways, rooms, and bathrooms. Tons of pictures of family cover the walls, with "life quotes" all over the place, as well as nic-nics and other tid-bits; a well lived in home. There were also Peacocks on the property... a little strange, and the cows like to graze right outside my cabin window. I can hear them chewing away, and huffing and puffing. The are really rather noisy when I'm trying to write...

Another great family, I will be back for sure to visit Jolly. I would love to see more of her ranch and just hangout for awhile, it seems like there is always something going on around here.

Today was HOT. It got up to 98 and there was NO BREEZE ALL DAY. I thought it would never end. The scenery was beautiful, with a creek flowing through (couldn’t get to it though, private property) and huge cottonwood trees and it was very flat. Got stopped by quite a few people, but no food, or donations, and I hate to say it, but I was in no mood, I just wanted to be done. Every time I stopped, the heat from the asphalt just radiated up and made me that much hotter.

I got a hold of Jolly, my next host, and she was going to meet me around 4, which would give me a 22 mile day. 

Jolly’s family has ranched in this area for 117 years! She lives in an old log cabin house and her sister is here for the summer helping her out and her daughter and son in-law came with their kid, and their friends from Washington are also here with their two kids. So need-less to say, it’s a full house!

I have my own little cabin with to twin beds and a night stand, so I just have to share a bathroom in the main house. We had hot dogs, green beans and a salad for dinner, and roasted marshmallows over a camp fire and watched the full moon rise over the hills with the horses grazing in the foreground, just amazing, and totally relaxing and made my HOT, miserable day completely worth it.

Boating day! Kristie and family took me to Big Horn Lake at the border of Montana and Wyoming. The lake is man-made from a dam up by Hardin, it sits in a canyon and there are no real beaches, just towers cliff walls, some a few hundred feet high. The water was the perfect temperature for a hot summer day, kinda cold, but feels really good when you jump off a 30 feet ledge or when getting tossed around in a three person tube.

Kristie and Shane’s friends came with their son, who is a year older than Kayden. We pretty spent to day either hanging out on the boat having a few drinks, or jumped on the tube and went for a ride. We also did some cliff jumping and I saw five big horn sheep! Four females and a ram, so that was a good way to end the day.

We all went out to dinner at a little restaurant in a tiny town that I can’t remember the name of… and I had the chicken fried steak which was fantastic. We spent a good amount of time there because the service was very slow, and we didn’t get home until 8 that night. I finally had to pack up my stuff. I stayed nearly a week here. In my own little apartment above the garage and I am going to miss this family soooo much! It was great being able to stay in one spot for so long and really get to know the folks I’m staying with. I know I will be seeing them again. Love you all.

The plan for the day was to walk 21 miles and have Kristie from Laurel pick me up. It was hot, with no breeze.

I had tons of people from the Crow tribe stop to welcome me into their town, and gave me cold drinks, food and donations! It was a really good day for that. Meet some great people, and had no problems what-so-ever. The kids were the best, handing a few dollars along with whatever drink they had brought for me.

Really, nothing too exciting.  I did run into some horses on the frontage road. Never had that happen before. I was a little nervous because usually the horses I see are on the other side of a fence, and are generally very curious about my cart, so I didn't know what to expect since there was no fence between us. Luckily, they were like any other animal that sees my cart, afraid. They ran away down the road whenever I got too close.

Kristie picked me up around 4 and took me to the Little Bighorn Battlefield. I had a look around the museum, and then we drove around the park. I was pretty hot and tired by then, so I didn't get out a lot, but it was nice to go and see a part of American history. We ate dinner at the Trading Post and had some amazing Indian tacos and then headed an hour and half back to the house. Relaxed for awhile, and headed off to bed to get some good rest for our boat trip tomorrow!

Today started off back at Kristie's house with the Jimmy Dean sausage biscuit for breakfast. We left around 7 and drove all the way to my last drop off point about 21 miles outside of Hardin. I was on the road in walking around 8 a.m.

As soon as Kristie drove away I realized that my iPod was dead and I didn't have my solar charger to charge it... I was totally bummed out that I had to spend the entire day on the freeway with no iPod. But I kept on walking and about 6 miles down the road I came to an exit that had a frontage road, so I looked it up and it went all the way to Hardin! So I jumped on that because I figured it would be a nice quiet road, and it was quite nice and peaceful, and the traffic was very minimal so i got to enjoy the sounds of the hay blowing in the wind and the trains drive by.

By 2 o'clock I was almost to the edge of Hardin and a nice man stops to tell me he had seen me the other day, he offered to go into town to get me some ice. When he came back not only did he have ice, but he also had fried chicken, an apple, and some cold Powerade. Awesome! I thanked him very much and was on my way to town.

After I talk to him I was stopped by a man with his family, he said his wife saw me on the news the other day and he wanted to thank me for what I was doing. Before he left we exchanged cards and he asked me how people donate, I told him for every $10 I receive I get to carry one more bead to give to a child in the Beads of Courage program so he reached his pocket and pulled out $10 and gave it to me. Directly after that, a woman from the store came running out to tell me that the newspaper man with coming, she had called him earlier and told him that I was in town, my mom had also called this morning to let him know. So then he stop by and took some pictures and did a quick interview and then it was time to get picked up!

Today Linda stop to get me, I met her husband, Dick, on the side of the road the other day when he gave me a donation. They tried to find a place for me to stay in Hardin but no one was available, so she came to pick me up to take me back to her house which is on a huge ranch where most of her family also live. They raise Border Collies and have a bunch of horses. Beautiful property, so quite with no one around.

She showed me to my room downstairs and I took a nice hot shower and relaxed until dinner time. At dinner, I met Josh, a guy who helps out on the ranch, and we ate biscuits and gravy, watermelon, and homemade lemon meringue pie. After dinner, everyone went off to do work, so I sat outside and watched the horses and drank some tea. I was in bed around 9 and slept like a log.