Hello Everyone,

I trekked 20.02 miles today and made it to about four miles south of Doyle, and 45 miles south of Susanville. I am camp on the side of 395 in an area well sheltered from the wind and highway. It abuts open grass range land and I can hear the cattle on the other side of the tall bushes. I also hear a train blowing it’s horn in the distance and it’s one of those sounds that I find soothing because it reminds me of my childhood in Holland.

I walked until after five today, which I do not like to do, but the trek felt so much better than yesterday. Other than pain in my left foot from the plantar fasciitis, I was in a good rhythm. The new shoes have been great, especially since I have had to walk on the gravel shoulder more, and of course the four miles of gravel road yesterday. Knock on wood, but no pain or hot spots on my toes or feet so far.

The road today was fairly level, with gentle rolling up and down hills. It was four lanes with a wide shoulder for about the first 3-4 miles and then narrowed down to two lanes, but still with a wide shoulder. Traffic wasn’t too bad for a Sunday and it should be quieter tomorrow. I can already hear that it has slowed down drastically from the day.

My first stop was Hallelujah Junction, which was four miles from last night’s camp. It is just a gas station with a minimart. I bought two 20 oz drinks, filled both 34 oz drinking bottles with water and electrolyte drink powder, and filled both one gallon water bottles because I am not sure if I’ll find water before Susanville. It was in the high eighties again, and as it turned out, I drank all four drinks, and then had some from the gallon bottle.

I also bought an apple and was sitting outside the store when I heard a man, who had rode in on a Harley motorcycle and was dressed like a wannabe biker, yell to the woman that was with him. “Hey, do you have to pee too?” Well, he actually yelled it in Dutch. She said, “na, Ik ben gout (no, I am good).” Hope I spelled that right? I casually said to him, in a Dutch, “if she doesn’t here, there are plenty of bushes along the road.” Well that sure got his attention! That should be a lesson, you never know who might hear what you are saying, so be careful.

As it turned out they were Dutch tourist that had rented a motorcycle to tour the west for two weeks and had only been here four days. Of course he was shocked that in the middle of nowhere, a lone man sitting on a curb and eating an apple, could speak Dutch. We had a nice little chat and he laughed at the whole situation. He was also impressed that the Wheelie was from Holland.

I could tell that I was getting away from the city and out in the country by the reaction of a few other nice people that pulled in and talked to me. It sure was different than the casino people. Got lots of questions and a few good luck handshakes. Those are always welcome with me.

Other than that stop nothing really happened and the walk was quite nice because of the terrain and scenery. The road did parallel a small creek, Long Valley Creek, but it was not really accessible from the road. Sometimes that is a problem with finding a camp site too because it’s fenced off from the road.

I did forget to mention that yesterday, for most of the morning I had different stunt planes, and groups of planes, flying over me from the Reno Air Show and Races that were going on this weekend. It helped to keep my mind off of the gravel road.

Tomorrow I hope to find a store or gas station at Doyle and hopefully fill up the water bottles. I have another 41 miles to Susanville, which could be two or three days of trekking without additional water.

Hopefully I will send an update tomorrow if there is service. As always, please keep sending me positive thoughts and prayers. Please excuse the typos, grammar, spelling, etc.

Ted