Lance's Blog: July 2010

Saturday, July 24, 2010

THE JOURNEY ENDS TODAY

This is going to be a difficult one to write. My little break has turned into a show stopper. I never thought I would be writing these words here or now but the journey is over. There was a medical issue with my brother that put me in a holding pattern a few days back. I was told by a doctor at the hospital that he was "at the end of his road " and that he would not be surprised to read about him in the obituaries in two days or so. He was admitted into the hospital and tests and panels were immediately run on him. He was stabilized but as the specialist told me he was going to need some help if was going to survive this. After four days in this hospital, he was released to me and I drove him directly to St. Louis, where he was put on a direct flight to California. He is now back there meeting with the necessary doctors to try to save him. They are not sure he will get a transplant organ in time, so I am going back home to be there for a surgery that may require me giving him a portion of my liver in a procedure that will hopefully prolong his life. We share the same blood type, the same parents, both males and are only separated by two years. The doctor said that these and other variables may make me the perfect donor. So with that said, I am on my way home to try and make this happen and at the same time ease some of my moms suffering. I don't know what is going to happen but I do know what will happen if I don't go. The choice to leave our journey is a difficult one, but one I have made, knowing that is what Mackenzie would have insisted on and knowing it is taking me where I belong right now. I will continue the journey as soon as humanly possible. If I am needed, I will do what is necessary, recover and go. If I am not needed, I will ensure he is going to be fine, and then continue. At this time I cant say how long it will be but I can promise it will happen. The only way that it won't is if something happens to me. I am sorry to those involved and have been honored to have had the opportunity to share with you the journey to this point. Most of all I am sorry Mackenzie, but I cant help but wonder if this may have something to do with the constant struggles that kept me close enough to react. I guess that only time will tell. I will continue to blog when possible to keep any whom are still interested informed on how this all turns out and when I will be back at it. I only ask that if you are one who prays, that you include my brother Ed in them. Know that it is with a heavy heart that I leave this journey on hold and my apologies to those waiting on the other side, especially Rob and Andy and the kids. I will be in touch and I will be home soon. Thank you from Mackenzie and I both, for sharing the journey with us to this point, it will continue.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

TUESDAY JULY 20, 2010 FRAGO

I will be off for a few days to tend to something personal. I will be back at it immediately after and apologize to those following. This is something that should have been done earlier but I now know it cant wait any longer. Thanks for all of your support and know that this could not be avoided. Lance

Thursday, July 15, 2010

EVEN MORE FROM THE MISSOURI RIVER AND KATY

COULD NOT RESIST THIS ONE, JUST THOUGHT IT LOOKED WORTHY OF A LOOK.

THIS SIGHT AT THIS LOCATION PROBABLY HAS NEVER CHANGED OVER THE YEARS AND WILL NEVER CHANGE. ONE OF TWO BROTHERS I MET WHILE WALKING. NICK.

ONE OF THE KIDS I SAW FISHING AS I CROSSED ONE OF THE BRIDGES, NAMED BRANDON

BANKS OF THE MISSOURI

DON'T ASK...I DON'T KNOW HOW IT GOT UP THERE

MISSOURI RIVER LOOKING NORTH

ONE SERIOUSLY LARGE RIVER...THE MISSOURI

ONE OF THE OLD RAIL BRIDGES OVER THE MISSOURI RIVER

THE OTHER LOOK TO THE KATY

MORE FROM MISSOURI AND KATY TRAIL

ANOTHER VIEW FROM THE KATY TRAIL

MORE KATY

AND MORE KATY

AND MORE KATY, CAN'T HELP IT IT GOES ALL THE WAY ACROSS THE STATE

MORE KATY, IT IS A BEAUTIFUL PLACE

MORE OF THE KATY

VIEW FROM ONE OF THE MANY BRIDGES ON KATY

SAME

A CARDINAL, I THINK, I HAVE NEVER ACTUALLY SEEN ONE IN PERSON

BRIDGE CROSSING ON KATY

PICTURES FROM MISSOURI AND THE KATY TRAIL

HEADING EAST ON THE KATY TRAIL IN MISSOURI

LOOKING BACK TO THE WEST ON THE KATY TRAIL

I HAD NO IDEA THAT MISSOURI HAD AMISH , NICE PEOPLE, LOVED THEM IN KINGPIN

SUN UP AT ARROW ROCK MISSOURI

SAME

I GUESS I WON'T BE GOING ANY FATHER ON THIS TRAIL, STORM WAS UNBELIEVABLE

SOME TYPE OF FLOWER THAT GROWS EVERYWHERE AROUND HERE

TRAIL HEAD MARKERS ALONG THE KATY TRAIL

LAKE OF THE OZARKS

STORM COMING IN OVER THE LAKE OF THE OZARKS MISSOURI

JULY 16TH 2010 UPDATED FRIDAY AFTERNOON

,Here we go again, time to try and catch you up with what has been happening out here. As usual I will try to keep it in sequence to the best of my ability. Left my aunts house in Warsaw Missouri and headed for the Katy Trail. I found out about this trail from a man i met along the way, he told me that it crossed Missouri from west to east. Well the good news is that it does, the bad news is it leaves me too far north, in St. Louis. But because of the convenience of the trail, and the beauty of it, I decided to run it all the way out and catch a ride do south from there, as to not lose anymore mileage, and cross into Kentucky headed for Tennessee. Hopefully that gives everyone an idea of where I am going and why that route. As far as Missouri itself, it is hot as hell with ridiculous humidity right now. The first week or so was dodging thunderstorms and huge amounts of lightning and wind, tornadoes, and just like that...all heat, all the time. So much for climatizing, I have been thrown right into it and it is miserable. Don't get me wrong, I lived in this kind of heat and much worse while stationed in Georgia, NC and especially Panama, hell Mallorca is humid as hell every summer but I don't have to walk across it everyday. My problem is that I expect to be able to handle it the same as I did for all those years, and I am beating the crap out of myself, but I love it. I will be completely climatized by this weekend, kind of a trial by fire kind of thing. *I just wrote a 2 hour blog and went to post it and what you just read is all that posted. I am out of my mind pissed off right now, that was one of my best blogs to date, will do it all over tomorrow morning , its sleep time, sorry. Well its Friday and I will try this again, please ignore any accidental profanity, as I am still fuming at having to do this, AGAIN. Where were we? Oh ya, the force climatization thing, well I think I have beat that horse enough. So far I have met some great people while walking this trail. Some of the first being two men and a young man named Derek, bicycling a thirty mile route. During the conversation one of the men told me that he had just lost a son to an unexpected illness that came and took him without warning. We discussed the daily struggle of trying to continue moving forward and how his bicycling the trail helps him try to get his mind where it needs to be. He also told me of the foundation he has started and the great things they are doing for those in need, in the name and honor of his son. Great people with a tragic story and I wish him the best with his journey. The next day I ran across two guys also bicycling the entire trail, from start to finish. Their names are Jesse and Ben Sonnyboy, two young men with the world in their sights. They told me of their plans to sail the world on a sailboat and visit every country possible, to include Ireland, where they want to start a bar fight with the biggest guy in the pub by walking up and hitting him in the face and then making friends and sharing a pint together, it was one of the items on their "to do" list. They better hurry though because college starts for them next month. I am sure I will run across them in their journeys, I just hope it is not in a pub in Ireland. Next I met two boys fishing on a stream that I was walking over and I stopped and watched and took some pictures. Their names are Brandon and Nick and they are brothers. Muddy bare feet, and completely happy on a hot summer day, no Internet, no PlayStation, just a fishing pole and a smile. My guess would be that I could find them in that same spot, everyday, until school starts again. I also met two girls from the University of Missouri, riding their bikes along the trail from Columbia, where the university is, to the town I was in, about an hour and a half ride for them. They took the time to give me some good intel on the part of the trail that still waited for me. It was much appreciated and I wish them luck and lots of fun at school. The last people I will write about are Mr. and Mrs. Jerry James of New Franklin Missouri. The circumstances in which we met were strange but the story they told me later was even stranger. I had reached my resupply point in New Franklin where I was supposed to meet up with some support for resupply of water etc. However, my resupply was a no show and I proceeded to wait and wait. After three plus hours, I decided to walk into the town and try to figure out my next move. While contemplating throwing myself into oncoming traffic, I was greeted by this wonderful couple, who asked if I needed to use their cell phone. I replied that I did and they told me to follow them into their driveway. They then invited me to sit with them on their patio with them, offered me some iced tea and let me borrow their phone. I made contact with my resupply and enjoyed a nice conversation with my new friends. During this conversation I was told that they used to live in Tustin, California and that their daughter graduated from Foothill High School in 1971. Foothill is where I graduated from and coached football and where my brother and sister also graduated from. It is where Mackenzie was going to school when she left us. What are the chances of that? Well I know it is 100 percent since it did happen, but really, what are the chances? After exchanging emails and other information, I thanked them and continued on our journey. I am forever in their debt and will never forget them and if you are trying to picture this in your mind, know that Mr. James looks just like John Wooden and just as smart. Speaking of trying to envision this part of the journey, know that it is beautiful and green everywhere, clean and no graffiti anywhere. I fall asleep to the humming of locust and the singing of frogs and birds and the fireflies dancing just high enough off the ground for children to be able to chase with their out stretched arms, as we once did. When we would come back here on vacations, we used to catch the fireflies and put them in a jar to make lamps and we would use them to make rings for our fingers as well. I just wish Mackenzie could have seen these things with me in person so that we could have played and experienced all of this together. Every town I walk through, big or small, I find military memorials in the center of town. I have seen these and others like them everywhere from Arizona to where I currently am now. It makes me proud to know that I was part of what all these brave men were and all those that came before me. These parts of the country will never forget and neither will I. Everyone is so friendly here, everyone waves or greets you with a smile, it is indeed a welcome change from where I come from and I have missed this part of America and others like it. I also had to cross one of the biggest rivers in the country today, The Missouri. It took almost five minutes to cross on the bridge I was on by foot, I posted pictures of this too. I could go on forever about this place but I wont keep you any longer. I will continue to write when possible and I wish that I could have posted last nights version but last nights excitement was overtaken by today's frustration and this is what we are stuck with. Thanks for being a part of the past week.
*Mackenzie and I went car shopping a few years back and I bought a blue Tahoe that she picked out and had to have. We named her Big Blue and I cant see that I will ever part with it.