|
1.21.09 12:30pm Old Church, Safford, AZ
Daren’s Blog
 Chilly morning: … Whew! The morning went fast…. Probably a lot faster now that my friend Alex is walking with me. The morning was full of good conversation and just shooting the bull. Before I knew it we were at the Blazer and halfway done with the day and on our way to find Bryan about 10 miles up the road!
Lunch: Lunch was good…. The typical lunch for us is either PB n J and I make up some Tuna and about 4 packets of Mayonnaise…MMM.. I then proceed to as a lunch ritual to hit rocks with the Louisville slugger and usually end up playing the harmonica as Bryan or Alex rocks the Backpacker Guitar… people look at us like we are not quite right…. It is good stuff J
Blisters: Today Alex decided that it was in the best interest of his giant blister on the bottom of his right foot not to walk the second shift of the day. It was fine with me… I felt like running a little of the day and ended up rocking the last 10 miles of the day in 2 hours. 5 mph! I am pretty excited about that.
Hook-up!: We went to McDonalds to eat and then afterward was looking for a starbucks… the starbucks was actually a church and before we know it we are going to church… then after a conversation with the Pastor he found us a place for use to stay! Awesome! I handed out business cards and all of that jazz…. We got free drinks from the Cafe and that is where I am right now… The old church where they used to have service… it is nice to not to be man-witched in the back of the blazer…. 3 people in the Blazer makes for quite the night for good sleep (Insert Extreme Sarcasm Here)
Well it is way to late for me to be up and I still need to add some pictures to the website! Gotta go to bed.. it is 12:30
1:22.09 Old Joes Café Duncan, AZ
Daren’s Blog
Alex has been with me for the past three days and I love it… he is a good friend and it is ridiculous when he is around…
Fast Morning: Today was good…10 in the morning.. it started to rain some but now that bad… and where we met bryan for lunch was beautiful… the rock formations were gorgeous…. I had tuna with like 6 mayo packets… Yummo! After hitting some rocks with the baseball bat We took off again for the next 10 miles… I feel freaking fantastic… I dont hurt anymore and I have been running half the time.
Dinners: Since Bryan and I are ridiculously tired at the end of every 40 miles day we usually are too tired to cook something to every night we go out to dinner somewhere and tonight we ate at Old Joe’ café.. Duncan, AZ . is an old mining town and the Café is the only restaurant in town so we went and I had the best patty melt I have ever had.. .good stuff… after using their WIFI we asked the owner if we can park in the back… he gave the ok and now here we are…. I am in the back of the Blazer still moochin the WIFI from the store. Instead of trying to fit 3 in the blazer tonight Alex decided to Set up the Kelty tent and sleep by the car. It is going to be cold tonight!
Trail Music: The night was fun… We switched the car around and hung out on this cold brisk night as we played the guitar and harmonica talking about girls and shooting the bull. We called some friends and Alex played guitar and I rocked my harp with him… The night was just a really cool night…. Even though the town sucks it is good to be with friends…
Ok..I am getting really really tired and I better get some sleep…. This is life to the Fullest! Going to Bed now! Nite, Daren
Bryan’s Blog
Thank you Ol’ Jo Café! We made it to the town of
Duncan today.
Duncan is a mining town…enough said. But out of all that wasn’t there, the Ol’ Jo Café came to our aid. I would have never guessed they had Wifi, but of course I was wrong. We had a good dinner after a long day of walking in the last part of
Arizona ! Woohoo! We are three miles away from the border of
New Mexico . But we couldn’t find a place to stay so we parked the Black Beauty behind the café and camped out there. Today was my first day of rain. Luckily, it wasn’t too heavy. But it still kind of sucked. Oh well…its gone now.
So far every night that I get done walking, I evaluate how my body is feeling after walking almost a marathon a day, and I think to myself how could I possibly take another step?! And yet, the next day, I get up and walk another 20 miles. It’s weird. After a marathon it takes me almost a week to heal. Out here, I have 12 hours to heal. But it works out. I can’t believe it. Of course I run the whole time in a marathon. But I do run out here a little too and it’s very mountainous. So it’s similar. Anyway, time to sleep in the car…yay.
Album of the Day – “Continuum” by John Mayer
1.23.09: Lordsburg, NM
Daren’s Blog
 Crossed the Border!: New Mexico baby! Whew! This morning we got up from old Joe’s and got going around 9:00… About three miles in we crossed the AZ/NM border! I believe that was the 16th state that The Earth Expedition has crossed! Awesome! Other then visiting friends…I have no reason ever to visit the places I have walked through!
Pressin on: Alex is still with us and has been rocking out the miles and kicking butt and taking names…. Except his feet are nasty.. he has a pretty deep blister that he tapes as well as medicates! The last 5 miles of this day he was limping! Lol.. I was laughing at him.. I know how it feels and it sucks really bad.
I was actually picking up some radio today… it was nice to hear what is going around in the world..
The Land of Enchantment: The Landscape is really empty.. there is nothing for miles…. As Alex and I were walking we could see the car parked on the side of the road 2 miles away and the roads were straight out of the Forest Gump Movie. We had one person back up and ask us if we wanted a ride…. We explained that we were doing and then they took off and left us in the desert. There were times we would go for 15-30 minutes without a car…. It also rained today…. It rained yesterday as well… Kinda sucks but it makes me feel hardcore.. out in the middle of nowhere…. It is pretty sweet because people see Bryan about 10 miles ahead of us and then the Blazer and then Alex and then me… so it seems like a race and there are people to honk and wave to us all of the time…..
AHHHH: Today was a long day… I was getting really really tired for some reason… I have been feeling really really good over the past week… I just don’t think I have been eating enough.. My Appetite is coming back… I was so hungry today I thought about nibbling on a dead bloated coyote on the side of the road… Ok.. not really…it was in the middle of the road….ok.. that is just gross.
 Free Showers: Once we picked up Bryan we came back to Lords burg hoping to find a Star bucks to get some coffee and free wifi we found out there was not one so we just went to McDonalds instead… We got the usual and then proceeded to try to find a truck stop with a shower…… We went to one of them and they wanted $8.75 for a shower… geez! We then drove over to the other truck stop and I told Bryan that I want him to flash the business card and tell them that we are walking for a charity…. Sell the wares ya know… he came out with a smile on his face… he got us three free showers! Awesome considering that they are originally $10.75 a pop! Good stuff…. We haven’t had a shower in 2 days and after walking all day it is really nice to get a shower and not crawl into the back of the blazer all sweaty and gross.
Blame it on the Rain: The sucky thing about when it rained today is that it was enough to puddle on the road so when the big semis come by they drag a cloud of water mist into you face…. It is great to get a layer of oil and dirt paste to your body.. makes you feel sooo good! J Water for the African People!
Ok… I gots to get going… I am slowly crashing! Off to Silver City tomorrow! “Life to the Fullest”
Bryan’s Blog
I shouldn’t have said anything about the rain yesterday…it rained again today, yet harder. And my route on the afternoon leg was up one huge hill into the
Burro
Mountains . It was a pretty tough day. But I did get a free shower and clothes wash with the rain! That’s always a plus.
We camped out at the Pilot truck stop for the night. I found the manager of the truck stop, Diane, and asked if we could use one shower instead of three separate ones to save money, and she gave us three showers completely free! It was such a blessing! We haven’t showered since Bylas and we were filthy. So that night was good.
I realized that in my normal life at home I can eat whatever and whenever I want, travel wherever I want and fast, shower whenever I want with clean hot water, and sleep on a comfortable bed under a roof whenever I want. Though food, cleanliness, sleep, and a home are necessities, how accessible they are makes them a luxury. I feel like a king back at home now that I live out of a car. It’s like a scavenger hunt just to try and find anything free like a shower or a place to stay. I feel very blessed to live like I do back in
Dallas . Because out here, it doesn’t feel so good. This expedition makes me appreciate what I have and I am thankful for that.
“Another day, another dog biscuit” – Alex Christensen
Album of the day – “Kid A” by Radiohead
1.24.09 Silver Springs, NM Back parking lot of the Super 8 motel
Daren’s Blog:
 Ahhh.. today was an easy day really.. the miles just flew by… I think it had some thing to do with having free minutes on my phone and me calling a bunch of people today… the miles just melted away….. I still feel pretty good.. but I am really tired right now as I am laying next to Alex, and Bryan in the back of this small blazer.
The scenery was good today… I crossed the Continental Divide around lunch time and was pretty pumped about that…. I got a picture with Alex at 6,355 SO we are up in the mountains now and I am just really excited that it is not really that cold…I am sure that it will be tonight but I am in the sauna right now with these two in the Blazer and I think I am going to have to open the door here in a little bit.
Long Shot: We had to try…. I had this great idea that if we go to all of the hotels in town and ask them if there is something that they could do for us… and about 6 times we got nothing! They either did not have the power to do anything or none of them were willing to budge. Then we went to the fire department.. I have had luck with them in the past but they said no too! So we ended up defeated and got some groceries and headed for the back lot of one of the hotels.
More funny pictures today with Alex… Even though he is hurting pretty bad…he still did ten today! …. Well tomorrow we hit Deming and I am pretty sure that we are going to have a place to stay… so we are pretty excited about that!
Welll… I don’t think too much else happened today…other than eating again at McDonalds..I am just beat…going to bed!
“Life to the Fullest” Daren
Bryan’s Blog:
We past over the Continental Divide today! There was a sign and everything! Then a big downhill...always a plus. We made it to
Silver
City today! Though it was depressing how long we tried to find a place to stay because we were sick of sleeping sardine style in the Black Beauty. We tried seven motels to see if we could at least get a shower and no one could help. Then we went to the fire department to see if we could use their showers and they even said “no.” Daren stayed at a few fire departments when he was walking on the
Appalachian Trail and thought it would work, but not in
Silver
City . So we tried to park at the Walmart where we could use the bathroom if we needed to but we couldn’t camp there either! So we stayed behind a motel…I was so uncomfortable. I have never in my entire life had hip pain when I sleep, but I did last night. Well its over now and we are on to Deming. Another day, another dog biscuit.
Album of the Day – “Inter.funda.stifle” by Fair to Midland
1.25.09 Deming, NM. at the Comfort Inn
Daren’s Blog:
Bad Sleep: Last night I slept horrible and I am sure that Alex and Bryan did as well as we were all tossing and turning all night in the back of the Blazer. We woke up to below freezing temps as well as a ton of moisture from our breathe that was running down the inside of the windows. I didn’t want to get out of my sleeping bag. We ended up throwing everything from the front of the car to the back and headed over to Wal-Mart to use the bathroom, Brush teeth and change before heading out for the walk to Deming, NM.
Alex: Alex is still with us but he decided to take the day off today for his feet are pretty bad. As I write he is on the bed next to me with his legs elevated for his foot swelled up today. He has a blister the looks pretty bad as well.. I would be surprised if he walks tomorrow.
 Miles Ahead: I could see miles ahead today on 180 for the road was ridiculously straight for about 40 miles. There was not too much that happened today. A couple of dogs joined me for about 2 miles…They looked hungry so I gave them a Larabar. But other than that…..The same old… Wake up, Vaseline in some choice places and start walking. It takes anywhere between 2-2.7 hours to finish the first 10 miles and then lunch break for 1 hr and then another 10 miles and then we call it a day. We go eat somewhere and then try to find a place to stay…if we can’t then we try to find some sort of Parking lot and turn in. That is a normal day for us… Needless to say after 6 days of that…. I am getting tired…but it is amazing what the human body can do.
Faceburn: I look like a raccoon…that’s all I want to say about that
Comfort inn: We were blessed today! Bryan’s sister paid for us to have a hotel! Bryan and I told the guy at the counter what we were doing and if he could give us a deal… he said no at first and then he said that he would give us the family deal! SWEET! Oh my goodness… it is so nice to get a shower and I am looking forward to sleep on a bed tonight. They also had a hot tub which was great on the sore muscles… holy cow…Ok.. I just filled the coffee pot up with apple juice from the lobby am going to try to rest tonight and not be on the computer. Thanks for following!
“Life to the Fullest” Daren
Bryan’s Blog
We walked all the way from
Silver
City to Deming! It was a straight shot of nothingness…it was like Salome Road 2. The weird part was that as I walked toward Deming, Alex and I noticed something in the sky. Now I know what you’re thinking…”
Bryan , don’t pull the UFO card on me.” I’m not doing that, but I am saying that I have never seen anything like that before. But I can understand why UFO’s would come out here if they did. There is NOTHING OUT HERE! No one would see them. And, I swear the mountain in Deming is the mountain in Close Encounters of the Third Kind. No joke. But anyway, I found out that the floating thing in the sky was a huge camera for the Border Patrol. We are not too far from the border and they use it to scan the land for illegal immigrants. It also shines out a bright light at night. So I’m sure people think it’s a UFO, but its not.
The best part of the day was when my awesome, lovely, incredible sister, Rachael, donated money to let us stay in a hotel room tonight! It was such a wonderful gift because we haven’t stayed in a bed since…well…
Dallas . This is incredible. We get a shower, hot tub, and nice bed to finally get some sleep on. I know it seems like the high life which is the exact opposite of what we are doing, but we did not have a contact in this town and we simply just needed the recovery. It’s been a hard six days and we have gone 240 miles. So every once in a while, if someone donates, we will stay in a hotel.
On that note, if anyone would like to donate a night of stay in a hotel for us in the future, please email Daren at Daren@theearthexpedition.com. We won’t need this every night, but every once in a while it will help us tremendously for recuperation. Thanks guys!
“Another day, another dog biscuit”
Album of the Day – “Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence” by Dream Theater
|
