Day Six

Friday, April 13, 2018
Feast of Saint Martin I (Last Pope to be martyred)

There were a solid five minutes where I hated this day. You can read about why in the Crossbearer's Log below. However, because of this incident, I got to walk five miles with my dad. I wish I could walk with my dad more often, but he needs a driver. Thus making this walk a happy incident. We walked down Thornton Street where there wasn't a shoulder, but the weedy surface on the side of the road was flat. Dad and I waved to everybody who moved over for us, and we counted the waves we got back! It was over half, in case you were wondering.
The walk was gorgeous, lined with vineyards, but I had two distinctive happy moment on this walk. The first was passing a small yellow house with a bright red rosebush in front. And a single calla lily plant. The image of that house in the vineyards is painted onto the inside of my eyelids. I just had to stop and take it in before running to catch up with my dad.
The second was walking past a yard full of cows and they all walked to the fence and watched us. I wanted to say hi so badly, but there was a small ditch separating me from happiness! But an extension of that experience was their calves in what looked like oversized dog crates. There must have been about twelve dozen lined up. As we walked, all the calves came ut of their crates and watched us. I loved them! The crates were lined up back- to-back, so some of the calves were sticking their faces out of a hole in the back of the crate as we approached, and they ran to the front when we passed. My heart longed, still longs, to play with them.

Crossbearer's Log

Today began with an approximate eleven miles on Highway 12 from Interstate 5. I crossed two bridges and walked roughly seventeen minute miles for sixteen and a half miles. The first nine miles were on dirt and gravel surfaces. I have grown tired of the heavy traffic and walked as quickly as I could to get off of Highway 12.

Met Laura at the Flying J on Highway 12 and Thornton Street in Lodi, California. Put the cross in the Chinook for a bathroom and refreshment break and locked it up. Laura dropped the keys in the toilet and they were automatically flushed into Lodi's sewer system. [Editor's Note: This was a bad moment for Laura as she flushed the most perfect pineapple keychain]. This resulted in us calling my son, Daniel, to bring my set of keys from his house in Sacramento [ Editor's Note: Whose fault is it we were locked out? Laura's or Dad's?]. Daniel graciously took the rest of the day off work and came to our aide. 

While we were keyless, I headed North on Thornton Street for five miles and East on Peltier Street for one half a mile until Daniel picked me up. These last five and a half miles for the day were sadly carried without the cross.

Overall, this day was pretty magical.

Today's Coordinates:
Beginning:
N 38°7.6612'
W 121°35.0588'
Elevation: -23 ft.
Course: Stationary

Ending:
N 38°11.3604'
W 121°23.4429'
Elevation: -14 ft.
Course: N O T