We rushed to get on the road this morning and all piled into the yellow bus only to find that we had no gas. So we piled out and waited. I started picking up trash as I often do and Nathan shuttled some of the walkers and then brought gas to us. I anxiously waited to join the walk and was sad to pass yet another state line in a vehicle as the walk chose not to wait for us. I carried the Earth Flag today. It felt really good to carry it. It was hot but I’m getting so that I don’t notice it as much anymore. A guy was walking around interviewing us during breakfast -I’m guessing he was one of those reporter people. He sat down next to Jun-San and started asking questions. “Why are you on the Longest Walk?” and Jun-San responded “Because I have a foot!” We get that question a lot and also “Why are you walking?” so often that I’m starting to feel like a computer in the way I respond.
Breakfast was very yummy. Whenever the Japanese people are on kitchen crew we eat really healthy, tasty food. Kiyoko is a cook in Japan and she has been the most consistent dedicated cook on the walk. The only reason she hasn’t been here the whole time is because she had to return to Japan to renew her visa. She is always hanging out around the kitchen cooking yummy things for us and she walks everyday. She is very dedicated.
After eating breakfast we continued walking. I missed running a lot today. The problem is that there aren’t very many miles left to cover so with the few running miles that are left there aren’t enough to satisfy all the runners. I was thinking it would be really cool to run as a group.
We missed one of your breaks that we normally take every one hour or so because the mayor of Clarksville was waiting on us. We walked through town and he gave us a very kind, thoughtful speech and we meet a local family. They all had joined us for the walk with their children. I love it when people walk with their children.
After the speech in the parking lot and a short break they told us it was not safe for us to walk to cross the bridge. A new walker handed me her stuff because she wanted to run across the bridge and I was like “We’re running across the bridge!?” I quickly handed my stuff to Brian and sprinted after the runners. I caught up with them and crossed the bridge and then ended up running all the way into camp. We walked in a circle and then had a circle and prayed together. The host families have been really good to us here. They fed us marinated deer, beans, fresh fruit for lunch. Plus it was Hlah Twee’s birthday and per Burmese custom he prepared food for us. I also noticed him picking up trash during the walk. He’s Buddhist so usually he drums during the walk.
The host family invited us back to their community to watch a documentary and Mariposa and I eagerly left. We watched a documentary on fossil fuels called “Crude Oil” until Mariposa feel asleep with a pen in her hand sitting up. They showed us to a spare bedroom-the sons kindly all slept in the same room so we could have our own but we didn’t end up sleeping for awhile. We just sat and talked with the kids and some other walkers and it was really nice just to hang out and relax. It was a little too nice though as I didn’t get to sleep until 2am. The End.
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