Happy and peace-filled day to you, our cherished TFT Community! 🙂
We are excited to publish yet another progress report, as the past couple of weeks are replete with miracles, new all-time records, photos, some videos, and lots of other content posted to our various media outlets. …Whereas we’d prefer to post this update weekly, sometimes ‘life happens’, so we combine two weeks into one report. Such is the case this for progress report #7, which covers the two-week period from June 1 through June 14th.
Before we delve in to the report #7 , we have a couple housekeeping items to remind everyone:
1) PLEASE take 60 seconds to: subscribe to our YouTube channel (and ‘like’ our videos), friend us on our FaceBook Page (and forward to others), lastly (and MOST IMPORTANTLY): pass along our weblink to those you know and ask them to subscribe by entering their email on the home page, in order to receive email notifications of these updates! Here are the links:
a) YouTube = https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnC8p75Hd5_t-U4Vp7rewKg
b) FaceBook = https://www.facebook.com/JourneythruLyme?ref=hl
c) Trek For Truth Homepage = www.TrekForTruth.org
All of this can be found immediately on our home page to the right side– here’s a screenshot:
2) Reminder that Logan maintains a daily trail journal on Trail Journals.com, if you’d like to see additional commentary and/or photos of the day-to-day journey, then go to this link: www.trailjournals.com/TrekForTruth).
Okey dokey?? …May we count on you to help promote our efforts by subscribing, liking and passing along our links to others? It literally takes a couple minutes; it helps us tremendously; we GREATLY appreciate anything you can do to help us broaden our TFT community. THANK YOU in advance.
…And now– On With The Progress Update for June 1–14!!!
When last we reported on May 31, Logan was departing Parkersburg, WV, and crossing the bridge into Belpre, OH for the Ohio segment of the American Discovery Trail (ADT). He has covered a LOT of terrain over the past two weeks! As I type this update at 11:11am EST June 14, he is just past Sinking Springs, OH ; he will reach West Union, OH by Tuesday evening. Here’s what the ADT route looks like through Ohio:
Click here
***SPECIAL EVENT NOTE: we are extracting Logan from the trail on Tuesday June 16th, to bring him back to Louisville so that he may participate in a VERY special TFT guest speaker event with Adam Kokesh on Wednesday, June 17. See the event update on our blog post yesterday and PLEASE PLAN TO ATTEND!***
I usually try to present these updates in a chronological fashion; to summarize the day-by-day in order of occurrence and related benchmarks along the way. I decided to start this report by inserting an entry and photo directly from Logan’s trail journal, Monday June 1, 2015:
Trail Angel Doug in Chesterhill OH
“Hit the trail at 7:45am and enjoyed quiet country roads all morning. Was a bit worried about water situation as I was already a bit dehydrated and almost out of water. As I walked through Vincent, I was greeted by Doug who was having a cup of coffee and a smoke before work. Bam…he immediately offered water and added coffee, a banana and trail snacks…thanks Doug! His dog Baxter kept me company while he filled my water bottles…what a great start to the day.”
Thank you, Doug, for being such a generous and kind human being– Thumbs up! 🙂
Trail Angel Maggie & her dog Jenna
Logan made comment on Tuesday that the Ohio trail segment (thus far) was like “West Virginia 2.0…except Ohio required some bushwhacking through heavy undergrowth and unmaintained trails. It was upon reaching Burr Oak Park that Logan encountered his next trail angel of the week, Maggie. Maggie and her husband own an orchard and they topped off Logan’s water supply–Thanks Maggie!
By Wednesday, June 3, Logan had reached Trimble Wildlife area, whereupon he was grateful to start his day with some fresh coffee, courtesy of trail Angels Sherry and Ron. Little did he know that there was even worse trail to come, with heavier briars, stinging nettle and plenty-o-spiderwebs in the face.
By Wednesday, June 3, Logan had reached Trimble Wildlife area, whereupon he was grateful to start his day with some fresh coffee, courtesy of trail Angels Sherry and Ron.
Bramble Knees
Little did he know that there was even worse trail to come, with heavier briars, stinging nettle and plenty-o-spiderwebs in the face.
As Logan commented in the journal, one has to take the good with the bad, and it could have been worse if he’d gotten way of trail and had to loop-back through the same brambles.
Fortunately, it got worse, for he did get off trail in the Trimble Wildlife area, which threw him behind schedule of reaching Murray City, OH as planned.
Wait- why is this ‘fortunate’, you might ask? …Well, you have to know the Logan truism about getting lost. It means that he is most likely, thereafter, to meet someone special– and he did! …Actually, he met three very special folks later that day; three more trail angels who sparked the theme of the videos entitled “Synchronicity, Soul Connections & Trail Magic”
The first, and next trail angel he met was Hershel. Hershel, a Vietnam veteran, provided water and a video interview that can be found on our FaceBook page here: https://www.facebook.com/JourneythruLyme?ref=hl
Trail Angel Hershel in Murray City OH
..I couldn’t copy the video from FB, so here’s a photo of Hershel.
A few miles later, Logan encountered a big threatening dog, upon which his owner called back the dog and invited Logan to have a cold drink. Thereupon, he met Bobbie and Misty, which resulted in a wonderful visit and two hours of scintillating conversation that made the trail diversion more than worthwhile.
It’s like our teacher Carmen always says: “…it’s all in divine order, dear…it’s all in divine order..” 🙂 –And she’s right, it always is. Check out these two videos, and I hope you enjoy both the message and synchronicity, as did I.
And here is part 2:
As of Sunday, June 7, Logan was departing The Inn Towner Motel (located in in Logan, OH, BTW); starting segment 4 of the Ohio trail and headed for Hocking Hills state park. He had just eclipsed 720 cumulative miles and was excited about the mail drop we’d coordinated– to provide him a pair of replacement shoes!
Ash Cave in Hocking Hills
Well, the mail drop worked out in that the package arrived at the state park office in time. On Monday night, however, he hit a bit of a snag. Actually, more than a bit… He made a video about it, which can be found on our FB page. He had an encounter with a park officer that resulted in having to break camp at midnight and hike in the pitch dark to find a place to re-pitch off park property.
Evidently, one is not allowed to be in the park after dark, unless at a camp-sight (sights were located 8 miles away from the trail), thus resulting in a hefty fine of $135. Ughhhhh!!! 🙁
This incident might not have been so demoralizing, had it not been for the torrential downpour that night. Suffice to say, Logan was fairly pissed about it at the time.
A couple days later when I spoke with him, I was totally amazed by his grace and change of attitude. He’d spent about 30 minutes talking to the officer about the perils of Lyme disease that night; he provided coaching/advice on ways to protect against tick-borne illness. As he recounted to me when we spoke a couple days later: “ya know…the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was probably a good thing to meet that park officer. She didn’t know much of anything about ticks and Lyme disease, and now she does…maybe this knowledge will be of help to her and others in her line of work…”
Although his attitude about the incident was better a couple days later, he was still fuming on Tuesday. Turns out, he channeled that ire into an all-time new record day…wait for it….
He hiked 26.50 miles on Tuesday and surpassed 760 cumulative miles that day –Whewwww–ee!!!
I, for one, can’t imagine walking 6.5 miles right now, much less 26.5– way to hike, Logan!
As of Friday, June 12, he is 8 weeks and 827 cumulative miles on the Trek For Truth journey. Most recently, he met some other very nice and interesting folks, including Mr. and Mrs. Mackie, Carey, and Patty who owns a local general store.
We’d like to give another big ‘TFT Thank you’ to trail angels Carey and his mom, who provided some ice water and directions along the way.
Patty has home schooled her 10 children (ages 10-30), and she is starting a blog called “Grown-up Conversations” emphasizing real discourse and critical thinking on important topics.
Mr. and Mrs. Mackie
Trail Angel Carey
Patty at her general store
This brings us to latest entry from Logan’s trail journal, Saturday June 13; he is located just east of Davis Memorial and sits at 849 miles:
“Starting to run on fumes…7th of 10 consecutive days averaging 20+ per day. No motel options near the trail. Just found out today I will go home for a couple off days next week. Drew and I were able to confirm that Adam Kokesh will make a stop in Louisville on 6/17 on his American Freedom Campfire Tour. My son Gabe will pick me up Tuesday evening and bring me back thurs or fri.”
Hang in there, Logan! You’ll get a shower soon; just a couple more days and you will have set another record for longest stint without a shower (…gotta find the humor, brother – God is found in the laughter) 🙂
Meanwhile, back at HQ, this past week involved some work-related travel for me. That plus my mom was in need of some help with getting her yard cleaned up at her Bed & Breakfast, where she resides. So, Oliver and Cuz spent the week at ‘Gammie’s’ home.
Cuz was king at the Carousel Inn
Speaking of man’s best friend, I simply cannot close this update without sending a MAJOR Kudos, salute and ‘Thank you’ to our dear friend, Janet Rowland, for the event that she and others coordinated on Saturday–it was remarkable!
Janet has helped tremendously to spearhead a group called UNITED Against Dog-Fighting.
Sadly, our state of Kentucky is the only state that has NOT (yet) made it illegal to own, posses, breed, train, sell or transfer dogs or their offspring for the purpose of blood sport- for fighting other animals. …Such a sad commentary on the state of our beloved Kentucky when such heinous, disastrous and sickening blood sports are allowed to continue–due in no small part to several myopic state representatives who are cajoled by special interest groups with direct ties to (and influenced by) Corp Agriculture lobbyist.
Say what? Factory farming (a.k.a. Corp Agriculture or ‘Corp Ag’) is somehow involved with stymieing and impeding legislation that would make dog-fighting illegal??? It sounds twisted –because it is.
I learned so much at the event about how state legislation REALLY works. Janet and team did an absolutely phenomenal job of presenting resource material, facilitating the meeting and coordinating subject matter experts to speak– plus the food and refreshments were great too 🙂 …I wish I could have stayed until KY House Speaker Greg Stumbo arrived, but I had an appointment that I couldn’t miss.
Janet is such a brilliant, compassionate and loving person…I was so VERY impressed by the event she co-hosted. All of her and others outstanding efforts to bring an end to this horrible, tragic crime against life is commendable. Special thanks also to Lisa and Rick Schardein, co-hosts and owners of Current 360 ( http://current360.com/ ) and studio NuLu for donating their studio to host the event.
Here’s the logo and a link if you care to help: http://www.gofundme.com/rccdsw
With that, I am going to end this report with a really short video called “Lil’ Peeps”, along with a simple message…