Bulleted Update

-We were given a tour of Washington, DC by the sharpest cat on Capitol Hill. Miss Laly let us in on all the secrets, and we learned that Lady Liberty actually faces East because she is Muslim and must face Mecca. o, how we wish that were true. Also, our waitress wrote an award winning play by 17 years of age. Apparently we’re past our prime.

-Outside of the Capitol we met up with the Death Penalty Protest Walkers we met just North of Raleigh… except for that their walk just ended, and we still have several hundred miles left. We shed a tear on that one.

-Spanish soccer fans are intense, and sometimes they take baths in the fountain at Dupont Circle when their team wins.

-I have bad news and good news. Bad news- there is a serial killer loose in Fayetteville, NC. Good news- we are no longer in Fayetteville, NC.

- Kathy and Doug Bohle are phenomenal human beings who found us a place to stay in Baltimore when all other hope was lost. Much appreciated, seeing as people have been warning us about the streets of Baltimore since Florida.

-In every city/ town/ farm we walk through, people will say something like, “it’s a good thing you are here because this is where sexual violence REALLY happens.” EVERYONE says that. In every place/ ethnicity/ social class. That’s why we walk.

-Who is this Dwayne Johnson, and why does he look like the Rock?

-We stopped at a gas station to ask where the nearest church was, and we ran into a man named Dominic who decided just to take us to church with him. We had a great time with Pastor Mike and the Nathansons, and Steve and Linda were kind enough to open their homes to us that night.

-Here’s to Bob Gell. We stopped in a little place called North East with the hopes of finding lodging for the night. Instead we found fireworks, a flock of politicians, and most importantly, Bob Gell. He was a wonderful man who secretly ran the town who was able to find a church to sponsor a hotel room for us for a night. He also treated us to his life story, which we felt very honored to hear.

-The Fourth of July found us in Philly, and at a John Legend concert right before the big fireworks. I spent Independence Day in the city where they signed the Declaration of Independence. Where were you? I kid, I kid.

- Shout out thank yous to Katie, Bob, Chris, and the crew at Urban Promise.

A strange thing has happened as we move North. When we were in Miami and told people what we were doing, we got the total brush off “yeah right, you’re never gonna make,” and other uplifting bits of encouragement. In Georgia and the Carolinas we had enough distance under our belts for people to take us seriously. Now that we are this far North, though, no one believes us anymore. I cannot tell you how many times I have been forced to remove a shoe so that people can smell just how far we’ve walked. Seriously, it’s not pretty.

It is most decidedly NOT always sunny in Philadelphia,

theWALKERS.