American Discovery Trail: Past Marshalltown, Iowa

Apparently Marshalltown has tornadoes

Between, bridge, laziness, and my hip injury, I have found ways to bring my average steps per day down below 10,000 per day since the beginning of my walk. There is a chance I will get it back to 10,000 before the end of the month, but I doubt I will make it. These days are cold, wet and depressing, not entirely conducive to walking long distances.

A few months ago, I abandoned my original method of only counting the days that I can walk without some activity interfering, and I began counting every day. It's just easier, no manual adjustments on my spreadsheet to the step totals on my phone for days when I am on the road or playing bridge. However, this too has dragged down my average day, as some bridge days I only get a couple thousand steps in.

I will have to adjust my walking.

On the better side, I am now more than halfway across Iowa, with 240 miles left. This is good because Iowa is the last state before Nebraska, and somewhere in Nebraska, I will hit the halfway point of my trek.

This is how you make it across the country: set little goals for yourself all along the way.

They also have this in Marshalltown

This sculpture is called "Echo."

 

American Discovery Trail: What A Drag It Is Getting Old

On the good side, I passed four million steps this week, and I am just a couple of days away from Marshalltown, Iowa, the endpoint of the 29th trail segment. Also, today I took a nice long morning walk, and I will reach 10,000 steps for the day.

On the bad side, I hurt my left hip more than a month ago, doing nothing, and it is still not right. My steps per day since the beginning of this walk are down to 10,043, and it will be a struggle to keep them above 10,000 with a bridge tournament and the holidays coming.

Today, I looked up people from Iowa. The most famous, of course, is James T. Kirk, although a) he has not been born yet, and b) he is a fictional character. Still, he is the only person I could name, without looking it up, who was - will be - born in Iowa.

First person on the Internet list is Herbert Hoover. Second name is Otto Frederick Rohwedder, inventor of the sliced bread machine. Nice accomplishment, but still, it's kind of sad that he is second. There are some other famous names - Johnny Carson, John Wayne. Actually, it drops off from there. For comparison, I looked up Washington. We have Paul Allen, Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos, Bing Crosby, Kurt Cobain, John Elway, Jimmy Hendrix, Quincy Jones, Gary Larson, and that's just on the first page. Iowa has Ron Livingston from Office Space; he might be the coolest real person born in Iowa.

I am trying to extend my walks again, but staying on level ground, still taking it easy. I am curious to see how long my hip will take to heal, like it's a science experiment. This whole walking thing would have been easier if I could have done it a couple of decades ago.

American Discovery Trail: Pushing Through Injury

Corn

I first posted about my hip injury on the 12th of this month, but I suspect by then that it had already been hurting for at least a week. It was the kind of injury that happens sometimes now - I have no idea what caused it, but one day something started to hurt, just because. It is healing very slowly. I tried to keep walking, but I noticed several times that when I walk, it aggravates my hip. It does not bother me much as I walk, but when I finish walking a good distance, I can barely bend over and then straighten up again.

Because of that, I have cut my walking back to six or seven thousand steps per day, and that helps. Nevertheless, the healing is very slow.

This segment of the trail goes south and west from Waterloo, Iowa to Marshalltown. In between, we pass through Hudson, Voorhies, Reinbeck, Morrison, Grundy Center, Beaman, and Conrad. Combined population of the seven towns, per the Internet, is about 8,350, hence the picture of a cornfield.

My total steps per day, since day one, are sliding down close to 10,000 per day (now at 10,200), but hey, I'm getting older, and it's getting harder. I'm going to get past this hip thing and get those numbers back up.

 

American Discovery Trail: Way Up North

Conway Pedestrian Bridge

The northernmost point of the American Discovery Trail is in George Wyth Memorial State Park in Waterloo, Iowa, where we find ourselves this week. How far north is it? For Pacific Coast residents, it is at about the same latitude as Grants Pass in southern Oregon. Not so far north I would say, as I live a day's drive north of Grants Pass. The trail goes east to west much more than it wanders north or south.

So where is the southernmost point, you ask? Well, if you take the southern route through Missouri and Kansas, it looks like the southernmost point is somewhere in Kansas. The way we are headed, though, the southern point will be in Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah. Bears Ears looks to be just a tad farther south than San Francisco, a day's drive south from Grants Pass.

I just finished segment 28 of the trail, leaving 40 to go. At 1,750 miles and 3.875 million steps, I am 36% of the way along, making good progress.

The Conway Pedestrian Bridge, by the way, crosses the Cedar River at the 4th Street Bridge in Waterloo. Unfortunately, our route does not take us across it.

Actual walking is coming to that depressing time of year. This morning it was 40 degrees when Arlo and I left the house, and it will just get colder from here. We have not seen the sun all day, and this too will be normal for a few months. Also, it starts to get dark around 4:00 now, and of course the shortest day of the year is more than a month away. So, we hunker down and stick it out until late January or maybe February, when the world starts to get warmer and to lighten up again. It's a good time to play lots of bridge.

Fairy-tale mushrooms*, and seemingly every other type of mushroom, love this weather. I am not sure what gets them going, but it has rained a lot - and given where I live, rained a lot means a lot - so maybe that is the key. In any case, I have never seen so many mushrooms of various colors, shapes, and sizes.

*Not a scientific name. I made it up. Actually, these appear to be Orange Fly Agaric mushrooms. "Highly poisonous."

American Discovery Trail: Near Brandon, Iowa

Ocean Shores, Washington

Population 341, and home to the world's largest frying pan. I do not have a picture of the frying pan here, because that seems like a dubious honor. Seems a little gimmicky, but maybe that's just me.

My walking continues, but continues to be lackluster. I have two excuses though: First, I played a lot of bridge this week, and though I took long walks on the beach on Wednesday and Thursday, bridge does not naturally lend itself to lots of walking, so other days my steps were low. Second, my hip continues to bother me, although it is slowly getting better, so I have cut back on my distances. On days when I walk a long way (I put in almost 15,000 steps on Wednesday, mostly on the beach), the hip begins to ache, so I am trying to rest it while still putting in some steps, balancing exercise versus rest.

The bridge is going well - I am not sure that I can keep up this pace, but if I do, I will make it to Life Master in about two years. The tournament in Ocean Shores this week was a huge success, leaving me with over 42 gold points out of the 50 I need for Life Master, so I have earned 42 this year and need 8 more in the next two years. Really, it's going well.

American Discovery Trail: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Cedar Rapids

The river that runs through Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is the Cedar River, which looks like a pretty good-sized river. It runs into the Iowa River, which then flows to the Mississippi not long after.

At 136,000 people, Cedar Rapids is the second-largest town in Iowa. Over three million people live in Iowa, but I guess they all live in small towns.

Cedar Rapids is the end of a segment of the trail, so 27 down, only 41 to go. This is the farthest north we have been on the American Discovery Trail, though we are only about 200 miles north of our starting point in Delaware, and we will go farther north for one more segment before we reach the northernmost point of the trail.

I have now covered 3,750,000 steps, and if every 250,000 steps could be considered a milestone, I only have 28 more milestones to go.

Last month, I walked a paltry 257,000 steps in 31 days, but this last week I have rededicated myself to getting 10,000 steps minimum each day, and we are moving along at a good pace again. Next week, bridge will interfere, but I will try to work around it.

On the way to Cedar Rapids, the Hoover Library at West Branch, Iowa.

Stone Academy, a one-room schoolhouse built in 1842, in Solon, Iowa.

In keeping with the idea that Iowa is mostly cornfields, an agricultural scene near Ely, Iowa.

America Has Become a Fascist Country

 Alas that these evil days should be mine.

Theoden, King of Rohan, Lord of the Rings

Let's start with a definition of fascism:

Fascism is a far-right, authoritarian, and ultranationalist political ideology and movement, characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy, subordination of individual interests for the perceived good of the nation or race, and strong regimentation of society and the economy.

Now let's consider a few things about Donald Trump:

• According to NPR, he has threatened to prosecute, imprison, or otherwise retaliate against his political enemies at least 100 times.
• He has called the press the enemy of the people and threatened them with losing their licenses or with prosecution or imprisonment.
• He has called his detractors "the enemy within" and suggested that the national guard or the military can be used against them.
• He has on many occasions suggested that his followers should use violence for political purposes, for example against people who protest at his rallies.
• He has promised to deport millions of people, including using camps to hold them. He has promised to deport people who are here legally and even US citizens.
• He has, more than once, said that he should get more than two terms as president, despite the constitution.
• He has lied incessantly about our elections, claiming that they are fraudulent, without any evidence, whenever they do not provide the results he wants. He has claimed many times that the only legitimate result is if he wins.
• He is, as one observer noted, the most famous liar in the world. He is the most well-documented liar in all of history.

Does all of this actually make him a fascist, according to the definition? I am no expert, and I don't really know. I do know though, that he is a monster, a man who should never be considered for any office and will never be considered for any office by even one sane, decent voter. Whether we can accurately apply the f-word label to him or not does not really matter. He is what he is, and that is a nightmare.

If Kamala Harris wins the election, if Trump is defeated one last time and never runs again, are we still a fascist country? The problem is, we are about to choose between fascism (or not-quite-fascism-but-disturbingly-close) and democracy, and we are not sure which will win. Our fellow Americans, our community members, our neighbors, our friends, our family members will choose a man who could not possibly be more clearly unfit for the presidency and who is openly fascist (or near-fascist) rather than choose a qualified alternative. Whether Donald Trump wins or loses a close election, we are a nation of millions of fascists. We have become the shithole country that Donald Trump spoke of, because we are a nation of too many truly despicable people.

When I was younger, I did not think it could happen here. It has happened here.

The only recovery I can see for us as a nation is if there is an enormous backlash against the MAGA party, if we come to a significant majority consensus that support for the current version of the Republican Party is a stain on our history, if we recognize that way too many Americans lost their way, abandoned any principles, set aside any sense of right and wrong, and need to acknowledge now that they followed a very wrong path.

It could happen. The model I always think of is the Jim Crow south, with black people segregated, kept from voting, sent to sub-standard schools, and openly discriminated against in myriad ways. In time, we dismantled that system, and it became generally accepted that we will not do that anymore. But until we accept that the current very close split between the crazies and the rest of us is a national disgrace, we are a nation of fascists, as hard to believe as that is.

American Discovery Trail: Iowa City, Iowa

Iowa City, Iowa

This week, we are close to Iowa City, Iowa, a town of 74,828 according to the Internet, and the fifth-largest town in Iowa. We are just over 50 miles into the state. From here, it is a straight shot west to Des Moines, but we will not go that way, instead heading north and then back south to get there, passing the most northern point of the American Discovery Trail on the way.

The Iowa trail is divided into six segments, and this first one, ending in Cedar Rapids, is 97 miles long, so I will still be working on segment one this time next week.

I have walked 1,645 miles so far, over 3.6 million steps. I started counting my steps every day rather than trying to filter out days that I was, for example, playing bridge all day, and as a result my steps per day have suffered, but keeping track is just more straightforward if I count them all.

I find myself feeling a bit more tired on my walks these days, sometimes even skipping an evening walk because I just do not feel like it. Maybe something is wrong and slowly dragging me down, maybe I am not sleeping well enough, maybe I am just getting older, but it seems like more of an effort than it was just a few years ago. I suppose that as I get older, I will have to push just a little harder to cover the same distances. For sure, bridge has changed things for now, as my primary focus is now pursuing bridge goals rather than walking goals, though most days I have time for both.

Loess Hills overlook in western Iowa, a bit north of where we will walk as we approach Nebraska.

The Lewis and Clark interpretive center at Sioux City Iowa. This site is also on the western edge of Iowa, also north of where we will walk and not far from Loess Hills. In my quest to visit all 50 states, I want to have one place that I can say I went to in each state. For Iowa, this is the place. We took the boys there in about 2003 on a long vacation that followed the Lewis and Clark expedition route backward, starting at the Washington Coast. Lewis and Clark followed the Missouri River for most of their trek, and at Sioux City, the river marks the boundary between Iowa and Nebraska.

The Debate Goes On...

 

The debate continues, and Donald Trump continues to disqualify himself over and over.

Trump is pressed about watching the January 6 riot unfold.

"I had nothing to do with that other than they asked me to make a speech."

Donald Trump had nothing to do with the January 6 attack on the Capitol. In what universe is this?

And before he is finished answering the question:

"Why are we allowing these millions of people to come through on the southern border?" This is mention number six of people coming into the country. The answer to every question.

Next question is about Trump saying several times recently that he lost the 2020 election, after denying it for 3.5 years.

"I said that?"

Are you now acknowledging that you lost in 2020?

"No, I don't acknowledge that at all."

But you did say that.

"I said that sarcastically."

Oh bullshit. This has become a go-to Republican line for when Trump says something that does not go over well. Just being sarcastic. He is never being sarcastic. He doesn't really do sarcasm. This is just him saying "Oh, I take that back."

"A lot of these illegal immigrants coming in, they're trying to get them to vote."

Lie.

...60 cases in front of judges...

"They said we didn't have standing. A technicality."

Lie.

Harris points out that world leaders laugh at Donald Trump, and that US military leaders call him a disgrace, goading him again, and Trump pointed to a leader who supports him:

Viktor Orban.

From Wikipedia: "Since 2010 Orban has undermined democracy, weakened judicial independence, and curtailed press freedom." This is the guy you point to as a supporter? A guy who turned his democratic country into an autocracy? This is sick.

Talking about Joe Biden: "And you know what? I'll give you a little secret. He hates her [Harris.] He can't stand her."

And how does Donald know this? Did Joe confide in him? Or is this more bullshit, made up out of thin air? What an idiot.

Next question is about Israel.

"She hates Israel."

What an idiot.

"If she's president, I believe that Israel will not exist within two years from now."

What an idiot.

"At the same time in her own way she hates the Arab population..."

What an idiot.

A question about Ukraine.

Most of this answer is at least coherent, blabbing about how if he were president this never would have happened, and if he is re-elected, he will solve the problem in a day.

This is a common theme behind Trump's "policies." He doesn't talk about what he will do, just about how great the result will be.

"But we have a president that doesn't know he's alive."

What an idiot. And it's who doesn't know.

About Putin: "He's got nuclear weapons. Nobody ever thinks about that."

Everyone thinks about that, you dolt.

"She's worse than Biden. In my opinion, I think he's the worst president in the history of our country."

Donald Trump speaks like a child. Everything is the best, the worst, the most incredible. He can't think of any other way to express himself.

Next question refers to the withdrawal from Afghanistan.

Harris goads him about negotiating with the Taliban and inviting them to Camp David.

"But I got involved. And Abdul is the head of the Taliban. He is still the head of the Taliban."

The head of the Taliban is not and never was named Abdul. What an embarrassing mistake! Especially when you are trying to question the mental abilities of the president and vice-president.

"...the worst withdrawal and in my opinion the most embarrassing moment in the history of our country."

Right, you pathetic simpleton.

There is more. We should be able to cover it in one more post.

American Discovery Trail: Iowa

Centennial Bridge, Rock Island, Illinois

This week, we crossed the Centennial Bridge over the Mississippi River, from Rock Island, Illinois to Davenport, Iowa. We also passed 1,600 miles, which means we are very close to one third of the way to the California Coast, so this is progress.

The trek across Iowa on the American Discovery Trail is 512 miles, which should take just over 100 days, so that will take me into next year. The path winds back and forth, reaching the northernmost point of the entire trail, but then turning back and exiting the state a little south of where we came in, crossing into Omaha, Nebraska.

According to the ADT website, approximately 90 percent of Iowa is farmland, and more corn and beans are grown in Iowa than in any other state, so I may just post a lot of pictures of corn (which is more photogenic than beans) as I cross the state.

One of the first places I encountered in Iowa is Wildcat Den State Park. This picture is the Pine Creek Grist Mill, built in 1848.

Unhinged the Third

 

A little recap of the first half of the debate:

• "Millions and millions of criminals entering the country." Some version of that, four times so far.
• "I have nothing to do with Project 2025."
• The economy is terrible, just look at a poll.
• "She's a Marxist. Everybody knows she's a Marxist."
• Democrats allow executing babies after they are born.
• "Every legal scholar, every Democrat, every Republican, liberal, conservative..." wanted Roe v. Wade overturned.
• "...she's busing them in and paying them..." Meaning people who attend VP Harris's rallies.
• "In Springfield, they're eating the dogs."
• Per Trump, crime is down in countries all over the world except the US, because other countries are sending their criminals here.
• The FBI published "defrauding" crime statistics.
• "I probably took a bullet to the head because of the things they say about me."

Enough material halfway through to say for certain that this guy does not meet even the lowest possible bar for mental stability any normal person would expect from a president.

Next question is about Harris changing positions on some policies.

"She gave up at least 12 and probably 14 or 15 different policies."

Is it just me, or does it sound to everyone like he is just making up numbers?

"Now she wants to do transgender operations on illegal aliens that are in prison."

Widely and deservedly mocked. Just throwing Republican scary words together in a blender.

"Because the prices of energy were quadrupling and doubling."

Wow, not only quadrupling, but also doubling. Sounds bad.

Next question: Mr. Trump, do you have any regrets about what you did on Jan. 6, 2001?

[He never mentions one.]

"Nobody on the other side was killed."

Just several on the rioters' side, plus police attacked, the capitol breached, stuff taken, lawmakers threatened and evacuated. No big deal.

Ashli Babbitt was shot by an out-of-control police officer that should have never, ever shot her. It's a disgrace."

She was trying to enter a room where Capitol Police and Secret Service were trying to protect members of Congress. A Capitol Police investigation concluded that the shooting was justified and "potentially saved Members (of Congress) from serious injury and possible death."

"...this group of people (the rioters) that have been treated so badly."

Tried for their crimes. How awful.

Next sentence: "I ask, what about all these people that are pouring into our country and killing people?"

You forgot to say millions and millions. So, people are pouring into our country, murdering our citizens, and nothing is being done about it? Is this a real thing?

I am going to stop this one there and publish, because I will be playing bridge in Oregon the next three days, but there is much more remaining. With all of these posts, the point is not just that Trump had a bad debate, but that he showed himself to be unquestionably mentally unfit for office.

More to come.

American Discovery Trail: Geneseo, Illinois

Geneseo, Illinois

This week I am a little past the town of Geneseo, Illinois, 20 miles from Iowa. Next week, I will be playing bridge at a tournament in Oregon for three days, so I may not make it to Iowa by next weekend, although I will at least be close.

I thought "Geneseo" might be Italian (although the towns in Illinois do not typically have Italian names), but it is instead a version of an Iroquois word meaning "beautiful valley."

Weather here in Washington is already turning to fall. Rumor has it that it is still hot in California, but in western Washington, the leaves are turning, it has rained several times, I will not need to water again until next June, and morning temperatures are in the fifties. It is good walking weather.

The Little Red Bridge across the Hennepin Canal Trail. Google Maps says the bridge is a historical landmark, although I could not discover why. Perhaps, if you go there, you can read about it.

Trees on my street. Some are still green, some are turning bright colors.

There are several of these mushrooms in a particular area of my walk. They are big - 2 to 3 inches across. The Internet suggests that these might be the Sickener, so-called because they will make you very sick, though maybe they will not kill you.

I did not try one.

American Discovery Trail: Hennepin Canal Parkway

 

Hennepin Canal Parkway

A journey of ten thousand miles begins with a single step.

Dennis Stambaugh

The original Chinese proverb only says a journey of a thousand miles, so if we change it to ten thousand, I guess I should attribute that to me.

I do not remember that first single step, but I do know the date: October 1, 2021. Since I put my phone in my pocket each morning, the first step was probably next to my bed, headed off to get breakfast.

This week I am walking on the Hennepin Canal Parkway, a linear state park that covers almost all of the eighty miles of this last Illinois segment, starting at the Illinois River and ending at the Mississippi River and the Iowa state line.

If I am really going to cover 10,000 miles (and that is the plan, assuming I stay alive and ambulatory), then I am currently only 40 miles past halfway. Since I started close to three years ago, it is safe to say it will take me at least three more years to get to 10,000, although my pace has slowed now that I am granting myself days off, so it will take close to three and a quarter years at my current rate.

Just the remaining distance from Western Illinois to Point Reyes on the California coast is over 3,300 miles, nearly as far as my entire walk from the northwest corner of Washington State all the way across the country to Miami. At 130 miles per month, here is what I expect for the rest of the American Discovery Trail:

• Reach Iowa: Next month, October 2024
• Nebraska: February 2025
• Colorado: June 2025
• Utah: December 2025
• Nevada: April 2026
• California: August 2026
• Point Reyes: November 2026

After Point Reyes, I will need another year to finish off the 10,000 miles. By that time, Jackie will be retired and ready to take me travelling all over the world, but we will find a way to get it done.

More Unhingedness

 

I covered the first few questions of the debate in my last post. My point in these posts is that Donald Trump says a whole stream of things - whether in this debate or elsewhere, though I am looking at the debate - that are JUST...NUTS... Some are more stupid than crazy, some more crazy than stupid, but so many things that he says are completely off the rails for someone who wants to be president, it is hard to believe.

OK, let's go.

Question 4 is about the border, which should be one of Trump's best issues.

Kamala Harris answers first. She talks about the bipartisan border bill that Trump killed, but then she goads him. She says that he keeps saying the same old lines, and then invites people to go to one of his rallies and notice that people are bored and exhausted by the end and leave early. When she said this, it was the only time that I thought, during the debate, that she was saying it just to get under his skin. In rereading the transcripts, she probably did this several time, but boy did it work.

Trump foolishly responds to the remark about rallies rather than immediately addressing immigration, then gets crazier and crazier.

"People don't go to her rallies." "And the people that do go, she's busing them in and paying them..."

It should be pointed out that, again, unless there is some strong evidence to support this assertion [there isn't], these are the ravings of a lunatic.

"Our country is being lost. We're a failing nation. It happened three and a half years ago."

I don't know about you, but I get very tired of these unsupported, over-the-top, extreme descriptions of everything. The worst deal ever. Biden is the worst president. Harris is the worst vice-president. EVER! The worst economy. Millions and millions of criminals. Highest level of criminality. And the exact opposite when describing himself. He does not know how to talk about anything other than to say "I am the very best, and my opponents are the very, very worst. EVER!"

"...allowing these millions and millions of people to come into our country."

Where have I already heard that?

"In Springfield, they're eating the dogs. The people that came in. They're eating the cats."

These remarks have been widely mocked, but it was really a surprise that a candidate for president would repeat a story from Facebook that had already been debunked. Another one of those statements that, if Kamala Harris had said it, would be widely remembered as the stupidest thing she ever said.

"She's destroying this country. And if she becomes president, this country doesn't have a chance of success." "Well end up being Venezuela on steroids."

She's really got him going now. He's just improvising apocalyptic phrases. Unhinged.

David Muir, one of the moderators, points out that the city manager says the stories of immigrants eating pets are false.

"Well I've seen people on television."

Good god man. People are watching. Get a grip. More mocking on social media for this one.

Kamala goads him again by noting that Republicans are endorsing her, and Trump's former staff have said that he is unfit for office. Trump responds, in part: "I got more votes than any Republican in history by far."

That was when you lost by 7 million votes, right? Right, OK.

Next question: How is deporting 11 million immigrants going to work? Walk us through this.

He does not answer the question, even a little. 

"They allowed criminals, Many, many millions of criminals."

Many, many millions...

"Do you know that crime in Venezuela and crime in countries all over the world is way down? And do you know why? Because they've taken criminals off the streets, and they've given them to her to put on our streets."

Wait a second. Crime is down all over the world because criminals from countries all over the world have shipped their criminals to the United States? Does this sound at all possible? It sounds like lunacy to me.

David Muir points out that the FBI says that violent crime is down.

"The FBI --- they were defrauding statements."

Never mind the strange use of "defrauding." Who are you going to believe: the FBI, or the most prolific, well-documented liar in all of history?

Harris lists some of the legal cases against Trump.

"...it's called weaponization. Never happened before in this country." "They're fake cases."

Harris points out that Trump has actually promised to weaponize the Justice Department to go after his political enemies, if he is elected.

Trump, speaking out of turn: "This is the one that weaponized. Not me. She weaponized. I probably took a bullet to the head because of the things they say about me."

This is a lie, and a disqualifying one. You don't say things like that about your opponent without some good evidence. The shooter was a Republican. There is no evidence he was inspired by Harris or by Democrats. Meanwhile, Trump has used very incendiary language over and over, not caring a bit that it may (and sometimes does) inspire violence. This is nuts.

I will end my post, again, because it is long enough. I am only about halfway through the transcript of the debate, and Trump got crazier as the evening went on, but I suspect I will write just two more of these.

American Discovery Trail: Back to That Walking Thing

 

Today, we reached Bureau Junction, Illinois, which is a milestone for a couple of reasons. First, it is where we leave the Illinois River, which turns south from here toward Saint Louis, while we will head closer to straight west. Second, it is the end of another segment of the American Discovery Trail - 25 segments down, 43 remaining. Also, we are just over 1,500 miles along our path.

Jackie had knee replacement surgery on September 5, and I have been spending some of my time since then helping her recover. Because of that, everything is a little off - my sleep is out of whack, chores around the house are thrown off, my walking is impacted. I was going to take some days off of walking, but reality has been that Arlo still needs to go out, and although we took shorter walks at first to not be too long away from Jackie, by now I am back to long walks and spending hours away from her at bridge, and she is getting better. Since the 5th, I have walked about 8,000 steps a day, and the last couple of days have been back to normal.

Weather is getting cooler here, down into the sixties most days with rain every so often, so it's back to a jacket and a hat until next May or June, but these are great conditions for walking, and Arlo certainly does not mind.

Eighty more miles across Illinois, then a long trek across Iowa, then somewhere in Nebraska we hit the halfway point. Won't get there this year, but, you know, we will get there.

Unhinged

Photo is from Newsweek

 Unhinged. That was the word that kept coming to mind as I watched Donald Trump try to debate Kamala Harris on Tuesday night. He sounded nuts. Crazy. Out of his mind. He kept saying stupid, lunatic things, one after another, millions of them, the worst series of stupid things in the history of the world...

Something like that.

I will try to read through a transcript of the debate and list out some of the most ridiculous, disqualifying things that he said, although I started doing this and found that there are a lot of words in the transcript, so I will have to do a lot of paraphrasing and condensing. Let's try, question by question, focusing on Trump's answers rather than Harris's wherever possible.

First question is about the economy. Are you better off than you were four years ago?

First Trump talks about tariffs, how other countries are going to pay them.

Foreign companies don't pay tariffs. Importers do. At least some of the extra cost is passed to consumers. Trump seems to not understand how tariffs work.

"We've had a terrible economy..."

No. Opposite of the truth.

Inflation. "...which is really known as a country buster. It breaks up countries."

No...what?? A country buster? Never heard that before.

Probably the worst inflation in our history.

Probably? You're not sure? Well no, it isn't.

We were at 21%.

No.

Millions of people are coming into the US from prisons and insane asylums.... They are taking over towns.... They're going in violently.... And they're destroying our country.... They're at the highest level of criminality....

The highest level of criminality. You're just tossing words together here, aren't you?

"I have nothing to do with Project 2025."

The people who worked for you, the people who worship you, who wrote Project 2025 - who did they think might be president in 2025? Why did they call it Project 2025?

"I went to Wharton School of Finance, and many of those professors, the top professors [of course the top ones] think my plan is a brilliant plan..."

Did you just make that up? I think you did. Any other candidate would be pressed hard to supply the names of those professors. I don't think Trump will be asked. Everyone knows he's lying.

Second question is about whether Americans can afford to pay tariffs.

"People can't buy cereal, bacon, or eggs or anything else....the people of our country are absolutely dying with what they've done. The destroyed the economy and all you have to do is look at a poll."

You want to know how the economy is doing, so you point to a poll? Is there no better way to assess the economy?

"The polls say 80 and 85 and even 90% that the Trump economy was great and their economy was terrible"

I'm going to say that these are bullshit imaginary numbers, without even checking. It would be kind of sad if, just off the top of my head, I was more accurate than a candidate for president.

"She's going to my philosophy now. In fact, I was going to send her a MAGA hat. She's gone to my philosophy. But if she ever got elected, she'd change it. And it will be the end of our country. She's a Marxist. Everybody knows she's a Marxist. Her father's a Marxist professor in economics. He taught her well."

Will there ever come a time when we can all agree that this guy is just Looney Tunes, batshit crazy, a rambling nutjob? Is that time now? If I ever said anything so stupid in public, I would be humiliated for the rest of time. And you're going to vote for him for president of the United States? WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?

"...millions and millions of people that are pouring into our country monthly..."

Sigh. Millions and millions monthly? Or is it billions and billions? Apparently, part of the strategy was that immigration is the answer to every question.

Third question is about abortion.

Trump says that Democrats favor abortion in the ninth month, or even after birth, and particularly Tim Walz is in favor of executing babies after birth.

How can anyone, let alone a presidential candidate, be that stupid?

"Every legal scholar, every Democrat, every Republican, liberal, conservative..." wanted Roe v. Wade overturned. Apparently everyone everywhere wanted that.

Why say something everyone knows is not true? As Lawrence O'Donnell pointed out, this is Trump lying to the voters about what the voters wanted. It's unhinged.

In response to a question about abortion, Trump then talks about student loans.

When he first started answering the abortion question, he referenced the governor of West Virginia. Now he switches to the governor of Virginia. I have no idea which one he meant.

I will stop there, for now, because I am less than halfway through the transcript, and I don't like for my posts to be too long. But I will get back to the rest.

One little preview: It's the next question that really gets him going off the rails...

American Discovery Trail: Still Near Marseilles, Illinois

Jackie had knee replacement surgery today. That will affect my walking as well as hers, as she will need plenty of care for some time, including round-the-clock availability from me for at least three days. My walking will be secondary, and I will not be leaving the house for an hour and a half at a time to take Arlo out this weekend.

Last week, I was in California, playing bridge with Mike, and not worrying about my steps. The bridge went great. Three weeks ago, I had one gold point out of the 50 I will need for Life Master (eventually, like 4 years from now.) Then I won 2.5 gold with Russ two weeks ago, and then Mike and I won 9 more, so suddenly getting 50 gold does not seem so insurmountable.

Over the last 10 days I have counted my steps only three days, which means I have walked about 15 miles, which means I am not far from where I was when I last posted.

Now the priority is taking care of Jackie. Her recovery period will be several weeks. She suggested that she wanted to go back to work after three weeks, and her doctor said it would be longer. She is walking with a walker now, getting around pretty well, but I am not sure how long before she walks without a walker or cane. I will be taking her to physical therapy twice a week for at least the next three weeks. She cannot drive until her doctor clears her.

The doctor said her knee was one of the stiffest he has seen, and I think he has seen quite a few.

It's an odd time, but I suspect, based on how she is doing so far, that Jackie will not need constant watching for long, and I will be back to a regular walking schedule and even bridge. Meanwhile, crossing Illinois will have to wait.

American Discovery Trail: Marseilles, Illinois

Bridge over the Illinois River at Marseilles

I played bridge three times this week, at a tournament near here on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, so I only walked four days. I will be walking along the Illinois River for another 50 miles before breaking away as the river turns south at Bureau Junction, Illinois.

Next week, I will only walk one day as I will be playing bridge in California with Mike.

So, how is that bridge going? It's going pretty well. My goal for this year was to get to 100 points and get to Regional Master rank, which meant I had to get some silver and red points as well as the 100 points total. However, I hit that mark on July 1, so I had to set some new, loftier goals. My new goals are to get 100 points for the year (adding to the 40 last year) and to end with at least 10 gold points. I already have 84 points this year, so that goal is a sure thing, barring some catastrophe. The 10 gold are proving more difficult, but I got 2.5 this week playing with Russ, and we still have three tournaments left (including the one with Mike next week), so I am confident about that goal as well, though it is not quite a sure thing.

No tournaments next month as I stay home more with Jackie after she has knee surgery, so September should be a good walking month. 
 

American Discovery Trail: Joliet, Illinois

[I posted this post briefly last week, but then I realized that Joliet, according to the American Discovery Trail, is not 30 miles into Illinois, as Google Maps says, but is rather 60 miles from the border by the trail route. So it turns out that this week I am close to Joliet, not last week.]

This week we are near Joliet, Illinois, southwest of Chicago and on the outskirts of the Chicago Metropolitan Area. Apparently, I am not the only person who thinks "prison" when they hear the name Joliet, as information about the prison mentions that the name of the town is synonymous with the prison. This building is now called the Old Joliet Prison, and it is a historical curiosity that you can visit and go on a tour.

The most famous resident of Joliet Prison is a fictional character, Jake Blues from The Blues Brothers movie.

I looked up 49 fun things to do in Illinois, so here are a few of them:

Metropolitan Park, Chicago, home of The Bean. I already posted a picture.

Lollapalooza. It's a big music festival. Headliners this year include Megan Thee Stallion, Stray Kids, and Blink 182. I would not recognize any of these people or their music, but I may not be part of the target audience.

Navy Pier. A Chicago attraction. Dining, shopping, a big Ferris wheel.

The Leaning Tower of Niles. Half the size of the one in Pisa. I read that it is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Niles. Ya think?

Superdawg drive-in. Chicago-style hotdogs are a thing, and this is the place to get them. Carhops bring your food to your car, old style.

Abrahan Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. It says "Land of Lincoln" on Illinois license plates. 

They are proud of their guy.

A couple built a 17,000 square foot house in the shape of a six-stories-tall pyramid. It is covered in gold plating and surrounded by a moat. The couple believed in pyramid power, new-age nonsense that was popular once among the gullible.

It sustained major fire damage in 2018, but articles from that time say the owners hoped to restore it.

This could be you, hanging out in the 1,450-foot Willis Tower, looking over Chicago and beyond.

American Discovery Trail: Illinois

Today I entered Illinois. The trail across Illinois goes close to straight east to west, just 220 miles across. We will pass through the towns of Park Forest, Joliet, Morris, LaSalle, DePue, Tiskilwa, and Moline, exiting the state at Rock Island. We will follow the Illinois River about halfway across the state until DePue, then make our way west to the Mississippi River at the Iowa border.

Though our walk will not take us closer than 20 miles from downtown Chicago, we are currently in the Chicago Metropolitan Statistical Area, the third largest metropolitan area in the United States after New York City and Los Angeles, so we will be walking through the outskirts of the Chicago area for the next few days.

I know that I passed through Illinois when I was a kid, but also, I travelled here for a week of work when I was with Farmers Insurance. That work was in Schaumburg, a city a little north and west of Chicago, but the whole ride back and forth looked like one big city. My most enduring impression was that I worked on about the eighth floor of a building there, and looking out from the windows on both sides, the world looked absolutely flat, the most perfectly smooth and flat view I can ever remember seeing, like you could imagine you could see the curve of the earth from up there.

This week, I passed 3,000,000 steps, which, combined with 7,000,000 on my last walk means I have walked 10,000,000 steps since I started tracking in 2021. That's the equivalent of 10,000 steps per day for 1,000 days, so it is some measure of perseverance, a word that is not always associated with my efforts.

I passed Crown Point, Indiana, this week, the last stop before Illinois. This building is the Lake County Courthouse, designed in 1878.

American Discovery Trail: Somewhere Near North Judson, Indiana

Indiana

Population 1,857.

I entered Indiana on June 9, and I will be out of the state before August 9, but not much before. I am still more than 40 miles from Illinois, and since 35 miles is a really good week for me, I will not make it by next Sunday. Maybe a couple of days later.

I will hit three million steps this week, which combined with my previous walk from Washington to Miami will make ten million steps since I started keeping track. Since my mileage tracking is different from the last trip, when I counted exactly 2,000 steps per mile, I am not quite to 5,000 total miles walked yet, but that milestone is coming soon as well.

As I wrote in an earlier post, my walking got behind this month, mostly due to one very hot week during which I cut back on my walks, but I made up about 15,000 steps and am now over 10,000 per day for the month. I only took one day off this month - yesterday for a bridge tournament - so my walking distance for July should be over 135 miles, the best since March. August will be different, but we'll deal with that in August.

My left knee seems to be healing itself, at least for the moment. When I was younger, I would have expected that. At this age, I thought it would just get worse. So that's good news.
 

American Discovery Trail: Walking for Democratic Candidates

Jessica Bateman

Part of my walking this week was walking around a Jubilee neighborhood (one I walk through often) with the woman in the picture to introduce her to my neighbors. It was hot on Saturday, but the walking was easy (only 6,000 steps!), and my part was just to say something like, "Hi, my name is Dennis Stambaugh. I'm from Clark's Landing [my neighborhood here in Jubilee.] I'm out today introducing candidates, and this is Jessica Bateman, who is running for state senate in our district." By this point Jessica usually started talking, and from there I was mostly silent while she talked quickly and made her points.

The candidates have maps of houses where voters have participated in Democratic primaries in the past. We visited about 50 houses in three hours, and everyone we talked to was at least cordial; a few of them wanted to chat for several minutes. We walked with a campaign volunteer who knew what she was doing, and she told us which houses to visit, then took notes on how the interactions went.

It was easy. I would do that again.

 Also, I had a birthday yesterday. Seven years ago, I turned 60, and I wrote about getting older, and Mike read it and called and suggested that we should start walking at night, and that slowly morphed into my walks across America (after I retired) and a bunch of weekly blog posts (more than 150 since I started walking toward Miami in 2021.)

This week we are near English Lake, Indiana, about 65 miles from Illinois.

Our path takes us close to Bruce Lake. At least half of the pictures I found of Bruce Lake are of people holding big fish they caught, some five feet long or more. Dude, I don't care that you caught a fish. I like this sunset.

We made it past Tippecanoe River State Park. Tippecanoe is a local Indian name for the buffalo fish, which still lives in the river. If you like pictures of people holding big fish they caught, once you are done looking at pictures of Bruce Lake you can look for images of buffalo fish on the Internet. There are plenty of them.

American Discovery Trail: Rochester, Indiana

Round barn in Rochester

We are now nine miles from Rochester, Indiana, in the north of the state, still about 100 miles from Illinois. Progress was slow this week because I played bridge twice Sunday, and because it has been very hot, particularly in the evening, near 90 several times, so I either skipped my evening walk altogether or took a shorter one. The forecast is for milder temperatures (just in the eighties), so things look good going forward

This week, I looked up things that Indiana is known for, so here are a few of them.

• Indianapolis. Capital city, largest city (more than three times the population of the second biggest), and right in the middle of the state. Apparently, you cannot get lost in Indiana, because all roads lead to Indianapolis.
• Large, flat farms. I can vouch for this.
• Hoosier, a term for people from Indiana. I just learned yesterday that a Hoosier is an old word meaning "a man who carries corn," so that fits.
• Basketball. Indiana kids learn how to play.
• The Monon Trail. Maybe Indianapolis's answer to San Antonio's Riverwalk, but 26 miles long and not all as urban. 
  
  
  

• Ope. Hoosiers like to say "ope" where you and I might say "excuse me." Like if you bump into someone, you say "ope."
• Johnny Appleseed, who was a real guy who lived back in the 1700s and 1800s, with apple orchards across Indiana that are still growing apples today.
• Pork tenderloin sandwiches. Might be worth a visit.
• Southern hospitality. This is odd, because Indiana borders Lake Michigan, but fine.

Total walking so far is 2.8 million steps, 1,268 miles. It does not seem like much versus the 4,870 miles total to get to Point Reyes, but if I had walked toward San Diego instead, I would be in Ensenada by now. If I were walking to Miami, I would be 40% of the way, in the middle of Wyoming. It's a good long distance.

American Discovery Trail: The Circus in Peru, Indiana

This week we are near Peru, Indiana, which was once the winter home of several circuses, including Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show, and now hosts the International Circus Hall of Fame. Every year in the third week of July, they have an amateur circus every day of the week, then a festival and a parade. There is still time to get there this year if you hurry.

Walking is difficult right now because the weather is beastly hot - 95 degrees today, maybe 99 tomorrow, and then it should cool off to mid-eighties. Arlo and I go out in the morning while it is still below 80, but in the evening it has been close to 90. Too hot. We just are not used to this around here. Yes, it is getting more frequent that we have these little bursts of heat, but even now they don't last long, so we just hide indoors and complain and wait them out.

We are about halfway through the second of three Indiana trail segments, and so halfway across the state. Peru is in fact located straight north of Indianapolis, which is right in the middle of Indiana.

I do not know which part of Ireland this is, but it's a wall, in a field, and I like it.

Last Ireland picture. We were there for a pride parade in Galway.

 

American Discovery Trail: Marion, Indiana

National Bank building in Marion, Indiana

Trump champions a racist, thoroughly stupid and evidence-free conspiracy that says Barack Obama was born in Kenya.

Republicans: This is great!

Trump cheats on all his wives, has sex with a porn star and pays her to keep quiet, sexually assaults E. Jean Carroll, and has 20+ women accuse him of inappropriate behavior.

Republicans: No problem.

Trump lies 30,000 times in office, thousands more times before he took office, thousands of times after.

Republicans: Don't care.

Trump tries to extort Ukraine into opening a bogus "investigation" into Biden in order to influence the election.

Republicans: No big deal.

Trump is convicted of 34 felonies, has many more serious indictments in the queue.

Republicans: Whatever.

Trump steals hundreds of classified documents, refuses to return them, and hides them from the FBI.

Republicans: LALALALALA don't want to know.

Trump openly supports Russian priorities and attacks NATO.

Republicans: We love Russia too!

Trump tries to set aside the rightful US government and appoint himself president despite losing the election, quite possibly the worst crime ever committed by any American.

Republicans: He's still our guy.

Trump shoots someone in the middle of Times Square.

Republicans: Oh well, he's done a lot worse.

Biden looks old and confused in a debate after four years as a very good president.

Democrats: The end times are here! He has to go!

I made it through the first Indiana segment of my trip, segment 21 of 68, more than 1,200 miles from the start of the trip, and, finally, just past one-quarter of the way to Point Reyes and the Pacific Ocean. Already we are one-third of the way through Indiana, which seems very quick after Ohio.

June was a good walking month, with 10,500 steps per day. I have now been on the trail one year, and my average steps per day are 10,700, although I only counted steps 251 days out of the 366 since I started last July 1. Assuming I miss about 50 days per year going forward, I have another two and a half years to go.

Overall, this is still fun. I enjoy making progress, and the writing keeps me on track and holds me accountable.

Ireland pictures:

At the Jameson Distillery. We tasted whiskeys and took some home with us, although only for Jackie. I will taste the stuff, but I don't ever choose to drink it.

This is the best Ireland picture, taken by some kind soul at the Cliffs of Moher. It is the background picture on my computer now, replacing Sean Bean dressed as Brandon Stark, telling us that winter is coming, for the last several years. It was time for a change.