Steps

I have walked up these steps

Moving to Albuquerque is a project. Some of the milestones in that project are under our control - getting the house ready to sell - and some of them are not completely controllable - getting someone to buy it for the price we want, for example. Here is the plan and some of the biggest potential obstacles:

We actually passed a big step today, when Lucas was accepted for an apartment. We really did not want to put the house on the market with him staying here, because we want to take some of his things out to show the room, and because he sleeps during the day, which makes it difficult to find times to show the house. His bedroom is very small, and we need to reduce the amount of furniture in it as much as we can. We may even empty the room completely.

Once he is out, we can list the house. The realtors will pay for a thorough cleaning, we stage the house the best we can, then we have a picture day, then we list.

Then we cross our fingers and hope someone wants it. It's a nice house in a good location.

Assuming it sells, the next thing is the home inspection. This one is a little out of our control, because you never know what they may find. Worst case, we pay some money and fix any problems.

Then we move. Our thought is to have a Pod delivered, and we can fill it ourselves. We cannot, however, move the piano, even from the house to the driveway, without piano movers, so that will be the first thing packed. Then, worst case, we fill up one Pod and have to get a second one. The Pod(s) go(es) off to storage.

The plan, because there is always a plan, is to get an Airbnb in New Mexico, someplace Jackie can do her work. From there, we can look for houses. Jackie already has picked out some possible places, so I do not expect that part will be too difficult.

I am not looking forward to changing our mailing addresses twice. So very many different places to notify. For the Airbnb, I think we have to get a post office box until we find a permanent home.

Once we find a new place, we have the Pod(s) delivered, empty it/them out except the piano, then call the piano movers. Once the piano is installed, I think the move is done.

If all goes well, we may move out in July, move into a new place September-ish.

I will hit my new, more modest walking goal of 270,000 steps this month, but not until tomorrow. As of now, I have walked 264,000 steps in April, and Arlo is whining at me to do a few thousand more. Thursday, I will finally get to the halfway point of this trip, 279 miles into Nebraska.

Five Reasons This Is Taking a Long Time

 

When I walked from the northwest corner of Washington state to Miami, it took me about 20.5 months, which included a few weeks in which I walked less than usual after I was run down by a van. Now, I am walking back across the country, and I started almost 22 months ago, and I am hoping to finish in another 20 months. So why so slow? I have a few excuses.

1. More steps to cover the same distance. On my last walk, I measured my steps and then translated the number of steps into miles, using 2,000 steps per mile. I had calibrated that number when I lived in Snoqualmie, and I walked on trails that were marked every quarter mile. I counted my steps as I covered a quarter mile (more than once), and I consistently counted about 500 steps per quarter mile. Then, by the time I started this walk, I had a new phone that measured both miles and steps, and it thinks I take 2,200 steps per mile. Maybe my steps are getting shorter, maybe the phone apps are different. In any case, I only move about 90% as far now for each step I take.
2. Missed days. Before October of last year, I decided not to count days when I was involved in another activity, such as a bridge tournament or a vacation, and wanted to focus on the activity rather than on my walking. In the second half of 2023 alone, I did not count half of August and September, nor all of October and November. In 2024, I left out 28 days, mostly for bridge tournaments. Starting last October though, I started counting every day, because it is easier.
3. Other activities. Most of my previous walk took place during the Covid pandemic, and walking was my main focus. Bridge is a big focus now, and on tournament days, I rarely get more than a few thousand steps in. But there are other things, like getting ready to move, or I have an appointment, or the weather is terrible. I don't try to make up for those things anymore.
4. Getting older. I am only four years older than when I started the last walk, but I think I have less energy. I look back at my Miami walk, for example December 2022, when I walked more than 13,000 steps average for the month, and I cannot see doing that now. I just checked my March step counts, and I walked more than 13,000 steps three times. And that was a really good month.
5. This path is really long. If I were using Google Maps again to walk from Delaware to California, instead of following the American Discovery Trail, I would have just crossed out of Utah today, into Nevada, and I would only have 650 miles still to go. Instead, I am less than halfway across Nebraska and 40 miles from halfway across the country. I have 1,645 miles to go before I reach the Nevada state line, and another 874 miles from there to get to Point Reyes. I guess the "Discovery" part of the American Discovery Trail means you get the chance to wander all over.

Just a few more days, and I will start the second half.

Nebraska: Recalibrating

To finish this trip by the end of next year, I calculated that I will have to take 273,500 steps per month for the next 20+ months. A little math will tell you that is less than 10,000 steps per day average, but a couple of things are getting in the way of keeping a good pace. First, I am getting older every year, and I do not think that all of this walking is as easy as it was when I started toward Miami back in 2001. Second, I have other things to do, especially bridge, and those things get in the way. Looking forward just a short time, I have three days of bridge coming up next weekend, and I am getting the house ready for sale, and moving will involve days when walking will not be convenient, and I do not have the energy to try to make up for all of those days when my steps will come up short.

Before last month, I went seven straight months without managing 273,000 steps, so even that is a lofty goal.

I am approaching a place called Doniphan, Nebraska, population 809. For today's pictures, I just looked up images of Nebraska, so I do not know if these places are near the American Discovery Trail or not.

We talked to our realtors on Tuesday and yesterday, and we are working toward putting the house on the market, maybe in May. There is much to do.

The famous Chimney Rock, a landmark for travelers on their way to the West in the 1800s. I do know that I will not pass near this place on my journey.

Jailhouse and Courthouse rocks. Not sure which is which.

Five Million Steps

Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Shelby, NE

I actually passed five million steps on this walk yesterday, which still does not get me halfway to Point Reyes, but it is a milestone. Combined with my previous walk to Miami, I have taken more than twelve million steps since I started keeping track three and a half years ago.

We should get to the halfway point early next month.

Shelby, Nebraska is a village of 714, with a school that satellite view reveals says "Huskies" in each end zone of their football field. Shelby is about ten miles from Stromsburg, which is the end of this segment of the trail.

Satellite view also shows that all around Shelby, for miles and miles, the land is split into one-mile-square pieces by straight roads with clever names such as County Road 29, County Road 30, County Road T (running perpendicular), and County Road U. Every square mile, all around for a long way, is cultivated, including the square miles which are partly taken up by the village of Shelby, with Shelby taking up just small corners of three of those square miles.

Farm country, I would say.

This weekend, I will attend my first-ever protest march, in Olympia on Saturday afternoon. I will take pictures if I can.