Journal Entries

What a day in Jacksonville! Though we got an early start to it, our time there was great due in large part to the efforts made by Susan Main, Executive Director of The Early Learning Coalition of Duval, Inc. Susan is a terrific community leader and childrens advocate. From beginning to end, she helped plan our entire visit to Jacksonville; including stops at a number of fantastic community-based programs.

To start, Channel 4 TV did an interview about the walk and Worst To First which was emotionally quite difficult to do given the other tragic, breaking news story being covered that day, the story about 7 year-old Somer Thompson. After the interview was over we dropped in to visit The Salvation Army Child Development Center. This program is five-star rated and features a full day robust learning environment for the children that attend.

Next up, we walked with a few kids and other children's advocates to Community Connections, a wonderful program for homeless kids. What I thought to be especially impressive about this group was their accomplishment to date in boosting the cognitive skills of 0-5 year old children through a state of the art cognitive curriculum they employ. It seems to me this curriculum would be beneficial to use statewide. The Jacksonville Times and Jacksonville Daily Record covered these particular events and provided some great exposure for our website.

Thank you God for cool weather! How refreshing and invigorating it is to walk without much heat and humidity. Today it was such a blast to have students from St.Johns River Community College and the provost of the college, Dr. Glen Moore, join us in the walk. As we tramped along, we had some good, meaningful and engaging discussion about needs and opportunities for St. John's River Community College and Florida's community college system in general. I shared with Dr. Moore the conviction I have that Florida's community college system provides the best bang for the buck and must be supported in a much greater way by leadership in this state.

I head out from Mt. Pleasant towards Sneads and pass the 100 mile mark—good news for my tired feet! As I move, I am plagued by rain and the reality of these long walks; painful blisters on my feet. After a while, the aching subsides and I'm able to speed up a bit. Eventually, I hit my stride then realize I'm still far from my goal. Around every corner I turn, the city limit sign I hope to see continues to elude me. I push on.

The rain eventually stops and it's steamy and hot, a nasty kind of humid. "Keep chugging the gatorade," I think. After crossing over tranquil Mosquito creek and see the Florida State Hospital complex on my right, the Chattahoochee city limit sign is in sight. "What a relief and what pretty little town," I think, "With plenty of rolling vistas that culminate in such a magnificent view of the mighty Appalachicola River." To see it truly takes your breath away—I know mine was.

As I transition into Jackson County, I hit the boundary for Central Time. From this point to Sneads the road is flat with lots of surrounding farmland. Continuing on, I pass the Apalachee Correctional Facility. To walk the entire length of the property takes me an astounding 40 minutes. "That's a lot of agricultural land to train future farmers,” I think. For a moment, I’m lost in thought until honks and waves from passersby bring my focus back to the road. I imagine the radio show with Jan Rogers on WGND informed locals around here as to what I am doing.

West of Quincy, through Gretna, it’s like a walking heaven. There is a wonderful pine-strewn sidewalk with a shady forest on my left and a good bit of distance between me and the trucks whizzing by on highway 90. My wife walks down to meet me outside of Mt. Pleasant- now that’s heaven. A cold drink and a hug from Kitty and I’m good to go all the way to the Chattahoochee River Basin. I walk past the old farm my family used to own off Atwater Road, just west of Mt. Pleasant. Great memories of my family hunting and eating country meals together flood my mind as I press on toward Chattahoochee. When I stop for the day, I’m tired but am convinced that the time I'm spending in Florida communities is time well spent.

This stretch of highway is definitely nostalgic. With so many Walkin' Lawton signs memorializing my dad's trek, his memory lingers here on the Blue Star Highway. The road from Midway to Quincy is walking hell with no shoulder at all and not much consideration from the speeding trucks and cars that pass me by. More than once, I find myself diving for the weeds.

Today is the last of our four day trip around the Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Bay County area. I have been inspired by the programs and the people that have welcomed us with open arms. In particular, I have been touched by Mayor Scott Clemons of Panama City and the time he has given to me and the Worst To First team. There are so many great advocates for children in West Florida. Our challenge is to want to find and highlight every single one of these organizations. In time, we hope to do just that.

Our first visit today was to the Chapman Early Learning Center led by Dr. Pamela Fleege. The Early Learning Center is a Head Start and Early Head Start program that began as childcare for under-served families and has morphed into an early intervention program. New moms in hospitals off-site are helped through The Early Learning Center as well and follow-up surveys are conducted with these mothers to ensure child development is progressing in a healthy, normal way.

Today has been amazing! We started out in Crestview at the Crestview Health Center. Nurse Practitioner, Paul Tartarilla, and Joel Montgomery of North Florida Medical Centers, Inc., are providing a tremendous service to families that literally have no other place to go to obtain healthcare. I think to myself, “The public health system is so dysfunctional, but at least the federal government provides funding to make this kind of clinic possible in Crestview and 10 other North Florida Counties.

Not surprisingly, it’s another hot, muggy day in West Florida, but I’ve made good time walking. Today, I enjoyed walking on part of the historic red brick road that local folks call the old Spanish trail. This old road was built in 1901. In 1994 the road was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. I love history, especially Florida’s.

At the Blackwater River, I bumped into a Sheriff who stopped to chat. For the most part, we talked about football, which I guess in Florida isn't so hard to believe. Being a gator fan, I shared some thoughts about the upcoming UF and LSU game with my new friend before continuing on my journey. I also grabbed some food, fueling up on pizza and wings, and made my way toward Floridale. Pushing on, I reached my destination 12 miles later and took a moment to celebrate the 75 mile mark. Hooray!

Starting out at the Escambia/Santa Rosa County line with thunderstorms on every horizon, I lace up my walking shoes and head east on 90--It's Milton or bust.

Ten steps away from the air conditioned interior of my wife's car, the humidity and trapped fumes of Pensacola traffic are like a shot to the gut. I can tell this is going to be a rough day. Then, as I encounter a dead rattlesnake on the side of the highway up ahead, I am reminded that the day will in fact be tough but am oddly comforted by the fact that I'm not the only one crazy enough to crawl these highways.

After seeing the snake, my attention is divided between the dangers on the road and in the grass. And, as I move, I am enveloped by the constancy of hot, moist air. Without a doubt, this is the hardest stretch of walking I’ve done so far.

Through the heat and distraction of danger, I manage to find encouragement through thoughts of my father and the purpose of my walk. I know he had days like the one I'm having; days that were probably more the rule than the exception. I grit my teeth and push on.

It’s a gorgeous fall day, grand for an 11-mile walk. There is blue sky all around and the chill in the air is refreshing, such a contrast to last week’s walk in West Florida. Today I’m on highway 90 moving west, and it feels good to be close to Tallahassee. Almost 40 years ago my dad hiked this same road, walking east toward the capitol building to finish the long trek he made. I was moved when I passed some highway markers dedicated to memorializing his historic walk. I actually got a picture next to one of them – a special moment for me.