The Generosity of Strangers

Tonight a good man paid for my dinner. A woman bought most of my breakfast. In truth it all makes me blush. I don't object to accepting charity; I'm in no position not to. This is a low-budget operation; every little bit helps, and helps more than I'd care to admit.

But there's a good deal more to it that buoys me, a sense that people understand what I'm doing. I have the damnedest time explaining why I'm Walking Across America, even to myself, but it is when I don't even try that it makes the most sense. Because it is there. The idea that people can, and want to, share in my adventure gives it a new kind of meaning.

Because an adventue, really, is what it is, nothing more and nothing less. There are better ways to cross the country; the Wright Brothers saw to that. But there is nothing more truly American than adventure for adventure's sake. Going to the moon was an awfully silly thing to do, but we learned a few things and it was fun to watch and it has to be just about the coolest thing our tax money has ever been spent on.

So thank you and I promise to keep walking. Not because it is easy, but because it is hard.

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