Taking A Walk

by Dwayne Phillips Our walking in the fall of 2008 ended on November 4th as we happily drove home to see our grandson on the day he was born. This year, I was spurred on to a quicker pace in order to be back in Reston, Virginia for his first birthday. One of the tougher […]

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by Dwayne Phillips It was a rainy Saturday in Meridian, Mississippi. I had been out on the road a few hours in the morning only to be chased in by heavy rain. Then I went out again just after noon only to be chased again by rain. I gave up on walking for the day. […]

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by Dwayne Phillips I like chile relleno; I have for years. See the Wikipedia page about chile relleno. You take a green chile of one type or another, put cheese and sometimes meat inside it, batter it, and fry the whole thing. They are great. One time in Livingston, Alabama and one time in Laurel, […]

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by Dwayne Phillips I stopped walking about 3PM every day. Every day, that is, except for two. Once near Attalla, Alabama there was a midday storm. I waited for the storm to pass and then walked in the humid, cloudy aftermath from 3 to 6 PM. The second day I walked after 3PM is the […]

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by Dwayne Phillips I walked through many small towns and many small, small towns. All these towns were one of the highlights of my walk. Many small towns are not doing well economically. I would judge their health by the percentage of empty storefronts in their old downtown areas. Far too many were half occupied. […]

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by Dwayne Phillips I was in a northern suburb of Birmingham, Alabama. It was midday and I was hungry. There was a pizza place in the end unit of a shopping center. It wasn’t a chain of any kind, just a local place – perfect. They sold pizza by the slice. I looked at their […]

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by Dwayne Phillips She was walking across a U.S. highway crying, her face covered with tears. I saw her first and pointed to her to show my wife. My wife left the car immediately, pulled by a force to the little girl. We had just completed our walking for the day and had set in […]

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by Dwayne Phillips This happened on the day we walked through Harrisonburg, Virginia. It was a good day. We started out in rural areas at a spot where Route 11 crossed Interstate 81. We walked through three small towns that were wide spots in the road – Mauzy, Lacey Spring (not springs), and Melrose. I […]

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by Dwayne Phillips This happened during the first week of the walk in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. I cannot recall what town it was. At the south edge of town was a large house shaded by large, old trees. There were rocking chairs on the front porch. In each rocking chair was a elderly […]

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by Dwayne Phillips This occurred the day I walked into Laurel, Mississippi. It was raining – yuck. The north side (as route 11 goes) of Laurel is on “the other side of the tracks” –  literally on the other side of the tracks. The railroad cuts through Laurel with downtown, a mall, shopping centers, and […]

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