Judi's Trek Blog

September 7, 2006

Today we awakened later than usual. I had forgotten to turn on the alarm last night, so the wake up call for Mom and I was Gary knocking on the camper door with the statement, “you know, I used to know a couple of ladies that liked to sleep all day.” We exchanged a moment of banter and set into action. We were pretty quick with an out of bed to camper-down time of 15 minutes. We filled the gas tank at the make shift truck stop and got coffee at the coffee shop. We asked the attendant at a tire repair place for permission to leave our camper for the day. He said it would be okay, so we unhooked and headed to our morning starting point about 2 miles west of Ludlow. We retrieved the flag and set off for Ludlow.

On the way to our starting point, Gary said, “You know I have a confession to make. Last night after you two left the restaurant, I ordered a pieced of pie with ice cream. It tasted soooo good.”

I said to Gary, “I knew you were going to get dessert, Gary. I could see it all over your face as you were sitting there. You finished your meal then started grazing around the table putting jelly from individual jelly packs on saltines. You had a nostalgic look on your face. I could see it. You were so clearly back in your truck driving days stopping at a truck stop after a long day on the road. Your impulse to get dessert was as predictable as the moon.”

He said, “Now how did you know I was going to have dessert?” I told him that I knew because I could see him slipping into an old pattern. We talked about the liberty in food choices that the Fast-5 lifestyle affords one. I told him that there is no restriction from dessert on Fast-5, but that as long as he is out here trying to maximize the speed with which he is losing the weight, every caloric indulgence risks slowing him down a bit. Mom and Gary and I discussed it together and noted that having dessert is fun and we all want to be sure to do that on occasion while we are walking. What we don’t want to do is have dessert so often that Gary has any slowing of his current weight loss efficiency. We decided to have dessert at an interval that allows it to be a real guiltless, very pleasurable indulgence. We agreed that the dessert nights for our little trio would be on the nights that Gary gets a motel room. Gary said, “Hey, that means I get to have dessert for the next two nights…just kidding.” Mom and/or I said, “You don’t have to be kidding. We completely support your choice to have dessert on the next two nights. It follows our group plan of having dessert on your motel nights and part of the fun of dessert is anticipating it. Dessert should not ever be associated with guilt. You just have to decide thoughtfully how to manage your choice about dessert frequency and not leave it to random impulse.” Gary called Cheryl and reviewed the dessert event with her and then later he reviewed it with his Mama. Gary is doing a great job our here with his exercise and diet. His Mama and Cheryl are both very proud of his success.

We took an extended “sit down” break (actually 15 minutes sitting and 15 minutes standing, Gary reminded me when timing came up in conversation) after we walked 2.8 miles, then a longer shade break after we walked 4.75 miles. The shade break was by the tracks east of Ludlow where Highway 66 crosses to the south side of the tracks. While we were there a truck with 2 train workers stopped. Tony Mesa stepped out of the truck to offer us some water. We declined the offer because we were well stocked, but thanked him kindly for the offer. We talked to him about our journey and Fast-5 and invited him to follow our journey on line.

Before we moved on, Gary talked to his Mama for a few minutes.

He described his life of luxury saying, “Well, Mama, I’m just lying here in the Mohave Desert. Mary is fanning me with a fig leaf. Judi is massaging my feet and taking care of my blisters.” He pretended to shout after moving the phone from his mouth, “Hey, Judi, move a little to the right, will ya?” I lightly smacked his leg and told him he was a piece of work. Gary “tattled” to his Mom as he laughed out loud, “Mama, Judi just wopped me for telling that little fib.” I had to think that the exchange prompted his Mom to reminisce about all of the times Gary and his sibs did standard kid shenanigans when he was growing up. We finished our break and continued our walk.

We walked on with a modest breeze and relatively cool conditions. It was only 91 degrees. We took a sit down break at 7 miles. Gary sometimes describes that his legs feel like rubber from weakness. He has not put this much demand on his leg muscles without at least a day of rest each week before now. He is getting stronger everyday, but this kind of conditioning takes time and Gary is aware of that. Also, Gary is carrying a heavy pack and has 130 lbs of excess weight due to his obesity. He will continue to get a brisker step as time passes, his conditioning increases and his weight drops. Gary gave his all this morning. We walked a total of 10.1 miles before taking our midday break from the heat.

We sat in the Ludlow Coffee Shop to have a cup of coffee while Gary settled into his motel room. It was great to get out of the heat for a while. Our server was Linda who asked what ‘this’ was about, as she gestured to our Fast-5 shirts and hats and our notable “Bobbsey Twin” appearance. We talked to her about Fast-5 and about Gary’s journey. She listened with interest and said that she would keep us in her prayers and check out our web sites.

We thanked her and said that we would be sure to have Gary stop by in the morning to share his experience. My mom suggested that I call Cheryl and I did. We talked about Gary’s accomplishment for the morning. She told me some stories of Gary’s struggles that lead to his decision to start this journey. It was a rewarding conversation; I was happy to be able to tell her about Gary’s morning success.

Gary called from his motel room to tell us that he had freshened up. He said he would come to the coffee shop and hang out until we had a chance to use his room to shower and wash out our clothes. We made the switch and Mom and I showered. It felt great. I noticed that I had more sun damage on my legs than on previous days, so Mom got my long pants and I put them on. The pants are yellow scrub pants and unfortunately are a little bit sloppy looking. Fashion pressure prompted me to switch from scrub pants back to shorts over the last few days, but the heat rash knocked some common sense into me. I’m committed to wearing whatever protects me best from the elements, not what is most presentable. That said, readers should note that I am very aware that a good tailor would do wonders with my scrub pants.

We finished our shower and joined Gary in the coffee shop. We had a diet soda and talked to some patrons about our journey and Fast-5. We talked with Cheryl on the phone and took a few minutes to do the “dueling laptops” routine. By that, I mean that Gary was on one side of the table working on his laptop and I was on the other side of the table working on mine. Mom was tending to all of the social obligations to ensure that we weren’t rude to anyone stopping by.

We started the evening walk at 4:30 pm. We walked a short distance then noticed some smoke off in the desert. We watched for a while speculating that it was coming from Twenty-Nine Palms Marine Base. [Bert tells me later it's really the Twentynine Palms Marine Corps Air-Ground Combat Center --not just a "base."] As we watched, Gary identified three tanks maneuvering and firing at a target a fairly long distance away. Gary told me about the orders that precede the firing of the munitions. We talked about the tank battles he was involved with during his days at Fort Irwin. We walked 3.55 miles before breaking fast at 6 pm. We ate a piece of cheese and 2 hard boiled eggs and Gary drank a Gatorade. We talked about the view of the tanks and Gary tried to persuade us that we could see it more clearly if we just tried. Finally he said, “you know, if you two were in my tank company, I reckon I’d just have to fire you.” We all laughed and agreed that Mom and I maybe wouldn’t be interested in being in his tank company. We talked about strategy in tank battles.

We all talked together about the behavior of commanding officers and others. Mom told a story of the behavior of a senior officer at a Hail and Farewell and again, Gary and Mom found common ground. We enjoyed the break to the fullest then resumed our walk. As we walked, Gary talked about the advantages of being an American soldier. He clearly showed his pride in having served in the Army. It was great to hear him talk of duty and honor.

We finished our walk at 7:25 pm, planted the flag with the standard video taping session and congratulated our team with the “high five, Fast-5” handslap. We were “high fiving” the total distance walked of 15.4 miles today. It is Gary’s personal best record for the desert part of his journey. He is reaching to find as much reserve as he can. He says that he appreciates the encouragement to find his strength to go as far as he can.

Mom made dinner after we returned to the camper. We ate heartily in the car then Gary and I went to the Ludlow Coffee Shop to have a small dish of ice cream and coffee. The server did not charge us for the food. We thanked her then went to our respective “homes.” Gary returned to his motel room and I returned to the car to charge my computer and send some pictures to Bert. Mom settled into the camper for a short night of sleep. I was impressed that we had stopped walking at 7:25, driven to

Ludlow, set up the camper, made and ate dinner and had a light dessert by 9 pm. We are really trying hard to using our time as wisely as we can here. Mom is unbelievable in her ability to create an awesome home cooked meal from almost nothing. She is creating a little bit of home away from home for me and I am privileged to have this time with her. Part of the journey for me is an opportunity to spend time with Mom after all of the years apart.

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