The Complete Walker was very useful and the trip went great. My boot were a little loose in the beginning which caused two blisters on my heels after I tighten them, there was no trouble. On a side note I found a lot of cool stuff along side the road. What is some cool stuff ethers have found?

I've been walking with my head down since childhood!

I've found money, interesting rocks, bones & skulls, tweezers, an adjustible wrench, some kind of L-shaped faucet core tightener thing, a ring with a purple stone, rusted RR stakes, roadkill raccoons and opossums, a dead horse in a ditch with his feet sticking up, a few live dogs, a partial roll of rusty barbed wire, a couple of rear-view mirrors w/o the mirrors, an aluminum cane, a small plastic bag with $122 & some greenish stuff that sort of looked like dried parsley, two dog collars with tags, about 52 hub caps and an equal number of tire rims (w & w/o tires), a bumper jack, a couple of gloves (unmatched), and a ton of other stuff. Oh, and a creeping, untended campfire.

Perhaps the most wonder-provoking was the clothes alongside one road, spread out over a mile or so: a cap, two shoes (spaced out), two socks ("), a jacket, a t-shirt, a leather belt, a pair of jeans, a pair of boxer shorts and an athletic supporter.

A relative found petrified terrapin. A couple I met at a rest area had found a scared silver Persian cat in an upside down carrier alongside I-5 near Fresno, CA. A guy I used to know found a baby in a dumpster. A guy that I heard about found a pair of man's severed hands in a paper bag. My younger sister has found a grand total (over the years) of $1700.

Ah, the treasures of America!

Sue

Brian:

Where do you walk?

Most of my walking is done in North and East Texas. Most recently I have been exploring wooded areas near Cedar Creek lake/Gun Barrel, TX. As far as parks go, currently my two favorites are Dinosaur Valley (because it's so large and has a decent amount of creeks plus the river running through it) and Cedar Creek (because it's so close to home and there are some great off-tail hikes along the lake and a couple of largely unknown creeks). At these parks I am always off-tail unless the wife and son are with me, in which case you'll actually find me along the trails most of the time. I also do a few hikes a year on a 4k acre plot I have sole (minus two ranch hands) access to down in the "badlands" near Del Rio Mexico and a once a year hike up in the the Sierra Nevadas near lake Tahoe, CA/NV. I enjoy hiking quite a bit. I'm what most would probably classify as an ultralight hiker. I am also often barefoot, cept down on the ranch I referred to as being in the "badlands" near Del Rio. Nothing but cedar, mesquite, and prickly pear down there. I have pretty thick leathery pads on my hoofs from doing lots of barefotting, but I still dont make it more than 30 yards barefoot down there without screaming/crying for a pair of shoes. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> I have plans to start spending some time checking out N Padre Island though too. My wife has family near the Aransas National Wildlife Refuge down there and I here there are lots of places on Padre Island to hike where others have rarely set foot for many years.

I've been pretty muck all over West Texas - a grew up ranching near Abiline. That country around Del Rio is some of my favorite in the state -- just one nothch short of Big Band, but without the people.

I it intrerest to compare the reallity of that teraine and climate with people expections. They never have seen desert like this desert. Its a different world. Hearing people talk about 'the woods is so alien to my experience, I have a hard time knowing where to start. Even when I go to NM, which I used to do quite a lot, we hung out in the high desert rather than the forest land.

I agree... It is truely amazing terrain. I only hope I have access to that land for many years to come. So far so good... 20 years and counting.