Waverly to Kansas City

All I saw was a flat, colorless landscape with trees and hills off in the distance. “This is what the entire state of Kansas is going to be like,” I thought to myself. Strangely enough, I was okay with that. The gravel roads that I traversed were easy on my joints and I could walk in the middle of the road without fear of trucks zooming by. If they were coming, a large dust cloud would alert me of their presence. I found contentment in the isolation and wandering thoughts that circled my head. A house was up on my left and I knocked on the door to ask for water. There was no answer but I helped myself to the spigot on the side of the house. A puppy barked and ran under a shed, watching me from a distance. “Hello?” I called out. No one replied so I quickly refilled my water containers and continued on my way. The ADT route brought me to a green lawn with a man mowing on a riding lawn mower and a giant hill climb. As I approached the man I waved and although he waved back I couldn’t tell if he was continuing to mow in my direction or intentionally mowing towards me. What’s the difference? If he wanted to talk to me he was mowing towards me and if he was mowing in my direction then I knew he would awkwardly avoid my eye contact. Thankfully he was curious and walked to talk to me. I explained my journey and the American Discovery Trail and he told me he was surprised he’d never heard about it because he’s a paddler. A paddler?? He explained to me that there are river angels, like trail angels, and he helps people traveling on the Source to Sea, Montana to the Gulf of Mexico- the 4th longest waterway system in the world. My mind was blown! It made sense that there would be a huge community surrounding the water systems but I’d never been introduced to such a concept! He asked me if I needed anything (food, water, etc.) but I didn’t. After all, I was heading into town to resupply. I was about to be on my way when I thought a WiFi break sounded nice. What started out as sitting in the shade on the porch turned into a tour of the nearby town, the Missouri River, and the farmland Robin’s family owned. I didn’t plan on staying there the entire evening but as the hours passed I found myself enjoying the company of Robin and his wife. As the sun entered the western part of the sky, we all knew that I was going stay the night. After all, I was now family.

Why I walk: The reason as a whole of “why” I’m walking is personal growth, adventure, and human connection, just to name a few. However, I’ve concluded that the daily reasons I walk are different and distinguishable. At this point, over four months in, it is the only reliable thing I can count on. I wake up and I walk. I walk because I have no where to go. I walk because the unknown of stopping is much greater than that of continuing on. In a lot of ways, walking has become an identity and when I’m not doing it I have no purpose. I walk in hope of better weather. I walk because I know I’m not always welcome where I’m at. So, I continue to walk and hope that I will end up where I need to be.

I walked along a highway most of the day and the concrete made my body ache. Thunderstorms were all around me but I was able to walk in my own oasis of sunshine. I’d look up at the sky and see pockets of grey masses of clouds and rain underneath them. Was the wind blowing them in my direction? A red truck pulled up beside me and the man asked me a few questions about my journey before asking if I took rides. I was happy to converse with him but it wasn’t ideal to be doing it in the middle of the road so the truck drove further down and pulled into a driveway and waited for me. Susie and Steve jumped out of their vehicle to talk to me and I replied to their ,”Do I take rides?” question with, “Sometimes, but I have no where to go.” I knew I was headed into town but other than that I didn’t know where I was going to spend the night. They told me they had a nice camping spot and could bring me back to where I left off the following morning. A city utility worker happened to be parked in the same vicinity as all of us and Steve told him everyone’s name and what county they lived in. The utility worker didn’t realize it but he was going to be the witness if anything happened to me or Steve and Susie. It was evident to me here how Steve and Susie were taking precautionary measures for themselves as well as for me. It was a good reminder that when people help me it is an act of trust in both directions. They don’t know me and I don’t know them. I agreed to go with them and then I saw there were two more people in the back of the truck, their sons. I chuckled a little to myself because I couldn’t see their faces. They each had hydrangeas on their lap and their faces were buried in the plants. Whenever they asked me a question it was a voice coming out of the leaves. We drove to the other side of the Missouri River and into the storm. Rain began to pound on the truck and the windshield wipers struggled to keep up with the amount of rain. We got to an empty property filled with shipping containers and work in progress landscaping projects. There was one large shelter, a giant metal garage, and we all hurried inside to escape the downpour. Inside, several vehicles were torn apart, unfinished projects, and then there was a plastic table. I was confused. Where did they live? There was no electricity or plumbing here. Were they planning on leaving me here? I quickly was becoming overwhelmed by the massive amount of noise from the storm and the uncertainty of where I was. They explained to me that their sons lived in one of the neighboring towns and they lived a few towns over. Due to the weather, they were determining where would be best for me to stay. They told me their home was a mess but I assured them I didn’t mind. On the way to their home, Steve told me that if I felt uncomfortable they would get me a hotel room and they wanted this to be a positive experience. When we pulled into the driveway there were more unfinished projects surrounding the yard. I still didn’t know what to expect when I entered the home. Why did they keep insisting that their home was such a mess? Everyone tells me that. As they unlocked the door I saw exactly what they had been telling me. There was a single walkway throughout the house and clothes, magazines, and other knick knacks were in piles everywhere. I followed the path to the empty couch and tried to process the mess before me. I was overwhelmed and began to have a sick feeling in my stomach. While Steve and Susie went on a binge cleaning spree I thought about their hotel offer. I did my best to think about the situation logically. I knew that I was hungry and that was part of the reason I felt unwell and then I remembered that part of my journey is learning about people and their lives. It would be unfair to remove myself from this situation because it wasn’t what I expected. I could tell Steve and Susie were nice people and they were incredibly excited to help me. I decided I needed to stay and I changed my mindset about the situation. After my initial shock wore off, Steve and Susie took me out to eat at a Mexican restaurant and with a full belly life began to fill me again. There they told me one of the reasons they had stopped to talk to me was because when they passed me the first time I smiled and waved at them (I try to wave to most of the cars to pass me). I’m glad I was able to work through my initial shock towards Steve and Susie’s living situation because I ended up having a wonderful time getting to know them!

I was dropped off at the civil war battle ground in Lexington in the drizzling weather. It was such a strange feeling to be walking on a lush, green field where I knew hundreds of people had died. Despite this, I couldn’t help but think how cool of a camping spot it would’ve been if Susie and Steve hadn’t of picked me up the night before. One of the things that I have started to realize through all the historical places I’ve travelled through is that the reasons in each state  and town for fighting in the civil war were different. It was not a cut and dry slavery or no slavery issue. From what I learned at Lexington, it sounded like Missouri was tired of government control and that was the main reason the Missouri militia fought against the Union soldiers. Yes, it is all tied together but the way I learned about it in school made the reasons for fighting sound simple. I walked through the dreary weather and endured the rain. However, I wasn’t miserable. The rain brought a liveliness to me and I started to sing or rather make loud noises along the side of the road. At the last minute I decided to cut out the extra 20 mile loop the ADT took me on and settled on walking the highway the rest of the way to Kansas City. With this, I ended up at the Fort Osage Fire Department and rung the door bell. I had called the police and they unfortunately weren’t much help but the fire department was directly in front of me. They didn’t know where I could go but there was a piece of property next to them they said I could camp on. I was delighted to have a field to set up on but when I went inside to get water it was decided that I could stay in one of their extra bunks! I was introduced to the staff on shift and told that I could eat dinner with them too. Chicken pot pie was on the menu. Yummy! There was only one female staff on shift and it seemed she was given the responsibility to show me the ropes of the station. Everyone was incredibly nice but it appeared that I was at a loss for words. My shyness shined bright and I mostly only spoke when spoken to. However, everyone was engaging and I was delighted to tell them about my walk when they had specific questions. It was amazing to see how much of a family they all were. They end up spending more time at the fire station than they do at home. Cheyenne, the only female on shift, did an amazing job of checking up on me and making sure I had everything I needed. I was told that 6:30am was wake up for the shift change and that it was a possibility that the fire alarm could go off in the middle of the night. The night ended up being restful and alarmless but at 6:30am the lights flicked on and it was time to start another day.

I was on my way into Independence, one of the suburbs of Kansas City, and was told I was pushing it going that far into the city. I didn’t know exactly what I was heading into but I was sticking to the highway and had a host lined up to get me and drive me through the sketchier areas. As I walked out of town a group of older men called out to me. It was a group of veterans that were drinking their morning coffee outside a barber shop and they wanted to know what this crazy lady was doing. They heard my story and were acting like teenage boys joking and poking fun at one another. It sounded like they’d all grown up together and still helped get each other into small town mischief. They were a hoot to talk to and instantly my morning was wonderful! As I drew nearer my destination, my excitement level increased! My feet were soggy from the rain and wet grass but my spirit was not dampened. Right outside of Independence a guy called out to me as I exited a QuikTrip. He was excited to see an adventurer in the middle of the city. He told me he’d hitchhiked all over the country and followed the Grateful Dead on tour. He gave me insight on the Dead Kids, people that follow the Grateful Dead, in San Fransisco and Boulder and how to get help from them if I needed it. As I continued I simply laughed with joy. The Grateful Dead community has continuously been mentioned to me throughout my journey and the idea of reaching San Fransisco and finding them was amazing. It appeared I’d been following the bread crumbs of the legacy of the Grateful Dead. I reached the Truman Museum and explored the history of him, his family, and his presidency and then my host for the night, Dee, came to get me. Dee found out about me in two unexpected ways. First, she met Steve, friend biking across country, at a park and she had to find out what his adventure was and once he heard that she had hiked the Appalachian Trail he told her about mine. Dee then messaged me on my website and saw a post made by her friend Robin, the paddler that hosted me a few days before, about me. What an incredibly small world! Dee and her husband gave me a tour of Kansas City and showed me the amazing overlooks and World War I museum. What amazing people they are!