Return of the Jedi

Wow, this was probably the most eventful twenty four hours thus far, by far. We are also the farthest from home that I have ever traveled by foot, by far, not by car, except for a few exceptions, but they are few and far between, and were not very far.

When we last left our two brave travelers, they were camped out in a twenty four seven McDonalds near Brighton, not sure whether they would have a roof over their head for the impending rain.

Have you ever met someone, and after making eye contact just once, knew it was meant to be?

Furthermore, was that someone carrying 80 chicken nuggets, a heap of fries, free coffee, and a tray stacked with the entire selection of premium McDonalds dipping sauces?

It didn't take much more than that to get us in the car, headed back to the hang out spot of some seasoned late night McDonalds goers. A large tool shed, complete with a loft and bug zappers was where we hung with some exceptionally chill dudes until around three thirty in the morning, at which point we were driven back to the McDonalds, where the manager was completely cool with our unabashed sleeping choices.

To the below pictured gentlemen: thanks for a good time.

To the drunk people at four a.m.: No, we did not walk to Michigan from Europe. No, that is not possible.

Waking up in a fully lit restaurant, with the sun already in the sky, surrounded by breakfast eaters who are much more interested by sleeping backpackers than their food, is an experience I will not soon forget. I hope none of the staff gets in too much trouble for putting up with our presence so late in the day.

Leaving our sleeping quarters, we made our way a few miles to the brilliant town of Hamburg. Despite its size, it had an incredibly large heart, and we particularly enjoyed the company of Dave, the proprietor of the Hamburg Food Center. He let us play his guitar, and hooked us up with some free t-shirts so we can represent the most friendly place we've come across all the way to the pacific coast. Dave, we will be seeing you at the Hamburg music festival next year, keep in touch!

Of course, me being me, I left the house without everything that I would need over the coming months. I also managed to lose my ID in under a week. Thankfully, my wonderful mom and the always considerate Dawn were kind enough to drive me out some forgotten essentials, and buy us lunch to top it off!

Love you mom!

One of my favorite moments today, besides seeing my mom of course, was when a red car sped past and someone yelled out the window, "its the hikers!".

Now take notice, he said "the" hikers, and not "some" hikers.

Already astonished at being recognized by someone we hadn't met yet, we were even more surprised when the car came back, parked, and the driver gave us free water and unforseen tidings.

"Hey man, here's some water. Aren't you the guys who are walking across the country? Everyone is talking about it!"

I guess when you sleep in local restaurants and chill with the local crew, word travels fast!

On a serious note, if anyone is looking for a dog, there is a lovely beagle and something else mix named cocoa that is currently residing in downtown Hamburg, but is looking for a good home. We really are sorry we couldn't take her along with us, hope you understand.

Once again on the road we made our way to tonights safe house, a friend of my moms named Derrel. A fantastic meal was waiting for us, and though I forgot to take a picture of it, you can rest assured, it was, without a doubt, picture worthy!

Guess what else they have here?

A Bass! It made a great day that much better, and I now find myself quite content.

A rousing game of sequence and some tea with our wonderful hosts finished off the night spectacularly.

Now I will retreat to a warm bed, and prepare for the next three days, which promise to be as fun filled as the last three.

Here we come Ann Arbor!

Five nights in

We woke up this morning refreshed!

How refreshed were you?

We were so refreshed that it took a while to remember that we were still on the road, and that we had at least ten miles between our air conditioned room and the unknown location of our next sleeping spot.

The breakfast that soon followed did nothing to detract from the comfort of the morning, and had far the opposite effect.

Thank you very much Claudia for the generous hospitality, we won't feel that close to home for a long time to come! I felt sort of like poor Bilbo leaving Rivendell after his first visit. (Anyone else excited for the Hobbit part two this winter?)

Despite a rather late departure time, we managed to get about four miles down the road before a motherly figure brought us some ice cold roadside water. We thank you for that, mystery lady!

I stared at my feet an awful lot today, quite a bit more than I did on the first day. It did not take long for concentrating on the next step to become more important than watching hundreds of cars blur by.

Claus, I thought you'd appreciate the historically rooted advertising, that picture is for you! One question though, was Mr. Franklin a notoriously punctual man?

We managed to walk through three townships today, that was pretty uplifting.

Though not nearly as uplifting as the meal that was delivered to us around dinner time by a wonderful and caring mother-daughter duo! A cold coke, fries, pretzel burger, and inspirational prayer were more than enough to make our day! The act of kindness was greatly appreciated, and will be remembered, thank you!

A few more miles brought us to a gas station and a successful loiter session that continued right until the rain drove us into a neighbouring 24/7 McDonald's. Here we sit, hoping that we can get some shut eye, fingers crossed that the overnight shift employees can find it in their hearts to not kick us out onto the streets.

Also, let's as a country decide against military involvement in Syria, that would be awesome, thanks a bunch.

Day Four?

I can't believe that after only four days in I am already having a difficult time remembering how long I have been on the road. Its amazing how quickly you slip into on-the-road mode.

There are very few nights of my life that I remember getting less sleep than last night. The pavilion, while dry, was coated in mosquitoes who had probably eaten even less in the last four days then me (after adjusting portions for body size).

However I probably would have gotten no sleep at all had my dad not brought us out bug spray, pop tarts, and some other groceries. So, thanks Dad!

We woke up before sunrise to the breakfast of champions, pop tarts. The pictured beer cans were sadly already empty that morning.

After that quick bite, we made our way to a nearby Burger King where we drank free water, used free facilities, and loitered in the free air conditioning. I would post pictures of me dressing the blisters on my feet, but none of you really need to see that. However I will tell you, with head held high, that my sores are nearly symmetrical between the two extremities.

A few more miles down the road we stumbled into another salvation army, continuing the quest for the perfect hat for nick. Sadly, we were unsuccessful. We loitered some more though under the security camera around the side of the building. Nick caught up on some much needed sleep while I watched confused salvation army employees stumble upon my solar panels that were set out near the sidewalk.

We made it about fifty feet down the road before being drawn to a Mobil station by promises of cheap hotdogs and pop. The cafe chairs provided an hour of prime people watching, sadly the gas station attendants declined our offer of blog based fame and you'll just have to settle for a picture of Nick in the cafe.

Our next stop was a liquor store that happened to house a very kindly man who hooked us up with some free bottled water. At the gas station next door we caught a glimpse of Jay, waiting around for Silent Bob, and tripped out a spacey gas station worker.

Eventually, after a long morning, we made it into Hartland. Though that really doesn't mean much...

More importantly: we loitered some more, this time outside of a Hungry Howies.

Now, while it may seem we are not getting much done, I assure you, we did get a little over eleven miles in today. Let's not belittle the fact that we did eight total hours of loitering today alone, without being asked to leave once. I for one think that is a very impressive feat.

While on our way to Claudia's house, we ran into a nice family who had seen us on the road earlier, and was quite shocked to find us at the bottom of their driveway! Who knew we were famous in some parts?

To that kind family: If you do see this, thanks for the kind words, they were appreciated!

Dinner tonight was amazing, thanks to Claudia, who has been a wonderful to us! We will hit the road tomorrow with clean clothes, clean bodies, full stomachs, and a full night of sleep!

On the third day...

Waking up to a warm breakfast was, while good for morale, probably quite counter productive overall. We are certainly adjusting to life on the road slowly, "trial by fire" has turned into "trial by sauna". Either way, thank you Wyatt for the hospitality.

The weather was not bad today, there was no rain. Its pretty warm, but you get used to the sweat almost as quickly as you get covered in it.

Thanks to Tommy, who ran us out some dori to tacos and Baja blast freezies, that was pretty magnificent of him. He met us in the salvation army parking lot, where I bought a Nike brand athletic shirt (ahahahahahahaha).

We also added a third member to our group at that stop. May I introduce to you: Antib, the medicinal camel! (Pictures below)

The folks at highland recreation were not about the free-campsite life, so we walked across the street to a church pavilion. The sign says "all are welcome" so we are going to test that theory tonight. The parking lot is packed for tonights AA meeting.

Tomorrow will bring a 15 mile hike down m-59, the longest one yet. Nick is not feeling so great, so we bought some cough medicine and plan on taking shifts sleeping here tonight. Hopefully he feels better soon and we can reach our destination tomorrow night. If there is any of the cough syrup left, we plan on cooking up some meth and selling it to the alcoholics as they leave the parking lot.

Wish us luck, peace!

Day Two

Well, the rail road security were not very pleased to find two campers set up on the side of the tracks. Sadly we were forced to pack up and make the short trek to my friend Wyatt's house for the night.

Here are some pictures of us sitting around camp though attempting to wait out the rain.

We saw our fourth train today, we have seen four police, had conversations with one angry rail road officer, and have received about 35 dollars worth of free supplies!

Also, find me on instagram @xavierrussell94!

First Day

A very loud shout out to Tyler Socin (didn't take long), Adrian Strat, Cody Anderson, and Mitch Chesney! Thanks for coming out and visiting last night guys, its appreciated.

Well the first day of walking went pretty well, we left at about 2:00 and put about eight miles in all together. However I already have a few blisters and can't stop going through the contents of my pack in my head, trying to decide what I can afford to lose.

Sitting up last night and watching trains really lent a lot to the whole cross-country mood, we have seen three so far.

It rained this morning, and we have another storm coming through this afternoon, so we are for an sit tight for a while and ride it out. Hopefully we can still get a few hours of walking in before dark.

Tomorrow we will be out on m59, so if anyone wants some candid photo opportunities, or feels like buying us some lunch, that's where we will be!

Sitting here on the tracks, eating a five pound loaf of German bread (thanks Steph!), and looking out at our shabby little camp, is making me feel homeless already!

Thanks everyone for all of the support, it has been unbelievable! And thanks for checking out the blog too, 56 views this morning alone!

I miss a lot of people already, I hope you are all well, peace!

Preparation

The official departure date has been set for Monday the 26th! I decided it was probably time to pack my backpack and buy some walking shoes yesterday, and I will be preparing the house for my leaving most of the day today. There is more cleaning to do tomorrow, before heading downtown for a gig and some relaxation on Sunday.

It is very difficult to wrap my mind fully around the idea that in only a few days I am going to be out on the road, worrying about things like where I am going to sleep, rather than how late I can stay out without making my mom angry.

I am really looking forward to all of the people who I am going to meet over the next week, and over the next few months, who I would never have met otherwise.

I haven't weighed the backpack yet, but it sure looks pretty heavy...

Introductions

For those of you who may be reading this and do not know me, my name is Dylan Holtslag, and a friend, Nick Bernardo, and I are walking across the country.

We plan on embarking on this journey in just over two weeks time, and could be on the road for about eight months!

During this time I am going to attempt to keep an updated blog chronicling our adventures and experiences, with written stories, recorded songs, pictures, and maybe even video!

I invite anyone and everyone to follow us on our walk and to, if possible, maybe even glean just enough inspiration from our travels to finally get out and do whatever it is that you have been wishing to do for so long a time!

Feel free to comment on any of my posts or drop me a message via email: somanyroads1994@gmail.com

Thank You All!

More posts soon to come!