Speeding thru Daytona

After enjoying a good nights rest by New Smyrna's Hidden Treasure and spending some time getting to know the new proprietor of The Scoot Inn (formerly known as The Fairfield Inn), we began our day that itself was filled with hidden treasures. First we met the minister if the Baptist Church as we passed by. He had just taken the ministry and had seen us last year on the last day of our walk when we were in Bar Harbor Maine (Last week I met a couple who work at Acadia Park who stopped for a picture because they had also seen us on our last steps of our thousand mile trek.) I had an uplifting talk with him, his secretary, and deacon. It was good to talk to someone familiar with charitable ministry to answer some concerns I had. I left them after getting a boost of air in the world that also needed some early morning ministry.

I walked on to meet another person of faith who was a follower of the Buddhist faith, a deciple of Paramannsa Yogananda whose book, "Autobiography of a Yogi" is very enlightening for all faiths. We talked for a good while and I again walked on, uplifted as I worked my way toward Daytona. On my journeys I meet people of all persuasions and we/they all have common bonds when we lower the gates.

Walking on I met a man who had lost friends recently to diabetes and was shocked to hear that exercise was a factor in controlling diabetes. I gave him some literature and he was on his way to telling other diabetics he knew that they should do more than simply rely on medicine for their condition. I thought everyone knew that fitness makes a difference...

I stopped for lunch and to give Nice (the dog) a good long break from the sun. I shared my lunch with Nice, giving him the meat while I ate the vegetables and pasta. The owner who spoke with his wife in Italian as I ate would not let me pay for the meal. I thanked them and we walked on well fed and rested. The world is filled with good people.

Now in Daytona two sisters stopped to talk. I took this opportunity with them to save the world once again with a boost of air as the cool wind and clouds cause the world to get soft. As we finished the task of maintaining the world, three women pulled off the road and came up excited to find us and more excited to know our story. After a happy conversation one of the three asked if they could pray with us and it was on, a by-the-side-of-the-road lively joinin' of hands come to Jesus prayer meetin'! The three church ladies, the two sisters, and me were all smiling and happy, even Nice had a grin--though I think he was more interested in the black and white kitty that was in the nearby trees. Like The Cable Guy says, "I don't care who ya' are. That's good stuff right there." After the exchange of a couple hugs, a bunch of waves, and "I love you's" out the windows, we were bouncin" off the curbs and swervin' around utility poles all the way out of Daytona and into Holly Hill.

It was starting to get late but something told me to just keep walking. I had the phone numbers of two people who said they would help with a ride to leap-frog the van up to wherever the World came to rest at the end of the day, but the sky was getting pretty low in the west when a man and woman turned in to hear the story of the world. It wasn't long before they offered their yard as a safe haven for us, and in a few short blocks and a care package from the cheesecake shop on the way, we were on the way back to the Hidden Treasure at the causeway bridge in New Smyrna. Even with all the long conversations of this first day in February, we had made it though some four cities and eleven and a half miles of sidewalks to end the day with the best homemade Jewish-Italian pizza I have ever had, a salad, a back yard fire pit, a talking bird and a shower. Some days I can't help but smile all day and believe I AM livin' the dream.