Hey everybody!
Here’s the long and short of things so far: We started with our feet in the water in Point Reyes National Seashore in California. Unfortunately, most of the Point Reyes area from the seashore almost all the way to San Francisco was made up of trails that were just a little too small and narrow for our carts.
In the process of figuring that out, one of our carts broke and Lindsie happened to roll one of her ankles. Not exactly the best start, but it could’ve been worse. Thankfully, we were able to make it to the Point Reyes Hostel in one piece. There, we spent the night, reassessed things, and got a ride into town from a VERY kind woman and her daughter so we could buy replacement screws for our cart. (Thanks Melinh and Malaya!)
Lindsie’s parents actually drove back to Point Reyes to help us get out of the national park in one piece, and, as a result of having to reassess things, we shifted down toward San Francisco and started on the western most part of San Francisco just west of Golden Gate State Park (but don’t worry, we still started with our feet in the water).
Once we got going in San Francisco, we said goodbye to Lindsie’s parents for a 2nd time and began a big loop around the city (which took us right up by the Golden Gate Bridge, once again). Then, thanks to our good friend Hugh Weber, we made a connection with Jessica Henry, who graciously put us up for the night in her San Francisco apartment. Needless to say, it was a huge blessing, as there’s really nowhere to camp in San Francisco and hotels (even grungy ones) are incredibly expensive.
After staying in San Francisco for the night, we trekked over to Oakland on our way to Berkeley. Lindsie’s 2nd cousin, Thomas Francis, lives in Berkeley, so we had a good 9-10 miles of walking to do once we got off the ferry in Oakland. We walked up Market Street in Oakland and met a great guy named Lamarr Couttien who kept telling us how inspired he was by what we’re doing, and we were thankful we had a chance to talk with him and be inspired ourselves (good luck with your next step in life, Lamarr…we look forward to staying in touch with you).
From there, we pushed our carts up some absolutely BRUTAL hills (hills have now become our worst enemy on this walk) to reach Thomas’s lovely home, where we set up our tent in the backyard and enjoyed some well-deserved rest. In fact, due to some blister injuries and route readjusting, we ended up staying the night again.
Which brings us to this moment. We’ll leave Tom’s tomorrow morning for Vallejo, California as we continue on our journey. We’re hoping one of the churches in Vallejo will be willing to put us up for the night so we can get a good night’s rest. Otherwise we’ll probably need to find a safe place to set up our tent before we’re up and moving again in the morning.
To say it’s been a crazy couple of days would be an understatement. Thankfully, God has continued to provide for us, whether it was through Melinh and Malaya’s timely generosity, Lindsie’s parents’ never-ending generosity, Hugh’s eagerness to help, or Jessica and Tom’s incredible hospitality. We feel so blessed already and we’re excited to be on this next portion of our walk as we continue across California.
All in all, we appreciate everyone’s support and encouragement so far and we can’t wait to share more updates with you.
P.S. – If you’re following along with our journey and either live in the Vallejo, Fairfield, or Vacaville area or KNOW someone in any of those areas who might want to put us up for a night when we come through, we would be incredibly thankful. We know we might end up having to snag a hotel room at worst, but anyone who would even let us set up a tent in a backyard or sleep on a living room couch would be a huge blessing. (We’ll even wash dishes or vacuum the floor as payment.)
Feel free to contact (or have someone contact) Mike’s phone at 605-521-6762 or you/they can email StormingJericho@gmail.com.
Thanks again!
