A couple of weeks ago my wife and I were walking the Mill Creek Streamway Trail where it meets up with Shawnee Mission Park. Along the way we had the good fortune to be stopped by Karen Clark and Jerry Bowman seeking directions to Desoto, Kansas. My initial thought was that these nice people, who clearly were dressed and geared for a day out on the trail and had the healthy look of outdoors people, were actually crazy or confused. Desoto? Why that must be 10 miles away. Well, perhaps they are crazy. But in the way I want to be crazy.
Following their well planned retirement they began to implement some of their deferred dreams. We met them in the middle (quite literally) of one: to hike the entire continental length of the USA! In 2010 they accomplished the first half of the dream by walking from the Atlantic Coast to the Kansas-Missouri border. Then they retreated home to California for the winter holidays. We met them on the very day they picked up to complete their amazing journey by trekking from Olathe, Kansas to the California coast.
Their on-line journal of the adventure can be followed at www.journals.com/karenandjerry. They post fun photographs along the way and their journal is full of interesting observations and insights. Their journey is full of history, nature, and health. As I write this, they have already walked from Olathe to Lawrence to Baldwin City to Ottawa and on to Council Grove. I have also included a direct link to their journal under "My Blog List" with some of the blogs and sites I like to follow.
That's quite the adventure that they have going! I can think of a lot worse ways to spend a retirement.
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