Journal entry, 9-26-06 I would like to start this journal entry by apologizing to all my friends that have helped me along throughout my journey.  I have been neglecting my journal and making it very hard for you to keep up with me.  So many wonderful stories to tell and I haven't taken the time to tell them yet.  I ask you to please forgive me.  I got an email from a very dear friend of mine that told me about this shortcoming. I plan to fix that problem right now.  To all of you that befriended me and even helped me between Ohio and New Jersey, I apologize deeply for not telling the wonderful stories yet.   I am not going to make excuses.  I can only offer an explanation that this journey is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life.  Most of the time there is not a bone or muscle in my body that is not aching.  I can't believe that at the age of 52 I am putting myself through this.  I truly would rather die than go home being fat.  This is what drives me to continue walking this gruelling walk.  Now that I an 100 lbs lighter I have chosen to increase my distance to 20 miles a day.  This is taking from day light to dark, 7 days a week.  I am so tired and sore when I am done that even moving a few feet becomes extremely complicated.  I can only offer that now that I am losing a lot of weight, I can streamline my day and give myself a couple of hours to journal.  This I will make myself do. Secondly, I would like to explain about fast-5 becoming part of what I am doing.  It would seem to most folks that I am doing everything to promote fast-5.  I started this journey to lose weight and regain my health and to bring National attention to the Obesity problem in America.  I have developed this deep passion of hating being fat. . Every day I wake up and see the fat I still have, makes me sick and even more determined to lose the weight.   Throughout this walk I have met some very wonderful folks that really respect and support what I am doing.  There is something very intriguing about what I am doing.  Walking across America with a 60 lb pack, living in a tent, getting all support from complete strangers, living in the elements whether hot or cold, roughing it so to speak. I have done and still am doing all of these.  I have to just to survive.  The only difference between how I am doing it now as compared to when I walked from St. Louis to New York is,  Now there is a vehicle that follows along with the water needed to get across the desert this time of year.  When I was in New Jersey, I received a phone call from Dr. Judi Herring from Jacksonville, Fl.  She said that her and her husband Bert who is also a Doctor, had been researching how to best lose weight for most Americans.  Their passion was genuine and they really was dedicated to sharing with America their findings about weight loss.  They asked me that since I was also trying to bring National Attention to Obesity, if they could join me and walk from California back to Missouri.   My passion to bring attention to obesity was so strong that I welcomed them to walk with me to help bring attention to the obese problem.  I had stated early on in my journal that anyone was welcome to walk with me.  Now it just happens to be that after I met Dr. Judi,  I started the fast-5 system to lose or control my weight and feel so strongly about how effective it is that I feel like sharing it with others who are having problems losing weight.   When I walked from St. Louis to New York, I lost an average of 10-12 lbs a month.  Now with fast 5 I am losing that much a week.  So fast-5 is something I really believe will help fat people in our country.  And after being with Dr. Judi and her mother Mary now for over 5 weeks, I am convinced they are really honest and sincere about wanting to help obese people and I honor them for their efforts.  After all, who would do what they are doing if it weren't for such a noble cause.  The other side of the story, they have not one cent to gain from what they are doing.  They are doing it just to help others. So my journey will continue to be about me and to help others lose weight.  To hide the fast-5 knowledge that I have gained would be against what I am trying to do in the first place.  So please forgive me if it seems that I have turned my walk into a way to help promote fast-5.  I will try and do a better job at the details of my walk.  So, this journal entry is a start.  I will set a standard to update my journal with my experiences as they happen.  So look forward to some great journaling.  Take care, Gary, "Keep on Walking, one foot in front of the other." Journal entry, 10-3-06 This morning I crossed into New Mexico.  I am on Hwy 60 east from Arizona. The weather is not to hot, maybe high 80's but the nights are still getting very cool.  As we came into New Mexico, we began looking for a place to drop the pop-up trailer.  We found a place in front of a realty company and asked the owner if he would mind if we dropped the trailer there.  He was very clear that he did not want us any where around his property.  We were very surprised because no one had turned us down yet. We could not help to feel that most folks around these parts seem to be stand-offish.  So last night we drove nearly 30 miles into New Mexico just to find a place to put the trailer.  We ended up staying at an RV park for 12 dollars.  I pitched my tent as usual near the camper.  Every evening Mary prepares a nice meal.  Last night we had scrambled eggs, cheese and a slice of salami.