Part 4 - Not Broken Just Damaged - A Walk Across America - 2015

Listen, as this story continues, I'm trying to accurately remember where and when photos were taken and who's in them. I'm constantly checking my Walk's Facebook page and my journals to put names with places and places with dates, so if I get a place name wrong or I put a place in the wrong State, just let me know.

Part 4 is going to cover what was in my stroller, my concerns for the impending journey and some of the people that made those concerns easier for me.

Firstly though, d'you wanna know what I was pushing in my stroller? So, most of this stuff, I brought over with me as I wasn't sure if or where I might be able to pick it up "on the road". What I will say, is that I didn't need half of the stuff I brought with me; I'll know better for Walk attempt No 2 - Yup, that's an actual thing.

I placed different items of kit in different places in and on my stroller, depending on how much I may use them during a walking day or if I needed to get to them quickly. I didn't have that much space to play with and most things eventually just got rammed inside the stroller, which was like a crime scene.

The photo below, was taken in Sandy Hook/Newtown, CT. The guy with the red t-shirt on, is author Joe Hurley who walked with me for a day and who, himself, walked across America and wrote a book called "10 Million Steps" which was one of the books I used to research my own Walk Across America attempt. Joe was a really nice, quiet man...only spoke when he had something worthwhile to say...I liked that in a walking companion.

The Law Enforcement Officers are Matt and Felicia from Newton, CT, Police Department. Matt is an Iraq War Veteran and Felicia is a K-9 Dog Handler and the photo is of the moment that she presented me with her dog's Dog Tags (a great honour) and it really blew me away. The dog was called St Michael (the Patron Saint of Police Officers and Military Personnel)...nice touch huh?

Anyway, you can get a fairly good look at how my stroller was set up in the photo.

Medical Kit was kept in my Pannier Bags on the outside of the stroller, same with my cooker and cooking utensils and my electronic equipment. My "cockpit" had my navigation equipment, phone, water bottles, a small, waterproof bicycle bag for my wallet and cigarettes etc. and as I walked further West, I added a massive tin of Bear Spray to the cockpit layout.

Medical Kit

In hindsight, there were items in my medical kit that I should have had. My biggest and most irresponsible omission were tourniquets...I didn't take any fucking tourniquets. I managed to fit this medical kit into a medium-size, plastic waterproof container or Tupperware for you Home County-types.

• Bandages, Pain Killers, Tincture of Iodine, Alcohol Swabs, Tweezers (yeah, yeah, get your minds out the gutter), a Tick Remover, Benadryl, Tough Cut Scissors, Nail Scissors, Safety Pins, Plasters, Compede, Vaseline (ahem...er!), Surgical Tape, Scalpels, Pulsometer, Blood Sugar Level Reader, Surgical Gloves, Sun Screen, 100% Deet Insect Repellent, Wet Wipes.

Navigation

Surprisingly, navigation was the least of my worries; it seems strange to think that with a 3,600 mile journey ahead of me, that navigation would be my biggest concern. Route Selection, on the other hand? Christ, I made some shockingly poor judgements of route selection throughout my journey. To help me do both I had an array of navigation equipment:

• Silva Compass (always, always, always have a Silva Compass whenever you travel on foot), a selection of road maps and OS Maps (I would buy maps of each State as I entered and I had a road map of the entire USA), Garmin GPSmap 62 and my SUUNTO AMBIT2 watch. However, it was good old google maps that I used the most; that and road signs/numbers. I was going to say I used the moon, stars and sun...but those that know me well, would know I'd be talking shit.

Communications

I purchased, with much fucking drama, a dual-SIM mobile phone and an AT&T and Verizon SIM card. I figured that, having both networks, I'd have the most chance of having comms all the way across America. Later, during my walk, both Verizon and AT&T, contacted me and told me that they would pick up my phone bills and donate the amount onto the Wounded Warrior donations page; pretty cool huh? So...

• Mobile Phone with local SIM cards, my UK mobile phone (Vodafone never picked up my phone bills though...wankers), an Iridium SATPHONE which, thankfully I never had to use and that was basically it, in terms of comms equipment.
• To charge everything up as I was walking, I used a SolarMonkey kit, which was excellent and never let me down

Security

This was something that hadn't concerned me until I started to walk. I couldn't imagine why anyone would want to cause me harm but as I made my through rural Massachusetts, with my Union Jack and Old Glory, fluttering in the warm summer breeze above me, I was verbally abused by a couple of inbred locals...you know the kind? Marry their cousins...sleep with their sisters, who slowed down in their F-350 truck and demanded that I lower the British Flag...ungrateful fucking colonials!

I also had a black lady shout at me, as I stood beside her at a cross-walk, waiting for the green light. She was with her daughter; she must've been about 6 years old maybe? She was looking up and down at my flags, then she looked straight ahead and said;

Her: "...I wanna rip that down, stomp all over it and burn that fuckin' rag..."

Me (looking bewildered): "...I'm sorry ma'am...were you talking to me...?"

Her (clearly agitated): "...damn straight I'm talkin' to you...why you wavin' that piece of shit flag around for..."

Me (looking up at my flags and back to her, like a fucking Collie who doesn't know what to do): "...I'm sorry ma'am...what flag do you mean...?"

Her (now grabbing the Union Jack and tugging it as you might tug a hanging bathroom light switch again and again, cause it's not going on): "...This (tug...tug) piece of shit flag...why you waving this Confederate Flag around up in here fool..."

She called me "Fool" the way that BA Baracus calls everyone "Fool".

Me: "...Ma'am...this is the British Flag...this is the Union Jack..."

Note: you'd think that if there was any fucking State in the USA that would recognise the British Union Jack...it would be Massachusetts...for obvious reasons...right?

Her (less agitated now and slightly embarrassed at her stupidity): "Oooh...is it...? It's not a Confederate flag?"

As we crossed the road, me pushing my stroller and her holding the hand of her daughter who had been blissfully unaware of how her mother's stupidity, I explained to her what I was doing and where I was from etc. etc. etc.

To her credit, she was extremely apologetic...gave me $20...hugged me and wished me good luck. As she was about to walk off, I said to her:

Me: "...Can I ask you something...?"

Her (smiling now): "...sure can..."

Me: "...How can you hate something so much and not know what it looks like...?"

And with that, she turned and walked off.

There were a couple of nastier incidents that happened later on my route, but I'll keep them for when we get there ok?

I also had over 3000 followers on my Walk's Facebook page and I was being bombarded (in a nice way) with messages asking where I was? Did I need anything? Where was I headed towards? When was I arriving in such-and-such a town? So I was never really on my own, so to speak.

In addition, I also had Police Escorts from the New York State Line onwards and they would radio the next town or the next District or the next State, that I was on my way and they would literally hand me over to the next patrol cars; someone always had my back.

Matt and Felica from the Newtown, CT Police Department. They escorted me all the way through and out of town, in their Patrol Car, Blues and 2's on, all the way to my Hotel (that I didn't pay for).

However, I will always remember them for something else that they did for me on that day.

I'll share that story another time.

Then there was the Patriot Guard Riders of America, who decided to take me under their wing and randomly check up on me, sinisterly questioning me:

"...you ok? Anyone fucking wit' you brother? We got yo' back man..."

These guys were the real deal; veterans from Vietnam and more recent conflicts, real tough motherfuckers, helmet-less, ink everywhere, US flag bandanas wrapped around their heads, riding Choppers and Harleys. I'll tell you a story about them later.

Bob Bee (left) and Cliff Fitzgerald (Bob is a Vietnam Veteran) and both Bob and Cliff are members of the Patriot Guard Riders of America, who travelled across several States, just to come see me; even now, it brings tears to my eyes, to think back to the day when they just turned, completely out the blue, to see if I was ok.

I also had a handful of families (The Fitzgeralds to name just one) and individuals who took it upon themselves to make me call them every night when I got to my final destination for that day. If I didn't call them, I would get a brutal phone call, chastising me for "worrying me half to death" before then saying "how you doin' honey...you ok sweety?"

So, all in all, I was pretty fucking safe.

That being said, I did carry a knife on my hip that I picked up in Kabul and I had another two at hand on or in my stroller.

I'll tell you a story, later on, of what happened when a Police Officer, who was giving me a lift, found out that I had three knives on my person.

It was pretty surreal...but in a good way.

I also had my bear spray, which I kept on my handle bars. I used to practice a "quick draw" with that sucker, just to make sure I could get it out quickly and point it in the direction of the "bear" and not back in my own face; honestly, you'd be surprised how many times I fucked that up.

Camping Equipment

I tried to buy the most lightweight kit I could afford. As it turned out, I only used my tent three times throughout the entire Walk.

• Tent - I used a Big Agnes Fly Creek UL-2 Tent, with a built in fly-sheet and ground sheet. Before I left the UK, I used to practice putting it up and taking it down in the dark, just to find my way around the pieces and what went where.
• Sleeping Bag - I used a Softie 3 Merlin but the three times I was actually camping, I lay on top of it because it was so hot at night.
• Stove - I used the electricity generating wood CampStove, BioLite2. If you're looking for a camp stove? This is the one. It was amazing. It doesn't require you to carry fuel; it takes small pieces of dead wood, twigs, acorns and the USB socket allows you to charge shit up as you cook. That and the SolarMonkey kit were my best pieces of equipment.
• Fire Lighters - I had a magnesium fire starter and emergency matches (FUZE-E) as well as a pack of disposable lighters - us smokers eh?
• Water Containers - I also had two, 2 gallon, foldable water containers which, when full, weighed in the region of 16lbs each. I went through gallons of water during a 30 mile day...gallons of it...and, of course, people were constantly stopping to give me bottles of water and Gatorade, which I stowed in my stroller. My concern was when I reached the mid-West, where towns and shops would be more spread out and less frequent and where I would have to ration my water consumption more carefully.

Clothing

This was a struggle for me; what clothes do I need to take with me? How often can I wash my stuff that I've been walking in? Do I need "on the lash" clothes? - well...you never know! Apart from my trousers, I chose lightweight stuff that could be washed and dried quickly. I spent a small fortune on anti-blister socks, that were brilliant; I never once...not once got a blister or even a hot-spot, anywhere on my feet.

I wore Merrells to walk in and I bought them one size bigger, so that when my feet swelled on a day's walk, they wouldn't be too tight.

I had walking gear and night gear for sleeping in or going to the pub - yeah, I did get on the lash a couple of times. But I was also doing TV and Newspaper interviews at night and wanted to look half fucking decent.

My night time gear was generally shorts and a t-shirt, although I did have a pair of Levi's stuffed in my stroller somewhere...just in case.

I had Gortex over-trousers and a Gortex jacket, which I only had to use once when I got caught in the scariest thunderstorm I've ever seen but apart from that, I didn't wear them.

I know it doesn't look like much, but I can assure you it was horrendous and was a concern for me once I would hit the Great Plains.

Food

Carbs! Carbs! Carbs!

For the majority of my journey, I was never very far away from some sort of shop, fast-food joint or supermarket. However, I did have "Emergency Rations" in my stroller, in the shape of MRE's. Thankfully, I never had reason to open them.

As I walked, I munched on nuts, seeds, dried fruit, raisons; stuff like that. I also had bananas up the ying yang.

Most of my diet was carbs; Pizza, Pasta, Bread, Potatoes and red meat (usually steak) for the protein.

The photo is of the guys that ran Fat Boys Pizza in Johnstone, RI. They gave me free Pizza and more to-go AND they sent a message to other Fat Boy Pizza chains, on my route and THEY gave me free Pizza to.

The kindness of strangers folks...the kindness of strangers.

I was burning over 6000 calories a day and the weight I lost, in the right places, was phenomenal as was the muscle I put on, again, in the right places.

This photo is of Don and Nancy Doucette; they were one of the Families that used to travel over State Lines and simply do a drive-by of me, to see if I needed anything. Don is the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Branch of the US Route 6 Tourist Association. The photo was taken at The Ramada Hotel, Seekonk, MA, when they came to have dinner with me.

Don was like a guardian angel for me...driving up and down Rte 6...in his sky blue 1955 Impala...checking I was okay...just appearing out of some random side street...with a wave and some helpful advice about what lay ahead of me; hills, traffic, a Dunkin' Donuts...those kinda things.

Please allow me to explain in more detail how I ended up being "comped" in The Ramada Hotel that night...it's important that you guys truly understand the sheer amount of kindness and generosity I was shown by people I didn't know.

This photo is of Don Doucette, Nancy Marroco, the Sales Manager of The Ramada Hotel and Laura McNamara, the Executive Director of the East Providence Area Chamber of Commerce, who came down to meet me at the Hotel and who linked up with other organisations in the area, including the Press, to promote what I was doing. As a result, I was given a night's free accommodation and all meals...free...just amazing kindness and generosity.

Back to Don. Don gave me a Loyalty Card for Dunkin' Donuts, that he would top up with credit, whenever the money ran out...amazing couple...just amazing. Don's lifelong friend, John Buchanan, also gave me a Pay-as-you-go Debit Card, with $300 on it and John would top that up, whenever it was low on money...I mean, can you believe THAT? Even now, it still makes me wanna weep.

Dunkin' Donuts literally saved my life. They had chains on just about every road I walked along and if I would Google Map search where the nearest one was every morning. Sometimes I would have to walk for an hour to get to it but once there, I would carb up on Pancakes, Waffles and Donuts...AND they had nice clean Restrooms...Mmmmm!

After a while, Dunkin' Donuts stopped taking my money (Don's Loyalty Card) and a message was sent on their corporate site, to "give the Brit guy who's walking across America free food".

This kinda thing happened throughout my Walk and later, in future Parts, I'll upload a video of when I walked into Danbury, CT, under a Police Escort, and was given a free nights accommodation at The Marriott Hotel AND free Steak at The Black Angus Steakhouse, that night...ALL of these people were just crazy kind, generous and afforded me a level of hospitality that I had never had before and have never had since.

Okay, I'm sure you get the idea...I ate...a LOT.

By now, I hope you have a better understanding of what I carried, what my concerns were and how people made those concerns more manageable for me.

In Part 5, I'm going to take you back to the day I disembarked off the Ferry from Boston and arrived in Provincetown, Cape Cod, MA and what I got up to that night (alcohol was involved) as well as my first day walking.

Hope you're all enjoying the journey so far...and I hope you all stick with me...it's a helluva story.