For Those Just Tuning In...

This site represents a very long year's worth of blogging. For those of you just coming to it, I've put together a few page links below which will give you a good smattering of my trek around Texas.
.
I get asked a lot of questions about people, animals, weather, and more with a certain amount of frequency. The following blogs will address these issues with a specific story.
.
The Scary Incident at the Beach
The Panther's Scream
The Ice Storm in the Lower Panhandle
The People of Muleshoe, Texas
Big Bend National Park Thoughts
The Funkiest Hostel in Texas
My Nighttime Border Stretch
Sneaking into a State Park
Reflections
The Final Map
.
Faces of Texas was a recurring blog post about the people I met along the way. Click on the region to see who I met and what their stories are. There will be some overlap between regions, but by and large, it'll be accurate. Also, when a region is mentioned multiple times, just keep in mind, I was walking, not driving, through these places. I spent a LOT of time in each corner of the state.
.
The Gulf Coast
The Gulf Coast
The Gulf Coast
East Texas
East Texas
East Texas
North Texas
The Panhandle
The Panhandle
The Panhandle
West Texas
West Texas
South Texas
.
Finally, here are my days and miles with journal entries mixed in. It's basically a log of how much I'd done for the day with pictures of things I'd seen.
.
Days 1-8
Days 9-22
Days 23-32
Days 33-47
Days 48-85
(Break for Toe Fracture)
Days 128-145
Days 146-185
Days 186-231
Days 232-290
Days 291-359
.
Hope this works out for everyone. If you have any questions or additional comments, please feel free to write me at smattathias@gmail.com. You can also find me on Facebook under Steven Matthew Read.
.
Enjoy!

The Final Map

.
This map has been LOOOONG overdue. All the green dots are where I either camped, stayed in a hotel/motel/someone's house, or stopped for the day (and didn't sleep there). You can see the places I went slowly and the places I went fast. I think the biggest stretches I covered were in the last push to Corpus.
.
It's wild to see the map of the trek. Of course, I'd been updating along the way and regarding it, but somehow seeing it all together like this is a different experience.
.
While I have forgotten a handful of my campsites, I remember so many of them vividly, which side of the road I was on, how high the grass was, the temperature of the evening. I don't remember even a quarter of my camping spots on the Appalachian Trail.
.
So there you have it. Mission accomplished. What's next is in the making, so until then, follow your dreams.

In the News...

My final Caller-Times column is here. No further explanation is needed.
.
So I was wrong about this blog being done. I guess there's always more that can be written. A few days ago, I got a gig for 2011 with the Austin American-Statesman! So there you go.
.
Until whenever!

St. James Classroom Visit and Mrs. Linda Stalmach

.

Throughout most of my hike, I corresponded with a group of fourth grade students at St. James Episcopal School. I sent postcards to Corpus, and on occasion, I'd receive a huge package of letters from the kids filled with questions about the hike and updates from their lives. This back-and-forth was one of the highlights of my trip.

.

I wrote about it as well in a Caller-Times article several months ago. You can read that here.

.

Their teacher was Mrs. Linda Stalmach. On the morning of my departure, my friend's mom Tommie Nattinger mentioned that Mrs. Stalmach had expressed interest in my project. I immediately said that I'd be more than happy to write the class, though I hadn't spoken with Mrs. Stalmach directly.

.

I wrote that very day. Then I wrote once or twice a week for the better part of a year. When they wrote a bunch of letters, I did my best to reply to every one of them.

.

Little did I know, Mrs. Stalmach was teaching her last year in a wheelchair. She had been diagnosed with ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease and had lost the use of her legs. This didn't keep her from doing a superlative job, though. More than one student mentioned that they had the greatest teacher on earth.

.

When I came back, the details of her condition came to me bit by bit. I was going through my own wind-down, and on top of that, I didn't think it wise to go over without permission. I had asked a couple of times through postcards if she'd like to meet. By that time, however, she had lost a lot of weight and was having trouble breathing, let alone writing.

.

I was oblivious to her rapid decline. Instead, I said yes to a classroom visit at St. James. I'd been excited to see the kids and see what they were like.

.

The talk went well. The kids asked a lot of questions, played with Raisin, and tried on my backpack (some fell backward, though many stood straight). Afterward, we took a group picture, shown above. It was a lovely way to start the day.

.

The teachers and admin employees informed me that Mrs. Stalmach was doing extremely poorly. They encouraged me to call and go over. So I did.

.

After getting the number from Tommie, I called and was given the OK by John Stalmach. I asked my friend's mom to accompany me, and she accepted. As we were driving over, she tried to prepare me for what was coming, but really, nothing short of direct experience will give you what you need to know.

.

My former teacher had disappeared. In her place was a much smaller woman, sitting in a wheelchair, whose arms and hands moved slowly, whose voice was barely a whisper. We both gave her awkward hugs.

.

Tommie lead the conversation, talking about whatever snippets she could discern from Mrs. Stalmach. There were times when it was clear Mrs. Stalmach was a little confused, not responding to our prompts or muddling up what we'd just said.

.

However, in these difficult moments, Mrs. Stalmach asked if I had seen the kids. We had told her earlier in the visit that I had, but in the haze of her condition, she hadn't understood. But now she was asking. She was dying, could barely talk or understand, and was still thinking about her students.

.

Mrs. Linda Stalmach died the following day.

.

It's been my privilege to have worked with Mrs. Stalmach and to have been a part of her last year of teaching. She will be missed by everyone.

In the News...

I didn't think I'd be posting any more, but I suppose there's always more.
.
I've got three articles left, two of which I'll post here. I've concluded my self-syndicated column series with the following newspapers: the Booker News, the Bowie County Citizens Tribune, the Brackett News, the Brownfield News, the Canadian Record, the Clay County Leader, the Eden Echo, the Fairfield Recorder, the Jefferson Jimplecute, the Lone Star Iconoclast, the Lufkin Daily News, the Pulse, the Seminole Sentinel, the Vernon Daily Record, the Victoria Advocate, the White Oak Independent, and the Wise County Messenger. I thank the publishers and editors of these papers for trusting me with this year-long writing project and for inviting their readers along on the journey. Without you, this walkabout wouldn't have been possible.
.
Click here for the last syndicated article.
.
The Corpus Christi Caller-Times publishes a separate column series, also about the Texas Perimeter Hike. Due to a clever early decision by Cynthia Arbuckle, the paper publishes my columns a month after I submit them, so as to form a safety net of one column. They only recently published the 11th article and will this month publish the finale. Though some themes may be similar between the two column series, this one is entirely independent of the self-syndicated series above. Thank you to Cynthia and the newspaper staff for their interest and support.
.
Click here for the 11th article in the Caller-Times.
.
I dug up a few interviews from Beaumont and Lubbock that I'd forgotten about after the panhandle. Unfortunately, the Beaumont paper doesn't put the entire article online, but you can still see one of my blog photos here and a bit of the text:
.
Click here for the half article in the Beaumont Enterprise.
.
The Lubbock paper on the other hand has posted the entire article online. The reporter Alyssa Dizon was amazingly thorough. She not only interviewed me but also my supervisor at Caprock Canyons State Park and a family I stayed with in Muleshoe. Incredible! No other reporter did this much work for a story. The Lubbock paper would be wise to trust Alyssa with more assignments and a commensurate raise!
.
Click here for the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal article.
.
Until next time? There's always room for another, I suppose. Keep checking!

The End

On Saturday, August 21st, 2010, Raisin and I arrived in Corpus Christi, completing my circuit around the perimeter of Texas. With my sidetrips, I estimate I've walked around 3200 miles. Raisin must have made some records too breaking 1000 miles traveled, herself walking about 700 miles of the distance.

Several people accompanied us in the home stretch: my cousin Ted walked over 5 miles from Ennis Joslin in flip-flops, his dad Tony joined us about 3 miles out, and three neighbors, Tony, Alicia, and Nora, jumped on about 2 miles from home. Several other neighbors came out to the corner including a busload of children (or so it seemed), and my mother forced a big American flag into one of their hands (a flag of Texas may have been more appropriate, I don't know). Pictures were taken, smiles and handshakes flew, and then we retired to home.

Some surprising details: Mrs. Perez (Alicia) who had had some kind of internal surgery last year was the fastest walker (faster than me!) and was practically skipping. My uncle Tony, an athlete in his youth, overheated in the sun and had to cool off with ice water and a wet towel on his head. Ted got blisters from the flips. And Raisin, who had walked 100 miles in 4 days, had gone lame, so I had to carry her home.

At my parent's house, there were even more relatives and another neighbor, and we all sat down to eat some tamales my mother had made especially for the homecoming. (Actually, I slipped away and took a quick shower. I weighed just under 140!) An hour later, everyone was full and tired and went home to clean up and relax.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

It's been two weeks now. I got sick some time around Laredo and was hoping that the Airborne I took from Becky Garcia would help me out. Nope. If anything, the whole thing lasted even longer. I walked with this chest infection for the better part of a month, and only today finished off a five-day antibiotic treatment. Ironically, my friend and doctor believes I've had walking pneumonia!

Perhaps as a result, I've found myself sleeping and goofing off. It's easy to fall head first into the ocean of the internet. I was late with my last syndicated column and still have one more Caller-Times column to write. Maybe I don't want this thing to end.

Raisin, on the other hand, has wiped her paws of the whole hike. Since finishing, I've taken her on two short walks, but she's acted suspicious and uncooperative the whole time, like we could hit the road any minute. She's a 14 lb dog, in general a little thing, and that last 125 miles really took it out of her. Raisin's doing great now, her disdain for walking replaced with a disdain for the bathroom and baths.

Have I learned anything from all of this? Am I a changed person? The answers to these questions will always be yes because there's no way to undo the past. Yes, I've learned a thing or two, tons of things actually, and yes, I've grown in the last year. But it doesn't end there. I expect my experiences to have a profound influence on the rest of my life. However, I could have said the same thing about elementary school, the Peace Corps, or my first girlfriend, whom I affectionately refer to as G-1.

Life builds on top of life. Any given experience exerts its influence both up and down in time, illuminating past events and making it easier for a person to navigate future ones (in theory, at any rate). My project, while unusual, is no different in this respect than any other ways in which people choose to spend their time.

On the other hand, perhaps the questions demand a little less philosophy and a little more straight talking. Though it goes against my general principle of avoiding the dissection of a life event, I will nonetheless list ten things that I've learned in the last year:

1) I shouldn't fear a homeless person any more or less than I do another person on the street.
2) There are more good people in this world than bad.
3) Walking on sand for more than an hour is a brutal way to treat feet.
4) There's a lot more in the Texas Panhandle than open space.
5) Visiting my dad's childhood friend was the best way to learn about my dad.
6) The value of a handwritten letter in the middle of nowhere is inestimable.
7) God is out there and right here.
8) 115 degrees is really hot.
9) A kindness to a stranger can be as simple as a conversation.
10) Texas is really big.

Take from that what you will.

As per me, I have several writing projects left which will keep me busy for a few weeks, and then... who knows. There's a bicycle in my future which - given my history with my legs and feet - is my parents' worst nightmare. I want to learn to speak and write Spanish, swim better, make a business teaching boardgames to families, and solidify a career in writing.

One at a time, though. First, the bike.

Until next time, travelers...

Days Two Hundred Ninety-One to Three Hundred Fifty-Nine

A week and a half ago, Raisin and I arrived in Corpus Christi. It still hasn't sunk in. This stay with my folks has been like any other, wide open and laden with time. The way it feels we could have just come back from Guinea, Montana, New Mexico, or any other place I've lived.

.

There's so much to say I want to say it in its own space. So for the last time, at least in a long while, scan the mileage, look at the photos, and read these little snips of thought. Enjoy.

.

Days 291-293: More zero days in Terlingua Ghost Town

Day 294: Just inside Big Bend, about 5 miles

Day 295: Near Castolon, BBNP, about 19 miles

Days 296-297: Two more zero days in Castolon (did day hikes around BBNP)

Day 298: River Road, BBNP, about 18 miles

Day 299: Mariscal Canyon Trail, BBNP, about 21 miles

Day 300: Juniper Canyon Trail, BBNP, about 30 miles

Day 301: Grapevine Springs, BBNP, about 17 miles

Day 302: Hwy 385, BBNP, about 20 miles

Day 303: Hwy 385, about 15 miles

Day 304: Hwy 385, about 9 miles

Day 305: South of Marathon, about 17 miles

Day 306: Marathon, about 14 miles

Days 307-311: Several zero days in Marathon during hurricane

Day 312: Hwy 90, about 10 miles

Day 313: Hwy 90, about 20 miles

Day 314: Hwy 90, about 19 miles

Day 315: Sanderson, about 5 miles

Day 316: East of Sanderson, about 3 miles

Day 317: Dryden, about 17 miles

Day 318: Hwy 90, about 15 miles

Day 319: Hwy 90, about 16 miles

Day 320: East of Langtry, about 15 miles

Day 321: Seminole Canyon State Park, about 16 miles (1 mile to get there off road)

Day 322: East of Comstock, about 21 miles

Day 323: West of Del Rio, about 13 miles

Day 324: Zero day at Broke Mill RV Park outside of Del Rio (second evening here)

Day 325: Hwy 277, about 15 miles

Day 326: Hwy 277, about 15 miles

Day 327: Normandy, about 12 miles

Day 328: Eagle Pass, about 17 miles

Day 329: Outskirts of Eagle Pass, about 6 miles

Day 330: Southeast of El Indio, about 16 miles

Day 331: Old Mines Road, about 20 miles

Day 332: Old Mines Road, about 20 miles

Day 333: FM 1472, about 20 miles

Day 334: Laredo, about 25 miles

Days 335-338: Four zero days in Laredo

Day 339: Southeast Laredo, about 12 miles (3 miles were made just to get to starting point)

Day 340: Hwy 83, about 16 miles

Day 341: South of San Ygnacio, about 13 miles

Day 342: South of Zapata, about 16 miles

Day 343: Just past Falcon, about 20 miles

Day 344: Hwy 83, about 18 miles (visited Falcon Lake State Park)

Day 345: Hwy 83, about 12 miles

Day 346: East of Rio Grande City, about 15 miles

Day 347: East of La Joya, about 20 miles

Day 348: Mission, about 10 miles

Day 349: North of Hidalgo, about 12 miles

Day 350: Old Military Hwy, about 20 miles

Day 351: Los Indios, about 15 miles

Day 352: Brownsville, about 21 miles

Day 353: Northeast of Brownsville, about 12 miles

Day 354: South Padre, about 20 miles

Day 355: South Padre, about 30 miles

Day 356: North Padre, about 21 miles

Day 357: North Padre, about 29 miles

Day 358: North Padre, about 19 miles

Day 359: Home, about 16 miles
.

(I haven't added up my miles. I'll have a rough estimation soon.)

. . .
Day 300: Got a really early start. I'm behind on my schedule and need to finish by tomorrow. That means a 30-mile day today. I gots to get crackin'! [If a hiker, especially a solitary hiker, doesn't check in to the Big Bend Headquarters when he/she finishes, the rangers send out an alert and go looking for you. Didn't want that to happen, and the likelihood increased a bit because I added a 20-mile detour to wrap over Mariscal Canyon.]

. . .

Infinite, Brewster County, Day 301

. . .

Day 301: Reunited with Raisin! Patricia drove little Raisin out to me and was a real sweetie, even offering to take her. Nope! Raisin and I are out of here! [Patricia and husband Jim took care of Raisin while I hiked around the park. Though having a puppy around mixed things up, especially for their older bigger dog, the family warmed up to Raisin by the end of the few days.]

.

[There are millipedes all over West Texas. Raisin would sniff and bark at them, but they would often curl up in self-defense like the picture above. They are harmless and should not be confused with a centipede, which has about a dozen segments to the body and longer legs, and is dangerous to the touch. I saw both during the trip.]
. . .

Fireman, Marathon, Brewster County, Day 309

. . .

Day 309: Chopped chicken breasts, then rode and drove a fire truck! Ali had to do some fundraising. [In Marathon, I was volunteering quite a bit with the local fire department. I helped with food prep and clean up, drove a fire truck which was crazy big, and also judged two chili cook-offs. Daniel, the fire chief, was happy to have the help, and I was happy to be part of a group. I got involved through the volunteers at La Loma del Chivo hostel who were also fire department volunteers. Working for free and being part of the Marathon community for a few days was one highlight of the entire trek.]
. . .

Pretty in Pink, Brewster County, Day 312

. . .

Day 315: [Stayed at a motel. Manager asked me the following:] "Do you smoke?" "No." "Do you drink?" "No." "Do you pray to Almighty God every morning?" "No." "Then what do you do?" [She was incredulous that I didn't have any vices that she related to. I told her in response to her last question that I walk.]

. . .

King Me, Sanderson, Terrell County, Day 316

. . .
. . .

Wisdom, Dryden, Terrell County, Day 317

. . .
Day 317: Then Mike - who also got invited to eat [at the store] - invited me to crash on his couch. He had heard about me from Marfa! [Imagine walking for nearly a month, then having someone recognize me through word of mouth! This is what happened in Dryden, and I am still shocked by it. I guess not too many people walk around the area and never in the summer.]

. . .

Lozier Canyon, Terrell Canyon, Day 319

. . .

Day 319: Found an awesome canyon after sunrise. Decided this would be better than a picnic area. Fenced off. Went down anyway. We ate, I read, played in the running stream, cleaned up, washed clothes, finished The Devil's Highway by Urrea, finished Charlie's article on George Schaller, are more, relaxed with Raisin, moved on to Dead Man's Walk from Mike & Sandy. Enjoying cool white rocks and the breeze. The overhead traffic is 30 ft above us and mostly drowned out by the rapids. [I was told later that the canyon is usually dry!]
. . .

Under the Bridge at Lozier Canyon, Terrell Canyon, Day 319
. . .
. . .

Judge Roy Bean's Place, Langtry, Val Verde County, Day 320

. . .

. . .

Make it a Double, Langtry, Val Verde County, Day 320

. . .
. . .

Purple Sage, Langtry, Val Verde County, Day 320

. . .

Day 320: Shrubs with purple flowers are everywhere now. So pretty. [The purple sage turned the countryside into a painter's palette. The purple stretched to the horizon, splotches as far left and right as I could see.]
. . .

Prickly Pear Fruit, Langtry, Val Verde County, Day 320

. . .
. . .

Country Humor, Val Verde County, Day 320
. . .

. . .

Border Patrol Drag, Val Verde County, Day 320

. . .

Day 320: [The above contraption is known to the Border Patrol as a 'drag.' There are dirt roads that run parallel to the border which are 'dragged' every day or two or three. The tires smooth the road and make it possible for agents to 'cut sign' and see exactly where people are crossing.]
. . .

The Pecos, Val Verde County, Day 321

. . .
. . .

Seminole Canyon, Val Verde Canyon, Day 321

. . .

Day 321: [Raisin and I snuck into a forbidden canyon. We played in the water for hours before finally camping out on a ledge at night. People probably hadn't slept on that ledge for over 150 years. I tried to make a fire from sticks and failed. Even so, the evening felt sacred.]

. . .

Hesles Motel, Eagle Pass, Maverick County, Day 328

. . .

Day 329: Talked with the owner Mr. Hesles-Shroeder about a work exchange. We had started the conversation yesterday. I wanted to work by the hour $10/hr and quit after 2.5 hrs. He wanted the job - weeding - done in its entirety. What if it took 5 hours? No way. "Mr. Read, I don't think anything can be arranged." There you have it. "This is a border town, Mr. Read. This isn't Montana." While interrupting me, he added, "I can find many more people like you who will do the job." Like me? What irked me is that he wasn't paying me, per se. It was a barter. After receiving the world's trashiest room, all of a sudden he has standards? I would think that 2.5-3 hrs was a good deal, but he obviously didn't. Raisin and I checked out 30 min later.

. . .

Nest Egg, Laredo, Webb County, Day 339

. . .

Day 339: [I watched a spider guard her egg for thirty minutes while Raisin and I were waiting out the heat inside a culvert. The images I took are big and bold, though the actual spider was no bigger than a quarter. Fascinating creature.]
. . .

Hot and Spicy, Falcon Lake SP, Zapata County, Day 344

. . .

Day 344: [I've seen grafitti the entire trip, but this person made a special effort for his/her writing to stand out. I found this underneath a picnic area roof at Falcon Lake State Park.]
. . .

Lady Dog Dog, Rio Grande City, Starr County, Day 346

. . .

Day 346: Dog 2 was there in the morning! Actually, I knew she would be because Raisin barked at her movements throughout the night. Crazy thing: this Dog 2 does not make any noise! [I later named her Lady Dog Dog and because of her behavior and disposition I decided to try to get her to a humane society. The poor thing was so hungry, that she stuck with us for two days with no encouragement from me. I finally caved and poured some dry dog food on the ground in front of her and Raisin. During the last few weeks, I had noticed Raisin getting uppity about dry food (as opposed to wet dog food or yummy human food), but when Lady Dog Dog started inhaling the dry food I'd put out, Raisin, who was momentarily shocked that any dog would eat dry dog food so fast, got possessive and started barking "Hey, that's mine!" (or so I believed). Sadly, a day or two later, Lady Dog Dog got hit and killed by a car in Mission. I had called two humane societies that morning - both closed.]
. . .

Charlie, Hidalgo County, Day 349

. . .
Days 349-350: [My brother Charlie hiked with me. All told, we did about 20 miles together in 6-7 mile chunks. Our conversations traveled all over, which was reflective of the lifestyle, but we had a good time. We took a short-cut along some run-off created by the hurricane several weeks before. We got away from the traffic for a little bit and didn't have to scream to be heard. A good stretch.]

. . .

Runoff, Hidalgo County, Day 349

. . .
. . .

My Parents, Hidalgo County, Day 350

. . .

Day 350: [My parents Nolan and Esther were real troopers during the hike. They visited in the first couple of months as well as the last month. Everything in between, they checked the blog like everyone else. This picture is so them.]
. . .

No Wall, Hidalgo County, Day 351

. . .

. . .

University Campus, Brownsville, Cameron County, Day 353

. . .

Day 353: [The campus of the University of Brownsville is one the prettiest academic places I've ever seen. I received a tour from Professor Medrano, who teaches several history courses about the border, the general area, and Mexico.]
. . .

Homecoming, Brownsville, Cameron County, Day 353

. . .
. . .

Amigoland!, Brownsville, Cameron County, Day 353

. . .
. . .

End of the Wall, Brownsville, Cameron County, Day 353

. . .

Day 353: [The wall, as in other places along the border, just ends. The river was to the left, a small developed park area to the right. We saw a border patrol vehicle parked in some shade directly behind where this picture was taken.]
. . .

Sand Pyramid, South Padre Island, Cameron County, Day 354

. . .
. . .

Unidentified Grounded Object, South Padre Island, Cameron County, Day 355

. . .
. . .

Sand Crab, South Padre Island, Cameron County, Day 355

. . .

Day 355: [Raisin loved chasing these little suckers. They're pretty fast, too!]
. . .

Design, South Padre Island, Cameron County, Day 355

. . .

Day 359: [Padre Island will forever be a place of blisters and sandal sores. It was five days of pure pain, every step a shock. It didn't help that I pushed for home either. Luckily the weather was on our side. Easily ten degrees cooler than places inland, the island also had a breeze which made it very pleasant in spite of my injuries. Raisin too got chaffed and was walking at an angle for several miles. Felt bad about that. I pushed her so hard that I ultimately had to carry her most of the way home on the last day. But we made it.]
. . .

More is coming, but not much more. Stay tuned...