Someone walked barefoot with me

On the 25th day of crossing America barefoot I travelled from Allentown PA to Kutztown PA.

Day 25 vlog (like & subscribe).

Someone named Chase was waiting in the parking lot when I left the motel. He wasn’t wearing shoes. He had taken a bus from Connecticut to Allentown Pennsylvania so he could walk barefoot with me.

The last time I walked barefoot with someone was after swimming in a lake on the top of a mountain.

We began walking. As we crossed an intersection someone asked where our shoes were. We said something about enjoying the surface of the earth.

I’m not quite sure I’ve ever figured out how to answer questions.

Chase grew up in Austin Texas. He is a freshman in college. His parents are religious. Last summer he hitchhiked the Pacific Coast Highway with his friend Jackson. He said a lot of people told him he was going to die.

This reminded me of the time I did something and everyone told me I was going to die.

We both looked at a large abandoned building. Neither of us knew what it was. It will not exist in twenty years.

The weird thing about eyeballs is that everything you’ve ever looked at will someday not exist.

There was a river and a bridge. We touched the bridge, but not the river.

It’s a little sad that I’ve touched more bridges than rivers.

The grocery store where we stopped had blackberries and kale. I asked the cashier if there was a bathroom. She said it was in the basement. I sort of got lost because the basement was full of bean cans. One of the bean can touches had to help me find the bathroom.

If I owned a business the basement of the business would definitely be filled with bean cans.

When we began walking again Chase and I talked about how do life if you don’t want to do life the same way everyone else does life.

It’s weird to think about the infinite number of ways to be alive in contrast with all the people who constantly telling everyone there’s only one way to be a human.

Near a large carpet of grass Chase spotted a gopher. We walked up to it. The gopher did not seem scared. It slowly walked away from us and hide behind a tree.

I thought about my dad and the time he got sad because a gopher stole all the green beans. It’s okay dad. The gopher really liked those green beans. Good job helping that gopher.

Chase got a text message from a friend. His friend had just woken up. It was already almost two p.m. Chase laughed and said, “I’ve been awake since four a.m.”

It’s weird to think that about a month ago I was waking up and putting on work clothes.

The sun was already going down. It would be dark before five p.m. Chase said he had to head back towards Allentown. We had walked seven or eight miles together. We were both still barefoot.

It kind of reminded me of that movie about two people who met on the internet and then spent the day walking barefoot together across Pennsylvania.

Before I continued Chase took my picture and gave me a lara bar in case of emergencies. Less than a mile up the road I ate the lara bar. I was under a bridge. It seemed like an emergency.

Every second of life is sort of an emergency if you believe life is finite.

I just remembered something a friend told me in college. I think it’s a quote he stole from someone else. He said, “The man with no shoes felt sorry for himself until he met the man with no feet.”

There sure are a lot of quotes out there…someone should definitely use this as their yearbook quote.

The road I was walking on had a no pedestrian sign. I ignored the sign and continued. The sun was about to set so I called my grandmother. She said, “I hope you’re doing a lot of hopping and twirling. Do some twirlies.” I did some twirlies.

It’s nice when someone tells you to do something you’re pretty sure isn’t something anyone has ever thought to do.

The road I was on curved through a field. I left the road and ran around in the field for a hundred yards.

If you’re bored at work right now go outside and find the nearest field.

Geese were evacuating the earth and flocking towards the clouds. I was standing near an intersection but I didn’t cross until all the geese were no longer in sight.

I got a little scared watching the geese fly away. I was worried they heard about an approaching snowflake.

When I got to a grocery store a man said, “You’re on a righteous journey.” He was holding a container of muffins.

I still believe we are all on righteous journeys even the man holding a container of muffins is on a righteous journey.

All the daylight had been lost. I began walking on a very narrow road in the dark. It didn’t seem wide enough for humans and automobiles so when automobiles approached I had to step off the road.

I still get sad whenever I touch a piece of earth that automobiles don’t want humans to touch.

The ground became cold. I liked touching it. I thought about a time a few years ago when I used to run barefoot to work. A yellow sign was glowing. I walked towards it because it was the only thing glowing. An hour later I was rubbing salt and ice cubes on my feet.

What I ate on day 25: four apples, dates, kale, black eyed peas, garbanzo beans, blackberries, pecans, lemon lara bar, cranberries, mushrooms, hummus, more dates, and grapes.

If you’re enjoying my journey please consider donating: youcaring.com/barefoot
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