Now that I've had a chance to rest a bit, I can share about the last few days. It has been a GREAT weekend!!

It got off to an exciting start when my sister, Amy, surprised me by flying in for the weekend from St. Louis, MO to support me and the walk. Yea!

Saturday was my rest day. Highlights of the day were a 75 mile motorcycle ride (My walking has severely cut into my recreational motorcycle riding. It was great to get back out!!), a massage at Burbank Spa and Garden and then going with Carol and Amy to see Mission: Impossible III, a nice relaxing movie. Or not. Then it was early to bed to get lots of sleep for the big walk.

I was successful in getting to bed early. I was not, however, successful in getting lots of sleep. My nerves woke me up at 1:30AM and I never really got back to sleep. Oh well. I got up at 4AM, took a soak in the spa and was ready to go just after 5AM. I got another great surprise when Todd showed up to walk the first 2 hours with me. Remember this is 5AM! Now THAT'S a good friend! Below is a picture of me all suited up and ready to go. Just in case you are wondering, I AM wearing pants. They're camouflage which is why you may not be able to see them.



And then we were off! We saw the sunrise as we were leaving Burbank on our way to Glendale. The weather cooperated yesterday. It was perfect.




I said goodbye to Todd once we got to Colorado Boulevard. Further down Colorado, I crossed the Arroyo Seco on the beautiful and historic Colorado Street Bridge.




In East Los Angeles, I came across this carpet store. They are doing a great job of communicating what they are selling by putting those rolls of carpet up on the roof. They do, however, need to work a little on the, for lack of a better term, sex appeal of the presentation!




Amy got this classic paparazzi shot as I approached our lunch spot.




We had made previous arrangments to have lunch in Lincoln Park which is almost exactly at mile 20. Elise, Todd, Amy and Carol brought a feast from the Corner Bakery which hit the spot.




Going into it, I was honestly worried about being able to pull off this 40 mile walk. As it turned out, I was in better shape at the end of the day than I had been at the end some of my training walks. I attribute it to two factors. One was this lunch stop. In addition to the excellent food, I took my shoes off, iced my feet...




...changed my socks and was off of my feet for a full hour. My feet actually felt better during the second 20 miles than the first. Go figure. The other factor that really helped out was resting last weekend. I could really feel the difference. Little aches and pains that I had been living with for the last month disappeared. The only downside to lunch was I did get slightly too comfortable. The lack of sleep from the previous night caught up with me. Going home and hopping in bed sounded mighty fine. But don't worry, I didn't. And, interestingly enough, I didn't really feel sleepy again until late into the evening.

Another surprise from my sister were T-shirts that she had made up for the whole support team!




Elise and Todd did a great job of documenting the day - Elise with her still camera and Todd with the video. Elise shot this as I was heading into Downtown L.A. on one of their drive-by stalking passes. :-)




The building in the center of this shot with the pyramid on top is Los Angeles City Hall. From 1928 when it was built to 1964, it was the tallest building in L.A. Looks like times have changed!




Getting ready to cross the scenic Los Angeles River.




Well, maybe scenic isn't the best way to describe it or maybe it's just a different kind of scenic.



Soon I was at historic (and touristy) Olvera Street, the oldest part of Downtown. If you're interested, you can read more about it here.




There is a lot of glass downtown these days.



Soon I picked up Wilshire Boulevard at One Wilshire, its beginning. I would be on it all the way to the ocean. Near downtown, Wilshire bisects MacArthur Park. Yesterday, they blocked off Wilshire in the park for some sort of well attended festival.



One of the attractions was pony rides. This guy had a dose of personality. He was quite interested in my camera.



Once I got to Museum Row in Mid-Wilshire, I had company for the rest of my walk!! First to join me was my sister. She started near the La Brea Tar Pits. Since she hadn't seen them before, we walked through the grounds.



After an hour or so, Carol drove up. Amy took over driving duties so Carol could walk with me for a stretch. Then a few minutes later, Judy and Eric joined the party. Eric would walk with me for the entire rest of my walk!

I was told that Boy Scouts had placed these flags at every grave in the Veteran's Cemetery in Westwood for Memorial Day. It was quite a sight.




This is the four of us walking in Brentwood.




And then, finally, the finish line was in sight.




Next to the pier was another Memorial Day memorial.




And then I was at the end of the pier. It was done. They even had a little finish line for me to cross! It took a little bit for it all to sink in...




These guys were very enthusiastic when they heard what I had just done.




I want to take a little time out for a special thank you to my wife and best friend Carol. Not only did she do a spectacular job leading the support team this weekend, she was a tremendous support during the last six months as this idea became a reality. She walked on some of my training walks, gave me loads of encouragement and was understanding when I disappeared for hours on end every Sunday for the last couple of months. (She even hooked me up with a hour and a half massage today!!!) Thanks Carol.




Here is the full finish line support team except for Elise who took the picture. Thank you guys so much!!




We then walked up to Il Fornaio and joined a couple of other friends along with Carol's aunt and uncle for a fabulous meal. It was the perfect end to a perfect day!




I have been thrilled by the amount of donations that came in over the last week. The official total right now is $6853. And that doesn't include some of you who I know have donated. Thank you! Thank you!! Thank you!!!

I have to share with you one story. One of my buddies told me that he and his wife were getting ready to send off their donation to Outward Bound when their 6 year old daughter came into the room. She told them that she wanted to donate $2 from her allowance in support of my cause. Leyana, YOU ROCK!!!

I've also managed a mention on a couple of walking related web sites. Elizabeth over at Walktopia did a nice write up. You can find it here. I'm also mentioned in the Carnival of the Walkers #47 over at the About Walking site.

Even though the walk is over, feel free to check back in. I plan on updating the donation total over the next few weeks. I also plan on posting a short video from the footage that Todd shot.

Thank you EVERYONE for your interest, your support and for donating. This whole experience has been OUTSTANDING!!