Week 10: 1,000+ Miles Complete!!!

CHALLENGE #10
Change the WORLD (for a stranger): Help out the MSAA!
ms
Announcement #1: I have completed 1,000+ miles by foot!!!! (in under 3 months!)
Announcement #2: In celebration, I am attempting to raise $1,000 for MSAA!

PLEASE visit the donation page below to learn more about MSAA, AND the very special reason why I chose this charity, AND TO DONATE!!!!!

Do you know how hard it is to walk 1,000 MILES?!?!?! About 100,000,000 TIMES harder than clicking the link below!! 😉 If I can do that, you can do this small favor, AND help change someone’s life with a click of your mouse !!

Click here, it will take 15 seconds!:
> > > > > http://support.mymsaa.org/goto/gogreatergood

PHOTOS OF THE WEEK
week 10 photo 1
week 10 photo 2
me and Joe, & next day 25 miles away: his brother John, with Jennifer and kids 🙂

week 10 photo 3
Nancy (amazing person who started a domino effect of me meeting great people!)

week 10 photo 4
Richard

SCENERY OF THE WEEK
week 10 scenery 1
sunrise behind me, outside of Coldwater, Ohio

THOUGHTS

Announcement #3: There are MANY things I have learned form this trip. One of these is to listen to my body. More and more lately, my body (in particular my right knee which I had surgery on two years ago) has been telling me that it needs a break… one that is longer than just my usual 1 or 2 days, and back home in New Jersey. I planned to begin this break from Indianapolis, but in fact it got to the point that I could not even physically walk the 1 more day it was going to take to get there! So my last stop on the walk was Pendleton, Indiana, and I managed to hitchhike 2 pick-up trucks to get myself and my stuff over to Ronnie’s in Indy, where I would be generously hosted for a few nights. And as of yesterday, I am back in NJ, where my knee feels much better although not completely healed, and where a job as a home-school teacher happened to already fall into my lap.

Is this the end of this particular walking journey? For now, yes (although there is always the possibility of continuing in the future). And that’s just fine, because although I initially hoped to cross the entire country, I consider my 1,000+ mile peace trek one of the most challenging and biggest accomplishments of my life. With my message and various acts of kindness, I got to very personally reach out to over 1,000 people… and with 24 pieces of press, for both small towns and major cities, my message has traveled to 1,000’s more I have never met.

Many messages traveled to me as well. From the foster parents, special ed teachers, volunteer engineers getting clean water to third world countries, police officers and service members, and all those I met EVERY SINGLE DAY IN EVERY SINGLE TOWN I WENT TO practicing radical generosity and radical hospitality and resilience for the positive in spite of their own personal obstacles… I have learned and been inspired that there are INFINITE ways to continue my own “go greater good” path and message, walking or not.

So this is not the last you hear from Go Greater Good.

From New Jersey, !THANKS! as always & talk to you very soon after a brief break!
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AND PLEASE SUPPORT MY ACCOMPLISHMENT BY DONATING TO MSAA 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
> > > CLICK HERE !!

PRESS
The Herald Bulletin (Anderson Indiana) – “Changing the world one step at a time”

18 thoughts on “Week 10: 1,000+ Miles Complete!!!”

  1. TAKE IT FROM A MAN WITH 8 KNEE SURGERIES…AND A SISTER WHO IS ENDURING TWO KNEE REPLACEMENTS THIS WEEK…WHEN THOSE NEEDED PIECES OF “EQUIPMENT” ARE SQUAKIN AT YA..LISTEN AND TAKE A BREAK. that said..i am honored to know you and am absolutely touched with your committment to bring attention to the needs of those with MS. your journey is far more than miles behind you, it’s in the hearts of those whose path you cross, and in the determination you have to press on. stay well my friend.. if Florida is on your agenda..plenty of food and an extended stay is available when you arrive. PEACE

    1. Thanks Mike, don’t hesitate to get in touch if your truck route takes you up this way too anytime soon!, if you are still doing that! Thanks for the extremely kind words, you of course are a great man yourself trying to help out a random straggler as myself a few years ago 🙂

    1. Thanks Nancy, same to you. I REALLY liked the article you did on me, and I think it’s awesome that you took the time to hang out with me a good while to really get the whole situation, rather than just try to get the main points quickly. My first ride hitchhiking stopped because he saw the article, and that ride maybe helped me and my knee out more than anything 🙂 but all the people at the university were really great too as you already know !!! 🙂

  3. I’m sooo proud of you my friend . Your mission will go on in those you touched along your journey. I’m sure your family was glad to see you as well. Take good care of yourself.. I know we will be hearing from you again soon . Hugs from Madison , Ohio !!

  4. Tom… First of all congratulations on your 1,000 mile journey. You showed remarkable strength and endurance to achieve what you did. Sadly your knees were not in sync with the rest of you, so you made the best decision and take a break. You showed great wisdom in doing this. I have a few reflections on your journey/ quest, which might give it a somewhat different perspective.. but I did not want to share it here (unless you want me to), as it might become lengthy. Take Care of yourself and heal! Cliff (I met you during your hitchhiking days).

    1. Hey “Gold Standard” 🙂 🙂 I miss you and sorry I have not been in touch that much! Leave your comments here or email them to me or call me (can give you my # if you email me), whatever you prefer, look forward to whatever you have to say! Thanks my friend.

  6. Hey Thomas!

    I’m a writer for the Whit, Rowan’s student newspaper. I heard about the awesome project you created and your walk across America and I wanted to write a feature story about you. Would it be possible for me to email you a few questions I have about your trip and the GoGreaterGood campaign?

    Keep up the good work!

  7. Sorry to hear about the knees by the way, I hope everything is ok.

    -Andrew Larzelere

  8. Tom! I loved reading your posts. Very inspiring stuff. Keep fighting the good fight! Hope your knee feels better!

  9. Tom,
    I just remembered right now that I had a dream you were in a few nights back. Must have been the night after reading your website update here, or something. I don’t know. So I thought I would come here and share it!

    Anyway, in my dream I was in a pool hall type bar, of all places, in which I assure you I have no idea why. Nor do I frequent any local pool hall bar type hang outs. But that’s neither here nor there. In my dream, this is where things took place. Back to the story. Anyway, you were on the opposite side of a pool table from me, under a dim light, telling your story to another person regarding the Go Greater Good walk of 1,000 miles. As I was walking past I caught wind of it and went up to congratulate you. As I got closer, and the light came into focus on your face and the silhoutte of your body came into picture…I didn’t recognize you. Your approximate height was spot on. But you had put on a cool 200 pounds easily already. Your face didn’t even look the same. But I just attributed it to you throwing on an extra couple hundred pounds. You blammed it on the knee and lack of activity since aggrevating it.

    In my dream I realized my thoughts toward this optimistic positive vibed guy I had pegged you as via the web, were all wrong.

    Long story short. Turns out it’s my dream that had it all wrong. Weird eh?

    Later!

    P.S. Stay skinny. =)

  10. Funny Kirk, thanks for sharing with me 🙂 🙂 I will try to stay optimistic and skinny 🙂

  11. Glad to hear you hit the 1000 mile mark… Hope you have a speedy recovery! I met you in Greenwich NY and have told a bunch of people about Go Greater Good. You are a true inspiration!

    1. THANKS FRANCINE ! I just went through my pictures from that area to see if I took a picture of you, and I found you and remember you well now 🙂 You were with your friend Kari. Thanks so much for stopping to say hello and spreading the word, and for the kind wishes now 🙂 🙂 🙂 Hope all is well in Greenwich

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