Last Mile and Victory Swim!

Words are hard to describe the feelings Jesse has at the end of this trip. He is going to write about it in a day or two. Right now, here’s what the last mile and the victory swim looked like at Neptune Beach in Jacksonville, Florida. It was a joyful moment, and as Jesse said, “God gets all the glory!”

By the way, we met the nicest lady named Julie. She and her husband were biking, saw us walking (and the sign on Jesse’s backpack) and cheered him on the final dash to the beach. I believe she’s actually in the video–the lady on the bike.

He made it!!

In Jesse’s words, “God gets all the glory!”

Last 3 miles

Big Day on Walk Across America!

Mark and I found Jesse walking in Jacksonville, Florida! We left Wednesday evening and caught up with him last night at the corner of Atlantic and Jork in Jacksonville. He just left on his last day of walking across America this morning. He has 14 miles to go to the beach. This morning WFMS Country station 95.5 in Indy aired an interview with him to help him with the fundraising. He is now at over $10,000 for the Burn Unit at Riley Hospital for Children!

Thanks everyone for your support! We’ll be posting updates as we go. Here are a few pictures from last night.

5th Grade Granger Christian Students Help Step It Up!

Jesse received a surprise phone call from his Aunt Mary and her class of 5th grade students at Granger Christian School this morning. The students have been following Jesse’s progress, reading his blog, and praying for him as he has walked across America for the last 5 months.

Jill and Randy Pilz, New Friends

I spent four fun-packed days with a dynamo named Jill Pilz and her husband Randy.

Beach Video

I found this video Jesse sent me on his walk across America for burn victims when he hit the beach in Alabama–just in time to see the spring break crowd. Several of our family and friends were traveling right through this area where Jesse was walking during spring break, but unfortunately, they all missed him by a few miles or a day or two.

Update:  Jesse is now at $9,110 at his First Giving site!

Step it up!

Publicity from The Web Guys in Carmel, Indiana

Jesse’s walk across America is getting some mentions in different media, thanks to my boss Roger Laurendeau. Roger, owner of The Web Guys, an Internet marketing company in Carmel, Indiana, paid for two press releases for Jesse. The Miami Herald online Business Section is just one example of many that carried his story.

Miami Herald

Riley Comes to the Rescue Again

The importance of Jesse’s walk across America was made clear to us once again last weekend when Jesse’s younger cousin Kyla needed to have emergency surgery on Friday.

Florida!

Jesse has walked into his last state on his walk across America, the sunshine state of Florida! He’ll be walking across the panhandle to his final destination of Jacksonville, so he’ll be walking in Florida for a few weeks. Over the weekend,