Still it’s difficult to find time to do everything. As I’m writing this we’re sitting with Pam and Andy a wonderful couple who has put us up for the night in their home. I feel guilty for writing while sitting and spending time with them but at the same time its necessary to multi-task on this project. Tim wrote a blog earlier in the project giving a breakdown of what his day entails. We intend to put together a behind the scenes video in the near future to show the chaos we go through on a normal day.

At this point in my journal I am now writing around a week after the first two paragraphs. While sitting in Pam and Andy’s house a giant storm passed through knocking out the power and incapacitating my use of a computer and internet. Again it became difficult to find time to finish this journal. Although it does lead nicely into one of the things I had intended to write about when I sat down at their house. Weather.

In the past month we’ve gone through two massive cities (Cleveland and and Chicago) and seen three major storms. The beginning of severe weather started in Huron, OH in the middle of the night. We hadn’t been able to find a place to stay, however a local McDonalds allowed us to park our bus in their parking lot to sleep in. It’s an interesting experience to say I’ve had, sleeping in a McDonald’s parking lot. But when trying to shower and get clean in their bathroom it’s hard to not feel homeless. During the evening a storm passed through which was enjoyable as I sleep very well when it rains. The pitter patter of rain on the roof is soothing to me. However the huge siren going off in the middle of the night wasn’t so pleasant. Holly tried to worry us all by saying it was a tornado warning. But I (being from Rochester, NY were we don’t have such a thing) insisted it couldn’t be. Hah, was I wrong. I didn’t know it until the next morning but a horrible level 4 tornado had touched down about 50 miles away from us. It’s probably better I didn’t know that evening or I wouldn’t have gotten back to sleep so easily.

After finding out the tornado had touched down so close to us we decided it would be well worth the time and extra miles to go to Millbury, Ohio and help out cleaning up from the destruction. I have never experienced a natural disaster (aside from an ice storm that knocked out everyones power in Rochester for a week once). The site of what a tornado can do is life changing. While walking into town we started to notice street signs bent in half, some tree branches down, then a completely naked tree. The school was one of the first things we came across. Half of it was untouched and looked as it was suppose to for the graduation ceremonies that were suppose to be held the day after the tornado had touched down. The other half was spread across a field. Insulation clung to a chain link fence, school buses lay in a row missing windows, doors, and hoods. There were remnants of the school for blocks. Bull dozers pushed heaps of school items together to crush them and put them in the dump. The school was condemned. It is now to be knocked down and rebuilt, at an estimated cost of 50 million dollars.

That was only the beginning of our experiences there. However there is a video you can reference on our facebook page about our visit so you can see a little of what we saw. Much like our trip in general the number of volunteers that came out and helped clean up really reminds you of how kind American’s are. It felt great to be the one to lend a hand after how many people have helped us out.

This past week we were in Chicago and I have to admit it’s my favorite place we’ve been so far. For two days walking into Hyde Park and then the City we were able to walk along lake Michigan through parks with a beautiful view. Chicago was the cleanest city we’ve been to by far and really had the feel that they embaraced the arts. It probably helped that the comfort suites put us up right across the street from the amazing millennium park. Millennium park is home to street performers, a wall that displays photographs from a local museum and shoots water out for kids to play in and a reflective metallic “bean”. That description really doesn’t do the park justice, but take my word for it if you ever go to Chicago you need to check it out.

Chicago had a lot more to offer including museums, art, cupcakes (from Molly’s Cupcakes which is pretty much the reason we went to Chicago and they totally lived up to the hype) and adventure. I’d love to write in detail about everything but it’s late here and we have more walking to do tomorrow.

I now have an app on my phone to update my blog from the road. I’ll be making an effort to update more often and let everyone know what we’re doing. Hopefully it will let us keep everyone updated who’s watching and keep in touch with those we’ve met.

-Blake

The thing they don’t tell you until your ordering the two pound burger is that it is actually a five and a half pound burger once you add bun and condiments. Not to mention your only aloud to take off one topping. The burger comes with a bun the size of a loaf of bread, ketchup, mustard, mayo, a WHOLE onion, a whole tomato, banana peppers, two pickles and relish. I hate pickles and relish, dislike mayo and onions and took off banana peppers because I wasn’t certain if I’d like them or not. When they delivered this to the table it looked like an impossible feat.

We weren’t aloud to use utensils. Only our hands and mouths. However they did spear the pickles on top with a long skewer. My strategy was to put the burger on its side and skewer it at a low point to keep it together and dive in! At the start Sara and Dan where into it and claiming they where going to win. The truth is we all had to get over laughing at how ridiculous it was to try to fit such a monstrosity into our mouths. We kept an equal pace for the first fifteen minutes or so. By a half an hour in I think I was two thirds of the way through my burger and gleefully mocking Dan and Sara at how far they were behind me. Sara was almost in tears forty minutes in from how much she had eaten and Dan had already stopped eating realizing how awful he’d feel if he continued. I felt like I was going to be able to finish it within the one hour time limit.

With ten minutes left I had only a handful of burger left. Everyone was telling me I could do it but my senses were against me. Each time I put the hand full of congealed mess to my mouth I smelled the relish I detest so much. Each time I looked down at my plate I saw the solidified grease, ketchup, mustard and mayo that had spilled out when I turned it sideways. The bun was heavy and wet from sitting in all of the condiments and each bite became a repulsive mush that made me gag. Time was running out and I couldn’t stomach the small amount I had left. I knew I was already going to be in pain from the amount I ate and I wanted to be able to say I had completed the challenge. But in the moment I truly saw no way I could stomach the last few bites. I quit with only bites left.

It was an awful night. I had won the right to the Jacuzzi, which was no condolence to the way my stomach felt. I got in for about three minutes before I felt like I was going to pass out and had to get out. I laid on the bathroom floor thinking I was going to throw up and ended up falling asleep for a few hours.

The next morning to my surprise I felt normal. However I wished I had finished the burger. Even though I knew I couldn’t have when I was sitting there I felt like I could have the next morning. Although it’s a minuscule regret it reminded me not to give up when you get so close to something that you might regret later.

Although my stomach felt fine the next morning, my right leg had developed shin splints that started sending incredible aching pains up my shin with each step. I wrote about the burger contest because it was fun and silly but also because in some ways it taught me a lesson about the mental battle I fought the next day.

Since Josh hurt his knee I’ve said I can’t imagine how badly I’d have to be hurt before I’d get into a vehicle. It’s easy to think that way until your hurt. The truth is while shin splints develop the pain is dull, throbbing and horrible. However ten miles into a twenty mile day the pain changed from dull every step to sharp and paralyzing once every few times I put my foot down. It would literally cause me to stop walking. I started limping trying to take the weight off of my right leg with no luck.

When every step causes you to wince you start to check how much farther you have to walk almost every minute. A minute passes in what feels like an hour. The thought that you don’t have a scheduled day of rest for 13 more days echos through your head. I wanted to quit, but I didn’t want to have a regret larger than not finishing a burger. I had put almost ten months into this project, quit a job, left my family, pets and girlfriend for a long time. I never thought I would even think of quitting but the idea is forced into your head when you step down and want to cry out in pain. I wondered if we could find a place to stay for two nights so I could rest my leg. I hate to complain and make everyone stop for my injury but I thought if I had to keep walking I would quit and get in the bus very quickly. We had to walk the next day. Twenty three miles.

I made the producers go buy me a cane. It helped a small amount. However putting your full weight into the middle of your palm for eight or nine hours straight over and over again is taxing. That day was really no better than the last. The day felt like it took a month to pass and the entire time was an internal struggle with the constant question of “can I finish the day?”. Some relief came when Tim told me we could find a place to stay for a second night in Brookville, PA.

The following day was a day off, kind of. We still walked six or seven miles to do a few interviews and change places to stay. But all in all it was a great rest for my leg. It’s funny to me even now that I thought of quitting and as silly as it seems I do think the burger challenge helped me see I shouldn’t even consider it. The truth is if I was at home living an every day life and had even a fraction of this pain I would drop everything and stay off my leg for a few days. But you have to be willing to suffer some to make your dreams come true. Especially when they involve a trip across the country on foot.

My shin splints got a little better and today a little worse again as we walked downhill what felt like all day. Luckily the next two days are only sixteen and eleven miles. My spirits are up despite a little pain and I again feel like I will have to have broken legs or be mortally wounded before I’ll quit this journey.

-Blake Wink

We started the first week with a good pace. We were walking twenty to thirty five miles a day. It made us feel like we were making incredible progress with our walking journey. However it had drawbacks. We weren’t having enough time to write journals (something I’ve been slacking on) or edit pictures and video. Ultimately it was hurting the film.

The last major walk we did and probably will do was twenty seven miles starting from the De Bary inn. We left early in the morning to go to Angie’s restaurant for a few interviews. We met with Sara, an adorable six year who told us about her dream to be a singer. Sara wanted to be a singer because of how great it made her feel to sing and for money. She thought it would be hard to be a singer and knew if she didn’t make it as one she’d also like to be a veterinarian.

Coincidentally our next interview Elise also loves animals and has been working with them at her business the Preppy Pup for decades. Elise was a fantastic interview. She was animated, yet intimate about her passion of working with animals. Her love for life was apparent through her mannerisms and tone the entire time we talked with her. It is such a refreshing experience to meet someone like Elise. She’s the type of person who inspires others every day through her personality. Although she attributes her new lot on life to defeating a bout with breast cancer I can’t imagine meeting Elise before this horrible time in her life would have been much different.

Aside from Elise’s wonderful interview and personality our experience with her had another large impact on the project. After we where finished talking with her and some of the other locals at Angie’s we still had to walk twenty five miles. We also had the opportunity to walk ten minutes back in the other direction to visit Elise’s shop and get some wonderful footage of her at work. Unfortunately we were already almost two hours behind schedule. It may seem like it would only take twenty minutes of walking, which is true. However it would also take the time to actually set up and film. I hated to make that decision, but we couldn’t go backwards. This led to a more positive decision that we will only walk 15 to 20 miles a day in the best interest of the film. Ultimately we will always be limited in how far we can go to get footage. But we shouldn’t have had to miss that opportunity.

Walking too far in one day also led to Tendinitis in Josh’s foot and knee. If you haven’t read his journal yet I would take a look at it for the whole story. I certainly thought his pain was normal from the extreme amount of walking we have done. We were very lucky he spoke up about it and it was caught when it was, otherwise we might have done permanent damage too it.

All in all things are getting smoother each day. With any dream comes the need for patience and persistence. Ours was wearing thin but we’re already solving the problems that come with each day and getting into as much of a routine as you can have with a project like this. Hopefully after a few days rest Josh’s knee will be as good as new and we can be on the road again.

Watch the video I’ve attached at the top here before reading on….

(another disclaimer is you should all know we actually walked 35 or so miles the first day. Unfortunately only 18 of them counted towards are trip because we didn’t touch the ocean until after we had walked a ton.)

So now you understand why I’m writing rather than talking to you
through a video blog. The first day of walking was yesterday and it
was great. However I now have no voice and I’m starting to wonder if
it’s a case of strep throat.

Before we could get to the beach in Long Island where we would touch
the Atlantic we got to walk around Manhattan and Brooklyn to do a few
great interviews. It was a beautiful day in New York City and the
streets where packed as we navigated through the sea of bodies. We
where able to take a short break for lunch at a diner and rest the
souls of our feet before heading out to Long Island. Our last ride in
a moving automotive for five or six months was cathartic. As we rode
out we saw the bridge that we would have to walk back over to get to
Brooklyn. We got off the train around 5:45 and for the first time
where completely lost.

We quickly found out that asking for directions is a great way to
start a conversation with people and tell them about the project. It’s
also a great way to find the beach. The sky had darkened by time we
reached the beach and rain started to fall from the clouds. As we took
off our shoe’s to walk on the beach it was an overwhelming moment to
know that all the hard work we’ve put into Walk the Dream over the
past eight months had finally come to this moment. The sand was cool
between our toes as we walked towards the water and set up our
camera’s to capture the beginning of our journey. Rain beat down and
the wind blew sand down the coast. We rolled our pants up to keep them
dry for the eighteen mile walk that would follow.

We walked into the Atlantic together at 5:17pm. We where officially on
one side of the United States. We stood in the water letting the waves
roll over our feet. And then we went in a little too far and an
unexpected wave caught the bottom of our pants. It was a great moment
but the weather didn’t allow us to enjoy it long. A storm was coming
in from off the coast. We had to hustle to get our camera’s out of the
rain as they where already decently soaked, head to the public showers
to get the sand off our feet and begin our walk. We started by going
the wrong direction (which is never great, especially if it’s
pouring). We eventually found the correct directions to head to our
home for the evening with some great film students in friends in
Manhattan.

It rained for what felt like hours but was probably only an hour in
honesty. We walked across the Marine Parkway Bridge soaked with wind
blowing against our bodies the whole time. We made the best of it and
talked about the adventure ahead to get our minds off of the poor
circumstances the first day had brought us. By the end of the night we
made it to our generous hosts apartment around 2:30 am. The last few
miles where difficult. It was cold, we where wet and it was a constant
mental battle not knowing if we’d be reaching the Brooklyn Bridge
(near the end of our travel for that day) in a street or in three more
miles.

I lost my voice last night and chalked it up to talking loud so the
other walkers could all hear me for the duration of the day. I’ve
certainly talked a lot on some days of my life and had a soar throat.
When I woke up this morning I felt much better until a few hours into
the day when my voice went completely. It’s kind of funny to try to
talk and have nothing but rasps and then a whisper of what you
intended to say come out. I’m now hoping I haven’t caught strep throat
or something worse. However in the long run when I can look back on
this in better health I’m certain I will be proud of continuing on in
poor health because I cared so much for my goal and project.

We learned a lot yesterday. We learned we’re capable of walking
through bad weather even if it isn’t the most convenient. We learned
not to trust directions from just any local, to ask again and
re-confirm their accuracy. We learned that we can walk 35 miles in a
day we planned on walking only 18 and still get through it. Most of
all I think we learned we’re willing to put ourselves through pain and
the sacrifice needed to get through this project.

The race started at 7am on Saturday. As Charlie started his hundred mile trek I couldn’t stop thinking about him throughout the day. I kept telling people as my day progressed that I was excited to be able to interview him the next day. Each time I told someone about the interview I would look outside and think about how long Charlie had been running in the mounting snow already.

At eleven hours into his run it started to dawn on me that all of my friends could have the same revelation about me walking for two hundred days.  These races or expeditions are such foreign concepts to those who aren’t participating in them. You have to put yourself in a mindset that you will accomplish the goal you’ve set out for yourself, much like your dreams. If you start to think about it like an outsider who is astonished you’ve been running for eleven hours or walking for a hundred days and you’re only half way done your mind will destroy itself.

It was a pleasure interviewing Charlie after he finished the Beast of Burden. Running the Sahara might seem like the craziest thing you could imagine a human doing, but Charlie has a few things up his sleeve that will impress us all if he’s able to accomplish them. I’d love to tell you what they are, but we have to save something for the movie!

Our team was recently given the opportunity to talk with Charlie Engle, an ultra marathon runner who ran across the Sahara dessert with two of his friends. Their journey was documented in Running the Sahara. Charlie was able to give us advice I don’t believe we could have found anywhere else. Little things such as the walkers all need to take breaks to go to the bathroom at the same time. It might seem like an embarrassing topic to bring up, but when some of our walking days will comprise almost every moment we’re awake the difference of five or twenty bathroom breaks could be an hour of wasted time. Charlie also corrected a misconception I had about blisters. I was under the impression that blisters turned to calluses, which in turn prevented further blisters. It seems logical, right? I thought once you work through that irritation of getting your feet nice and tough I wouldn’t have to worry about further blisters. To my amazement proper feet care is almost the opposite of that. You should always pop blisters (With a sterilized needle) and any calluses you build should be filed/sanded down. According to Charlie if you have a callous it’s a sign that something is rubbing the wrong way. Be it your shoe’s, socks or something else. If you let it continue to rub on a callous eventually you’ll build up a blister underneath it which will be the worst day of your life. Charlie’s visceral description of excavating your foot to get to the blister will guarantee I never let my feet get that bad.

More than practical advice Charlie offered words of encouragement. He is a strong advocate of pursuing any dreams or goals you may have. His motto is “Do something now”. He’ll be the first to tell you the human body is capable of far more than most people think. Perhaps the most important advice he’s given to us as a group is the blatant fact that every walker will have a day they feel like they cannot continue. Charlie says it is important to help that person up when they’re down. Carry some of their weight, make them as comfortable as possible and never let them quit. It’s important to remember we aren’t in a competition with one another. This is a collaborative effort which is only possible as a group.

For more on Charlie Engle visit www.chalieengle.com

Over the past few decades Kodak has become a smaller company and film is starting to be overtaken by digital. I have to admit I’m of those  who use digital  although for that I would primarily blame my economic status. Even with these circumstances there are still those of us who believe Rochester holds great untapped talent  and should be one of those primary hubs of film that people think of. This is where RMM (Rochester Movie Makers) comes in.

I discovered RMM almost a year a go now. One of their goals is to get more people interested in making films within Rochester. More importantly they actually get people with the interest in film involved!  When Walk the Dream decided we should make our film not for profit it seemed only natural to approach Stan Main the head of RMM. Our idea was to raise money through RMM’s 501-C3 charitable status to make WTD then donate profits from the film back to RMM. In laymen’s terms this means we could take 100% tax deductible donations to make WTD and then if the film was successful we could donate profits from it back to RMM to help it flourish as well.

The general assembly of Rochester Movie Makers voted and although it was not unanimous the idea passed by a landslide.  My dream is that we can do well enough with this project to allow Rochester Movie Makers to fund other non-profit films as well as purchase equipment and space to loan out to local film makers who want a shot at making a movie. Although WTD will have to do very well for this dream to become a reality I have had so much positive feed back from so many people I truly believe this dream is possible.

Of course now we have the daunting task of finding enough donations to support our Walk the Dream project. So far we’ve been fortunate to be blessed with such wonderful friends and family. As well as numerous sponsors who are providing equipment  or services for us. It is not in my character to ask for much however I have learned to make this dream  possible we have to ask for donations, help securing  sponsorships or even suggestions of people to contact or ways of raising money.  And although I don’t enjoy asking people I have only been met with the kindest responses. People are more than willing to help or at least give helpful advice or suggestions. I am a generally cynical person and these types of reactions have let me see how thoughtful people can be to complete strangers.

So although this will be the only time I mention it within my journal if you would like to donate you can through our website, facebook or RMM’s website (www.rochestermoviemakers.com)  And if you have any suggestions of places to find sponsorships, companies that might want to be involved or friends who support the arts please write me at walkthedreamusa@gmail.com I want to thank everyone who has helped thus far and all those who are thinking of us. Film is a collaborative effort but this project in particular is taking dozens and I have no doubt by the end it will be hundreds or thousands of people  to come to life.

The Downtown Fitness Club where we are training has been booming this past week. I imagine all gyms do good business after new years. I have mixed feelings on New Years resolutions. On one hand it’s a great practice to motivate one’s self and a reminder that we all have goals and dreams. However, on the other hand it brings to mind the question, “Why do we wait for this arbitrary date to start something?” January first is no different than any other day. Still people that want to do something be it quitting smoking, losing weight, learning a new skill, or any other goal, tend to say to themselves, “I’ll start on Monday, or the first of the month, or even new years.” There’s no reason to put off something you want to do ’till tomorrow when you can start today. I don’t mean to sound too preachy, as I had intended on writing about this before the new year and then sickness hit. But then again, if even one person reads this and starts their goal today it will be worthwhile. Trust me, if you start today by time Monday rolls around you’ll be happy you’re ahead of your schedule. I hope everyone finds themselves in better health than I, and keep checking for updates. We have some big stuff coming up for Walk the Dream in the next week or two. Plus, we’ll be finally posting our walking route!

-Blake

Luckily for me the Downtown Fitness Club of Rochester is sponsoring us to help be prepared for our journey. I’ve also been fortunate enough to meet a personal trainer, Brian Quinn, who is helping us train correctly. Our first workout was a well rounded 30 minutes of tabata. For those of you who don’t know, tabata is a 4 minute set of exercises. We started with squats. We did squats as fast as we could for 20 seconds which set the number we needed to get each round. (Brian was smart and didn’t tell us that’s why we were counting until after, otherwise our numbers would have been much smaller). Once you have your number you do seven more sets of the exercise getting the same number each time with 10 seconds of rest in between each set. It should only take 4 minutes to do all 8 sets. So far everyone I’ve told about tabata think it must be easy to do 4 minutes of exercies. That is my favorite part. As soon as someone claims it must be easy, it only takes 4 minutes to show them how wrong they are. So far I’ve only had one friend finish all 8 sets and he cursed me the next day. So for all of you who have a friend whose new year resolution is to lose weight, put them through tabata (even if it’s only the four minute version).

Brian has a great dream. He wants to help people become physically active no matter what shape they’re in. He has created an event that he calls Every Day in May. Every May he drives around the country and gets groups of people to work out. He finds people at schools, gyms or offices and shows them an easy routine that they could use to become more physically active. Last year he made it to 29 states and worked out with over 2,000 people! His goal is to exercise with 11,000 people (I can’t remember the significance of this number but I’ll fill you in after the next time I see Brian). He has such a rewarding dream. As he accomplishes it he is helping others. His website is www.everydayinmay.com  I strongly encourage everyone to work out with him if he’s coming near you in May. I can tell you I feel lucky to have met Brian and I think everyone he meets probably gets that impression. He was kind enough to put out the word about our project to his friends, family and fans and tons of them have been looking into Walk the Dream. It has also been relieving to hear him talk about how friendly complete strangers can be on the road when they hear that you’re traveling around the country.

For now it is late and I have to go to the gym in the morning. Which reminds me, come to the downtown fitness club on January 4th at 10:00am. For 5 dollars you can work out with the Walk the Dream team. We’ll do an average day of working out and get to know everyone who comes out. Not to mention if you don’t like the working out part there is always the hot tub!

-Keep Dreaming

We have been working on Walk the Dream for around four months now and there are numerous events I wish I had made journal entries about in this short time. Film making is a series of vast dissapointments intermixed with small victories. From here on out I’ll be updating about each one of these good or bad. Tomorrow is one of those small victories. Walk the Dream will be the featured story in Rochesters Insider Magazine. Troy Smith was the reporter who wrote the article on us and Rich Paprocki is the photographer who shot us. We did the interview two weeks ago although it feels like two months ago at this point. Our full team of seven met Troy at a local coffee shop. I imagine it isn’t often that a reporter has to interview seven people at once. However we quickly got into more of a conversation than an interview and I feel like it went well. A week later the WTD (Walk the Dream) team went out to be photographed Abbey Road style for waht we thought was the cover. Rich also took photographs of all of our heads and feet which I imagine will be for the cover. I would hav eprefered the cover be the four walkers because that is really the core of the picture, I’m no greater part than any of them. However the insider rarely puts more than one person on the cover and never more than two. Ultimately we’re thrilled to have the article and hope to gain great exposure from the Insider.

Until next time I’m going to work on updating our website with more content, getting an FAQ up in the Dream section, Putting up our planned walking path and Uploading video from our visit to Clarks (our shoe sponsor). Also be sure to tune in and listen to us on the WBER 90.5 Friday Morning Show this week at 8:15 A.M. I’ve listen to the show since I was in middle school and I’m very excited to be on air with these guys! I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and don’t forget to follow your dreams!

-Blake Wink