DAY 18 - KING CITY & GREENFIELD

LOCATION UPDATE: We'll be walking through Soledad and Gonzales tomorrow (Sat).

DAY 18 - We started out at the southern end of King City. Our first encounter came from a man who looked quizically at our signs and said, "What's that all about?" We asked if he knew about prop 8 and moved along after he pleasantly said "To each his own. God bless you anyway." That was a pretty accurate indication of the rest of our day. A lot of people looked at us curiously, but not much interaction.

We also met some young women from Ohio who were very enthusiastic and upset about prop 8. They signed our petition and did a video clip.

After leaving King City, we were on the 101 for about 10 miles. As we mentioned in yesterday's blog, we talked to the CHP about our route. They told us that we could walk from King City to Greenfield on the 101. So we were a little surprised to find ourselves being repeatedly yelled at by a female CHP officer to "GET OFF THE HIGHWAY!" After we obediently walked back several yards to a side road, she approached us, saw our backpacks and signs around our necks and sarcastically asked "Did you break down?" She really said that! We think she's on the fast track to become detective. Thankfully, another (more sane) CHP officer pulled up and said off course we could walk on the highway here and please be safe. (This sign was moments away from our "peace" officer encounter.)

Greenfield was pretty similar to King City... a lot of curiosity, but no interaction - positive or negative. Until we met Felix Cortez of KSBW Channel 8. He took down our information and said that they were very interested in doing our story and someone would contact us in the next few days as we approach Salinas, where they are stationed. So stay tuned to NBC if you live in the Salinas area!

At the very end of Greenfield, when we could walk no further, Don picked us up and drove us to his and Christina's house in King City. They housed someone a couple of years ago doing a similar trek. Jennifer Schumaker (www.walkfortogetherness.org) walked from San Diego to San Francisco with the goal of drawing attention to the shared humanity of all persons. She also spent a night here with Don and Christina.... small world. We'll post pictures of them and their adorable kids tomorrow.