Well, today we hit capital number FOURTEEN in Annapolis, MD.

It was a beautiful walk up the Baltimore & Annapolis trail, and the Naval Academy was beautiful. I got into Annapolis and decided to hit up Chick and Ruth’s Delly on the recommendation of a family I stayed with in Earleville. Since I have been having a rough go mentally I decided to cope by trying their “Colossal Shake Challenge”, a 6lb milkshake that has to Be consumed in an hour.

It was a miserable experience. I had half of it gone in fifteen minutes and then it all hit me at once. My mom showed up with about fifteen or so minutes left. I was fighting throwing up. With under five minutes left I finished, and got my tshirt.

Leading up to here I’ve had some amazing experiences. The White Marsh Volunteer FD a few nights ago hosted me, on their food truck Tuesday fundraiser. They had their message board out front with an announcement and everything. It was one of the warmest receptions I’ve had. 
 

A few days prior to that I stayed with a family I stayed with on walk one. They breed and raise Gypsy Vanner Horses. I got to help feed and walk the horses around, and I’m basically like Rip from Yellowstone now….

Unfortunately, our funding never really bounced back like we’d hoped. I posted a fairly long message a few days ago, and while I’ve been fighting the view that I’ve “failed” I’ve been reframing the hiatus in the walk in ways to make it beneficial for me going forward. The hiatus will allow me to focus on some of my weaker areas. I’ve always thought very little of myself, and as a result I have been afraid to take some risks when it comes to sales (in former jobs) and soliciting donations and sponsors now. So I’m going to try to set up as many meetings as I can with business owners and whatnot and essentially get used to hearing, “No” enough that it won’t mentally break me anymore. I’ve already got my old job to go back to, and am still planning some fundraisers and whatnot while we’re on hiatus.

It’s only failing if I fail to get back out, or if I/We gave up altogether. If there’s one thing I don’t like, it’s not achieving a goal. I’ll still be checking in here from time to time. 
 

If anyone has any other extra ideas that I could use for fundraisers feel free to comment here, or email me Hallacrossthecountry@gmail.com

Thank you to all of you who’ve followed along and supported us. I am mad that we have to take this break, and I’m gonna come back like Evil Ryan Day in the playoffs next spring.