2 coasts ... 1 HOPE


On January 6th 2009, I will be flying out to LA and walking back to Boston, raising money for cancer research. The route I'm taking should take 5 months and cover roughly 3,800 miles. We will be filming the entire trip for an upcoming documentary.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Salvation at last

Today was our day off, so I slept till 6:30. I woke early to talk to Kelly on Facebook. After a little while I went back to bed for about 45 minutes. The boys slept in till 8 or 8:30, I think.

We left the hotel heading to Niland, CA home to Salvation Mountain. When we pulled down Main St., Carl thought he recognized this building from Werner Herzog's "The Wild Blue Yonder".


Steve and Eric also believed it was the place so we stopped to check it out. Turns out they were right, it was the place. *bonus movie location

We soon came to the destination


We all hurried out of the car. Everyone carrying some kind of recording device. Here are the first few shots.



We started walking around the mountain and heard Leonard Knights voice coming from inside. He was giving a tour to a group so we tagged along.




This is the view that Emile Hersh and Kristen Stewart had, when they were inside with Leonard, in "Into The Wild".


Once outside Mr. Knight continued to talk to the group. He was also gracious enough to take a quick picture with yours truly.




After the other people scattered around we were able to speak with Leonard more one-on-one. He is a very passionate man that my words couldn't begin to do justice. Talking to him was amazing. We have everything recorded on every format possible. When I told him I was walking across the country raising money for cancer he actually reached in his pocket to give me a donation. This is a man who basically lives on donations from tourists and he wanted to give that money to my cause. If everyone in the world had a heart like Mr. Knight it would definitely be a better place.

After talking for a bit, the crowd had left and Leonard mentioned going to town for coffee. Not wanting to stand in the way of a coffee run, I gave him a "Jesse Walks America" shirt and we said our thanks and good-byes.



Today's trip was more then I could have imagined. It will be a long time before I forget my trip to Salvation Mountain if ever. Before we left I wrote in the guest book, " Thank you Mr. Knight for allowing us into your home. It has been an eye opening experience. God speed. - Jesse "

Day 6 total: 0 miles (a heart and head full of memories)
Jesse Walks America total: 103.9

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Glad you all had a good day off, thanks for sharing it, it was pretty darn cool, tomorrow you'll hit the road again but only if your legs are up to it, don't push to hard.

Steve Duffy said...

Salvation Mountain! Totally cool! I want to go there when I'm in Cali

Steven said...

cant wait to see more with you and mr knight. i remember reading Into the Wild before it was a movie and being intrigued by all the places and people that chris crossed paths with. now you are on your own adventure and crossing paths with people and places that maybe one day ill be reading about. you inspire me to push myself even more in all that i do. the walk continues ........full steam ahead.ciaƵ

melissa joy said...

Hey Jesse! Wow, really great stuff! I love reading your blog. I hope you are staying healthy. Just remember we are all thinking of you back home wishing you all the best adventures!! soak up every last minute man..even the times that seem impossible because when it is all said and done you will NEVER regret this. you are doing a great thing!

John Cox said...

WAY COOL. I had no idea such a place existed beyond the movie.

MUM said...

I love the fact that there are so many encouraging you on your blog. And I know many are sending you emails too.
Have I mentioned how proud I am?
And if I write it here will I get measurements????
Oh, also got an order for T-shirts from Norway.