Day 43 of the run across the USA 2025

The Dollar General in Ewing Creek was pretty quiet overnight. It’s just a shame that the temperature was uncomfortably warm all night. There wasn’t a hint of a breeze either. 

After a bowl of porridge and some painkillers, Alan drove the RV back to today’s starting point in Steedman. 

A lady was near the start line loading what looked like a load of junk into her truck. Perhaps she’d been evicted. Perhaps she was just taking the items. I guess I’ll never know. 

A friendly dog also appeared to see me off. He crossed a road and the passing traffic tooted their horns at him/her. It was a curious little thing.  

I set off at 06:21 thankful that this would be the last day on the Katy Trail. It would be a great place to cycle or go for an adhoc trek. Spending the best part of 4 days on its sharp surface with surroundings that rarely change in appearance, has been a real challenge. It feels much longer than 4 days actually. In that time the RV has had a punctured tyre and my feet have taken a right hammering. 

I must admit that my morale was very low when I set off. Somehow, I was able to use that to my advantage and I was surprised to find a bit of pace. 

After about 90 minutes into the day, I received an email from Terry, the lady I met yesterday. She’d read my blog and firstly apologised for not offering us a parking spot for the RV last night. The best part of the email read “We had a bumper crop of asparagus in the garden this year and I put away some cream of asparagus soup. I’d love to bring some to you and Alan along the trail today.”. 

What a kind gesture! I started doing the calculations and messaged Alan to stay at the Tebbetts trailhead until Terry arrived. 

I left the trailhead which was just before the 10 mile point. I wasn’t too disappointed to see that a part of the trail was closed.  

Just before I reached the main road I spotted a familiar looking RV. Wasn’t that the one on series 1 of The Walking Dead? 

I could see that work was underway to construct a bridge on the trail. They really seem to look after it well. I’ve seen maintenance men out every day doing work. 

News reached me from Alan that Terry and her husband had dropped off some soup as well as some oatmeal and butterscotch cookies. Quite incredible kindness that restores your faith in humanity. 

While I was on the road they drove past and waved. At the 17 mile point, I took my only break of the day. I soaked my feet, had some pasta and finished up with a 30 minute tactical snooze. It was a very shallow sleep. 

I set off again and I’d had enough of the flies on the trail. I decided to run on the nearby road for a bit. A lady in a passing car offered me a lift. I told her to search for “Run Geordie Run” online. If she did and she’s reading this then thank you for the offer. 

Due to the lack of a hard shoulder, I rejoined the trail at the 19 mile point. I caught a glimpse of the Missouri State Capital building. 

I was quite lucky not to stand on a snake with only a few hundred metres left on the trail. 

I left the Katy Trail for the final time just before the 21 mile point. It’s a section of this route across the USA that has threatened to ruin my feet as well as my mind. It’s almost succeeded too. 

The next 2 miles took me to a spot between the Jefferson City Bridges. According to Google Maps there was a path to something called The Skywalk. This was the footpath that runs alongside the bridge. Unfortunately, I was greeted with the image below. 

In hindsight, I should have gone that way. The decision I took was to clamber up a steep bank onto the bridge. The pain that I felt there was excruciating. It was like walking on hot sharp coals. 

I made it onto the bridge and thankfully on the quieter inside lane. It didn’t stay quiet long and many a furious motorist gesticulated in my direction. You can just make out the “skywalk” in the image below. 

It was a case of head down and move as quickly as my feet would let me. 

I eventually made it off the bridge and into Jefferson City. What a relief! At the 24 mile point I sent a message to Alan to say that I needed to be picked up. My feet were in a really bad way. 

Alan had been doing the laundry and found a place to get some propane gas (which powers the hot water and fridge). He said he was 16 minutes away. I continued along the route for another 50 minutes and made it to 26.15 miles before feeling very unwell. Alan had got a bit lost. 

I stopped my watch for the day and sat on the only thing I could see for a seat. 

I could feel myself fainting and slid nicely onto the nearby grass. Alan arrived not long after and I’ve never been so happy to see the RV. 

We drove to a nearby Walmart. I had a much needed shower and wrote the blog while Alan did the shopping. Tea was roast chicken sandwiches and a thigh. There were some tremendous strawberries for pudding. I do hope that my American followers appreciate them words “tea” and “pudding”. Us English northerners tend to refer to dinner / supper as tea. I don’t think pudding needs too much of an explanation. 

TUNE OF THE DAY: Mysterious Girl - Peter Andre. For some reason, this played on the iPod as I made my way across the “bridge of death” into Jefferson City. I wasn’t in a position to press “skip track” as I was too busy avoiding getting knocked over. 

The charity fund continues to progress well in aid of St Benedict's Hospice and currently stands at £20,121.

^DA < Mark received an email today from Sheelagh, Head of Retail and Fundraising at St Benedict's Hospice "From all of us here at the hospice, clinical teams, fundraising, admin, volunteers and our transport team we thank you for the determination and what can only be described as sheer grit that you are showing along your incredible journey". 

It's only right that these thanks are extended to you, the reader, for your continued messages of support and donations to Mark's efforts. All donations no matter how big or small are very much appreciated and all contribute towards the much needed support and services of the hospice. >

If you are enjoying following the journey and think my efforts are worthy of a donation to St Benedict's Hospice, please visit:

https://www.justgiving.com/page/rungeordierun2025

Day 42 of the run across the USA 2025

It was another half decent night’s sleep at Rhineland last night. I reckon I was asleep in seconds after finishing the blog around 2145. I didn’t even hear the cars drive away from the nearby junior baseball game. The first time I woke up was around about 0230. That’s the second night in a row that I’ve had almost 5 hours of unbroken sleep. Absolute bliss. I’d gone to sleep in temperatures of around 25 celcius. In those wee small hours I was pretty cold and had to revert to using my very thin blanket. 

Day 42 started with me attempting to dress the wound on my left foot. It took a good 20 minutes of huffing and puffing to do. My main aim was to try and cover and pad the bit of raw flesh that had been so agonising during the final miles yesterday. 

After a short drive back to where I’d finished on day 41, I was on my way down the Katy Trail again. There wasn’t a soul about yet again. 

I’ve heard a few people talk about unseasonably heavy rainfall in Missouri recently. There has been plenty of evidence of that in recent days with numerous farmers fields flooded. 

I felt really good around the 4 mile point and started to stride out a bit. At 7.5 miles, without any notice, the pain in my left foot returned. I would describe it as “comfortable”. I managed to meet up with the RV just after 8.5 miles. I made the decision to attempt to add more padding to the problematic area of my left foot. This was a decision I would later become to regret. 

I went on my way again. I wouldn’t be able to meet the RV again until another 5.5 miles. The Katy Trail was miles away from the road. This wouldn’t usually be a problem as it’s quite short stretch. It became a massive problem, however. At the 10 mile point the pain in my left foot was excruciating. It was a different position (on the outer edge) and felt like someone had stuck a knife in. Not even the views of the Missouri River to my left were of any comfort. 

A nice lady called Terri (apologies if I’ve got the spelling wrong) passed me and we talked about my journey. She wished me well and went on her way down the trail. 

After lots of limping and moaning I made it to the Portland trailhead. It was probably the most painful stretch of “movement” (I can’t call that running or even walking) since I had similar problems during the run across Australia in 2013. 

There were a group of cyclists at the trailhead. We struck up a conversation and I found that they were cycling east to St. Charles. I told them about my journey and handed over a few leaflets. They were a really friendly bunch. The two ladies were Karen and Bonnie (I assume one of the gentlemen was called Clyde). 

The first action back in the RV was to take the dressing off my left foot and ice my feet. I had a sandwich after that and fell asleep pretty much straight away. I woke up an hour later in what was now an absolute furnace of an RV. It was 30 Celsius outside. 

I put on some new socks, didn’t bother with padding or dressing my left foot and got back out on the trail. 

During the next few miles, the pain in my left foot was tolerable. That was luxury compared to how it had felt earlier in the day. There was a rare clearing and a chance to see the Missouri River in all its glory once again. 

The views soon turned back to the now, very familiar trail shrouded with trees. 

I spotted a strange looking rock at mile 18. The nearby information said it was called Standing Rock. I read that back later and it revealed quite a bit about the history of floods in the area and also the MKT (Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroad or Katy). 

After 19.4 miles of mainly limping I arrived at the Steedman trailhead. Alan said that there had been vultures waiting earlier. 

It was at this point that I decided to end proceedings for the day. The amount of pain that I’d endured during the day had taken its toll. But I had lost the will to continue. These days on this trail have been physically but more so mentally challenging. The monotony of solitude in an area that rarely changes appearance has been very tough. Throw the foot pain into the mix and it’s a recipe for madness. 

I didn’t quite like the look of Steedman as an overnight stop. The place was littered with junk and consisted of what looked like derelict properties. That’s not a recipe for my over active imagination to get a good nights sleep. I’m sure it was and perhaps is a decent place with decent people but I wasn’t about to hang around and find out. 

We drove to the trailhead at nearby Mokane. That seemed decent at first. However, a nearby woman standing at the trailhead information sign made my Spidey sense tingle. I would say that she was in her 30s, had long mangled hair (a bit like when Deb hasn’t washed hers for a few days), and probably slept roughly in the clothes that she was wearing. She looked like she was carrying all of her possessions with her in 2 bags. Alan seemed to think he’d seen her before recently. 

When Alan was filling up the bowl to soak my feet at a nearby tap she asked him if he had a “tarp or a blanket”. “No sorry we haven’t got anything spare” he replied. She was in no way aggressive or pushy. She seemed really desperate and down on her luck (in my imagination). 

Alan left me to soak my feet in the RV and he went off to the local village in search of ice. When he returned, the woman approached him again and asked if he knew anyone in Portland who could bring her something. It was a strange question and Alan again gave an apologetic answer. Portland was the place where I’d slept for an hour earlier in the day. 

The woman then disappeared into the trailhead toilet and was never to be seen again by us. Half an hour passed by and I took the decision to ask Alan to move the RV elsewhere. Something felt very off. As I’m typing this blog outside the Dollar General in Ewing Creek, I can’t but help feel like we should have at least offered her some bottles of water. Rightly or wrongly I’m an instinctively helpful person. On the face of it, this woman looked like she was in desperate need of help. I’m currently playing out many different scenarios in my mind as to how she arrived at sleeping (I assume) on the floor of a trailhead toilet on the Katy Trail in Missouri. 

From a safety point of view I’m sure we’ve made the right decision to move elsewhere. But what if we could have helped in some small way. I don’t think that help would have been more than giving her water and perhaps one of Alan’s famous ham sandwiches. 

As it turns out, the first meeting point in the morning is back at that trailhead. Perhaps we haven’t heard the last of this story.  

TUNE OF THE DAY: A Bar Song (Tipsy) - Shaboozey. 

Tomorrow aim is to get off this damned trail and make it to Jefferson City. There’s a Walmart there and Alan has ran out of microwave meals. Now there’s an incentive.

If you are enjoying following the journey and think my efforts are worthy of a donation to St Benedict's Hospice, please visit:

https://www.justgiving.com/page/rungeordierun2025

Day 41 of the run across the USA 2025

The overnight stop in Marthasville was almost an 8/10. I’m marking it down due to the bin wagon coming round at 0530. This was followed by the grass cutter at 0600. 

The 0515 alarm became the 0615 alarm. It was that seemingly once a week occasion where I just needed a little bit more rest. 

I set off from Marthasville along the Katy Trail at 07:17. I had a heavy backpack with enough provisions to last 20 or so miles. The reason for that, of course, was that Alan would be waiting around for the tyre to be replaced on the RV. News about it had reached NUFC.com. 

The trail was punishing for my feet as well as my mind. The stony surface played havoc with my left foot in particular. The fact that I was almost always surrounded by the same looking trees gave the impression that I wasn’t making progress. 

There was the occasional bridge or clearing which offered a bit of variety thankfully. 

At mile 4 I stopped to talk to a hiker going in the other direction. His name was Ty and he was in training to hike the Appalachian Trail later this year. 

I left the wooded area of the trail and entered an open space at mile 5.5. Away from the shade, at last, I could really feel the day hotting up. 

I made it to Treloar after 7 miles. This is where I should have got to yesterday but for the RV tyre. 

News reached me that the new tyre had been fitted to the RV back in Marthasville. That was done by 0915. It took a further hour to get rental company Cruise America to pay for it. 

Meanwhile, back on the trail and I was being pestered by a load of flies. I made my own face covering and powered through them.  

I met Alan briefly at the 8.5 mile point just to check everything was ok with the RV / tyre. 

The next meeting point after that was to be the 21 mile point near Bridgeport. It was a long old unsupported stint. I think it was possibly the longest of this tour so far. 

As I ran alongside the Missouri River the first point of interest was a lorry loading a barge with rocks from a nearby quarry. 

The Missouri River looked formidable to my left as I continued along the trail. 

During the first 15 miles I think I saw around 10 people cycling on the trail. There were one or two things to look at. 

For the most part the image below is what I saw for the first 18 miles 

The trail eventually opened up into a clearing and Alan joined me for the 21st mile. 

I was very relieved to see the RV at mile 21. My left foot had taken a right pounding and I was in a lot of pain. 

When I got back out, the next 2.5 miles were very painful. I started running on the road in an attempt to save my feet. With some busy traffic and no hard shoulder I was soon back on the trail. 

I made it to McKittrick and the pain in my left foot was so bad I considered giving up for the day. Instead, I took some painkillers and set about finishing the days miles. 

I managed another 1.5 miles before my left foot “exploded”. It’s been around 10 days since this has happened. I was limping so badly that it would have taken hours to get to the finish line in Rhineland. I messaged Alan to pick me up in the RV. Fortunately, the trail was now right next to the main road. I took a photo of the puddle where I finished limping. 

We drove forward to the overnight spot in Rhineland. After a shower and a foot soak, some visitors arrived. 

Geordie exile Stephen (originally from Gateshead) and his girlfriend Felicia had travelled 70 minutes across state just to say hello. We chatted in the nearby park for half a hour before they surprised me with a donation of water and Powerade. There was loads of it. Enough to last a few weeks. That was an incredibly kind thing to do. 

We took the obligatory photos and off they went. It was a really nice way to end the day. 

^DA - what Mark doesn't realise yet (due to the time difference of writing/publishing the blog) is that Stephen's generosity continued with a donation this morning pushing the fund over the £20,000 barrier! Incredible!

TUNE OF THE DAY: 40 Miles - Congress. One of many old school tracks that I listened to today. 

Tomorrow’s plan is to strap up and pad my damaged left foot. I did the same 10 or so days ago and that worked well. 

If you are enjoying following the journey and would like to donate to St Benedict's Hospice, please visit

https://www.justgiving.com/page/rungeordierun2025