Thursday, March 5, 2009

Swimming IN the Atlantic!!!

Cody Vaughan has made it!!! Over 2300 miles later, he is swimming in the Atlantic (there were porpoises and dolphins there a few minutes before he made it). He is cheering and waving his bandana, and looking forward to eating in a minute. Wow!!!

Exclamation points are called for here.

Running to the Atlantic

Cody stashed his backpack somewhere behind a filling station earlier this morning so he could walk faster. Now, Mom and Dad have met him, and he has handed everything over to them so he can run the rest of the way! That includes his cell phone and spare change-- it's just him and his sneakers! (And clothing, of course!) He has crossed over to one of the islands east of Savannah-- I'm not sure exactly where in the route he is, but it's about 13 miles from the bridge until the beach on Tybee island. So definitely less than 13 miles! That seems so short, until you stop and consider how many of us run a half-marathon every day. Cody is pretty amazing in that he tosses off 50 miles a day without making it look hard! Mom says he's pretty sunburned at the moment, his lips are cracked and bleeding, and he looks tired, but he's still going!

Today, hopefully!

Cody is walking on Augusta Ave. in northern Savannah. About 20 miles to go! He had another long, cold night-- he says being without a sleeping bag definitely makes you more ambitious! The only rest stop he made was at a laundromat. After stepping in a puddle of icy water, he stopped at the laundromat, washed his socks out with soap in the restroom, and rested while they dried in the dryer for 45 minutes. As he was leaving the laundromat, he found a token that exactly expressed his thoughts at the moment. It was a Lewis and Clark nickel, and on the back was an inscription from Captain William Clark's journal on the day they thought they had reached the Pacific: "Ocean in view! O! The joy!" Such are Cody's thoughts right now!