Well, the journey has begun. What a terrific first day. I left at noon, after packing more than I should have into my plastic tucker tote. Here I am with my daughter Diana, seconds before leaving:

After two hours I reached my generous friends Simon and Miriam in Summit, and shared a cup of tea with them.

They are the ones who supplied me with the stroller I’m pushing. It’s an Urban Mountain Buggy, made in New Zealand and was discovered by Simon in the Summit dump. It appears in the astonishing list of Summit cast-offs Simon has recovered over the years.

Another three hours of walking brought me to my first overnight stay with Chris, another former colleague (and my former boss!) from AT&T Labs Research. Imagine my surprise when I arrived and a dozen more AT&T friends poured out of his house, including Simon and Miriam! We had a wonderful evening together — just a terrific send-off for my journey. Thank you so much Chris and Christine!

Total distance for Day 1: 14.96 miles.