37 Miles Over 3 Days

we've now walked more than 110 miles since we began May 4.

Wednesday, May 13

Today is Lindi’s and my 40th wedding anniversary. It feels strange to be 3,000 miles apart, and yet we are both doing things we love. She’s playing tennis, watching our granddaughters’ track meets, and working in our garden to grow more plants and flowers. I’m walking the Underground Railroad route with Tony Cohen on #FreedomWalk2026 in Maryland. Our marriage continues strong and a key reason is our support for each other doing what we want to do without clinging or judging.

Tony, Sharon and I were the three walkers today. After three days of not walking, we drove an hour and a half to get back to the Perryville train station to continue from where we left off on Saturday.

We made good time, averaging 3 miles an hour. The first 7 1/2 miles is on Pulaski Highway. It’s four lanes of highway with a metal separator between the two sides and 10-foot-wide shoulders so we feel safe. Occasionally we walk together but for the most part each of us is on our own. As challenging as some stretches are, with a lot of traffic, not much to see but the road ahead, I can’t even imagine the challenges Freedom Seekers faced in the 19th century.

We turn off on Red Toad Road, which is a much better country lane. There’s almost no shoulder, but also almost no traffic. And no red toads. At least not that we can see. I hear frogs croaking, birds singing, dogs barking, and the wind rustling the leaves in the trees. This is a quiet, peaceful stretch.

We stopped in a small town called North East and ordered lunch at a little café called The Forgetful Fork. It’s 4:30 in the afternoon. We’ve walked a bit over 9 miles, we’re tired and a little slow in ordering, Tony explains that we’re walking to Canada on the routes of the underground railroad. The two young men behind the counter are surprised and impressed and offer us free water with our lunch, which is much appreciated. And honestly, this feels like a very politically right-wing area, so to be doing what we’re doing and be so warmly received is quite welcome.

CLICK HERE to watch a brief Relive video of our walk on May 13.

Thursday, May 14

Our walk unfolded more slowly today as a local television news crew joined us, interviewing Tony and the rest of us along the way. We were scheduled to start walking at 11, and we actually begin walking a little after 12:30.

There are five of us today. Sharon continues to walk with us. And we have two new companions today. Matthew is Kip‘s husband, and he’ll be with us for most of the rest of our journey. I’m sure he’ll be helping Kip with transporting the textiles but also joining in on other needs along the way and walking with us from time to time. Carol Maurer participated in the very first National Gathering of Coming to the Table in 2012. That’s where I met her. A couple of years later, when Sharon Morgan and I spoke at Harford Community College, we stayed with her sister. She lives not far from here, so took off work today to join us. She taught me the significance and the background of walking in a labyrinth. There’s a beautiful one at Eastern Mennonite University, as well as at Richmond Hill, where the National Gathering was held in 2012. We were both at Eastern Mennonite University for the 2014 Gathering as well. She also helped launch the Bittersweet Blog for Coming to the Table.

We began in Elkton, Maryland and walking toward Newark, Delaware. The first historic sign we see is in front of Holly Hall, built in the early 1800s by a man who was a commander during the war of 1812. Whenever I think of that war, I think of my slave-trading ancestor, James DeWolf, owning more ships at that time than the US Navy. His relentless focus on slave-trading and privateering allowed him to accumulate more and more wealth for himself.

One thing Matthew pointed out today is that we encounter so many monuments dedicated to soldiers, warriors, and veterans of all wars. A monument in Elkton was originally erected in recognition of World War I. Then a plaque was added for World War II and then one to veterans of all wars. It feels like that final one is there because there isn’t room to list all the wars anymore. How I wish there were more monuments to peace builders like Harriet Tubman and so many others

Watching Matthew and Carol walk side-by-side and sharing stories with each other, when they never met before a couple hours ago, is a good reminder of how quickly community is built through shared experiences like this. If only more such shared experiences were built around peace and compassion and kindness as opposed to conflict and war and greed.

We walked through a large apartment complex and through some trees and bushes to find the Mason Dixon Tangent Stone that marks the borderline between North and South, between Maryland and Delaware. The old original, unreadable stone is here. Tony believes it was placed in the 1760s. The 1849 stone, which is still readable, stands right next to it. We talked to one resident who walks by this monument every day and didn’t know what it was. I’m guessing most people who live in these apartments don’t even know this is here, since it’s behind a line of trees and bushes and separated from the apartment complex.

Freedom Walkers escaping from enslavement would have been crossing from the South to the North, but also from one slave state to another slave state. Their trials and tribulations are unimaginable to most of us today. For more information about the Mason-Dixon Line, click here.

Being with this film crew was a strong reminder that a part of the reason we’re doing what we’re doing is to unapologetically share the story of this history, highlighting historic places along the way, and stand up to those who are working so hard to bury these stories. There is no question that working with the film crew today slowed us down and we didn’t walk as far as we intended, yet they will reach an audience with the stories they share that we could never do on our own. We’re quite grateful that they see the importance of sharing this particular story at this time in our nation’s history in particular. WUSA9 plans to follow our pilgrimage and join us a few more times. They’ll share brief stories along the way with one longer feature toward the end of #FreedomWalk2026.

Two stories have been featured on the news so far. CLICK HERE for the first one and HERE for the story about today’s walk.

One significant moment was Sharon’s answer to the reporter’s question about why we’re doing this: “I don’t want just three-fifths of our nations story being told,” which references the Three-Fifths Compromise of 1787 over the inclusion of enslaved people in counting a state’s total population. This population count determined the number of seats in the House of Representatives, the number of electoral votes each state was allocated, and how much money each state would pay in taxes. Southern states wanted their entire population to be counted while Free states in the North wanted to exclude the counting of enslaved populations since enslaved people had no voting rights. The three-fifths compromise gave the Southern states more power in the House relative to the Northern States. It also gave enslavers more control in Southern legislatures. Great statement, Sharon!

I think of my enslaving DeWolf ancestors. They were the ice I.C.E. agents of their time. Forced removal of people from their homes, separation from their families, forced removal to another country. Often times in far more danger than ever before in their lives. History continues to repeat itself as humans continue to vilify and attack those people they perceive as different.

CLICK HERE to watch a brief Relive video of our walk on May 14.

Friday, May 15

We begin today by backtracking a bit to complete a 3½-mile stretch that we missed due to stopping early two days ago. About two miles in, the light turns green at a very busy highway intersection. As we step out to begin to cross a large white van with the words, Maranatha Bible Church almost runs us over. The driver pays no attention. Good thing we were…

After walking 3.7 miles to finish up the missed section, we drove back to Elkton, near the University of Delaware, where we finished up yesterday to walk the section scheduled for today. Flexibility is our mantra!

As we walked by the University of Delaware, a woman says, “nice scallop shell.” I asked if she had walked Camino, and she said yes, she and her sons (one of whom was with her today) walked the Portuguese route that Lindi and I walked a couple months before we did last year. We walked together for a bit sharing stories of the Camino and then I told her what we were doing. Like so many people she was surprised at how much we plan to walk and really intrigued by the whole story and expressed strong support. “Buen Camino” she said as we continued forward.

On our way to Wilmington, we passed the Meeteer house with an historic sign out front. Included in the verbiage is the fact that the large and impressive nature of the home reflects the wealth and importance of its owners. It’s now a funeral home.

Today was our longest walking day so far. 16.4 miles. We finished up at the Wilmington friends meeting house in Wilmington, Delaware. Buried in the Friends cemetery is the famed Underground Railroad conductor/supporter of Freedom Seekers, Thomas Garrett. Learn more about him HERE. Below is the final resting place of Thomas Garrett.

CLICK HERE to watch one more Relive video of our walk on May 14.

The next two days were “Activation” days with events in Burlington, New Jersey and Philadelphia. Powerful and moving. More to come within a few days!