Dear Friends and Supporters,

I'm proud to share with you that, yesterday, 316 days after I left Vancouver, Canada, I arrived at Border Field State Park, at the fence that divides the Californian beach between the US and Mexico. 

On my final day, I walked 7 miles from the wooden pier at the San Diego community of Imperial Beach; past the naval airfield, where helicopters circled above, practicing their take-offs and landings; through the dry bed of the Tijuana River, littered with plastic bags, beverage containers, solitary flip-flops and decapitated doll's heads; through an overgrown estuary, where radar triggered cameras and officers on ATVs searched for wayward illegal wanderers (heading the other way, of course); and, finally, down a pristine white sand beach, where beautiful young women cantered bareback on horses shin deep in the clear surf.  As I approached the border, I was stopped by a patrolman in a Jeep who warned me that I was unable to touch the fence itself and interact with any Mexicans on the other side.  I explained my achievement and we compromised on a secondary fence, 30 or so feet away.  So, I'm proud to share with you that yesterday, 316 days after I began this journey, I walked as close as was legally permissable to Mexico.

What surprised me most about the end was that the trip concluded so calmly.  There were no wild displays of emotion, no fireworks (although some came later - in my honour, I'm sure - from out my hotel balcony looking back towards SeaWorld), no mad dash to the finish.  I was overcome with the grounded, subtle feeling of a job well done.  Perhaps that's appropriate: I had said at the beginning that pilgrimage is about the outer journey mirroring the inner one, and insofar as this trip has been a lesson in patience, trust, and discipline, that it culminated so calmly feels just right.  On my final day, I wore a t-shirt that I had been given by the atheist society at Cal Poly University in San Luis Obispo.  It said "Question Everything."  To me, that means: Question your boundaries.  Question your limitations.  Question your doubts.  That's what I think I've done.

I suppose that, today, the most pressing question is what I'll do next.  A few weeks ago, I decided against going into Mexico, figuring that my trip was best completed at the border.  Instead, I plan to head slowly back to Canada, taking some time to visit friends.  I am looking forward to completing the postings on my blog and soliciting your choices for photos to suit your rewards.  I will be in touch with more information about that when I'm back in Canada in the early fall. 

In the meantime, I want to thank you once again for your support, for being part of this trip, and for helping to afford me the luxury of this spectacular creative and personal journey.  On this trip, I've collected nearly 30,000 photographs, dozens of auduio recordings, and hundreds of pages of writing, and I am excited to see how they will fit together into something beautiful.  More to come on that too once I catch my breath.    

These lessons that I've learned can be for you too: Trust your heart.  Give yourself permission. An honest smile opens all kinds of doors.  The most important journey is the inner one.  Listening says more than talking. 

Thanks for listening.  I hope you have a great summer.

Sincerely,

Dear Friends,

Day 155 found me and my beard filled with excitement as I crossed the Golden Gate Bridge and arrived in San Francisco. I have walked nearly 1,100 miles, with only 700 to go before reaching my goal of Walking to Mexico.

To my friends in the Bay Area: I am holding a speaking event this coming Thursday at the Sports Basement store in the Presidio. The event will begin promptly at 6:30 and will run until 7:30. Afterwards, I plan to continue the conversation nearby for dinner and drinks. It'd be a pleasure to see you there. More information is available on the Facebook event page.

If you won't be able to make it, please don't hesitate to forward the invitation to any friends in the area who you think might be interested. I'm looking forward to sharing some fun and inspiring stories from my trip thus far, as well as my intentions for the road ahead.

Adelante!

Sincerely,
Jordan.

Dear Friends,

I wanted to pass along a happy new year from Day 132 of my journey. I am in Elk, California, fast approaching San Francisco. I expect to arrive in the city within the next two or three weeks.

My trip has taken all kinds of interesting turns as I've grappled with the intense coastal rain over the past few weeks, but January found me walking along the high cliffs of the Mendocino coast in beautiful sunshine. At every turn, I am finding kind people willing to offer me a warm place to stay and great conversation. I'm 12,000 photos in and counting, and really excited to share some of the more recent ideas and photos on my blog in the next few weeks.

I thought I'd share a video of myself having fun in the Redwood forest from a few weeks ago. Hope that it makes you smile. 750 miles to go!

Sincerely,
Jordan.

Dear friends,

I am writing you from Brookings, Oregon, the last town north of the California border. I expect to cross into California today, 71 days since leaving Vancouver, BC. Since I left, I have walked nearly 700 miles through Washington and Oregon.

I have a couple updates to share with you. As a way of connecting more deeply with the people that I've met, I've begun asking for love stories. I believe that we are the stories that we tell ourselves, and that the path to understanding leads through other people's stories. I'm building a collection of dozens of these stories, which I audiotape and plan on matching with the portraits I'm taking.

I'm also handing out 4x6s of some of the photos that I shot while travelling in India. I've found that this serves several purposes: it's a great conversation opener; it gives people a sense of who I am and distinguishes me from the other hobos who pass through; and, by offering gifts to the people I meet, it keeps me humble and thankful for all that I am being given along the way. I also like watching people flip through the photos, wondering which one will intuitively speak to them. There is something magical about building these subtle connections between people on opposite sides of the planet from one another, and, at these times when I can keep my ego out of the way, I feel like some type of messenger, a knight-errant on a quixotic mission for love.

I've accrued a little press as I've walked that I'd like to share. I was profiled in a newspaper article in northern Oregon and discussed on the local TV news in the south of the state. I haven't shaved since leaving Canada: check out that beard!

I've been posting stories at www.walkingtomexico.com as I've gone. There's the one about the homeless guy and his dog who I walked with for a few days, there's one about a transient girl on her way to Sacramento to get knee surgery for her dog, and there's one about Patrick Fitzpatrick, a career ski bum, picking up agates as he fights Parkinson's. Of course, there's no way to capture everything about my trip or the people I meet: I hope that by sharing small snippets, you'll get some sense for what I'm experiencing and learning.

I plan to be in San Francisco around the end of next month and am hoping to arrange a small get together to share stories and photos with friends new and old who live in the Bay Area. If you're interested in participating and/or helping me organize, I'd love to hear from you.

I really benefit from your encouragement. If you're so inclined, I can be reached at me@jordanbower.com

Hoping that your day is going well. 1,100 miles to go!

Sincerely,
Jordan.

hi friends,

i'm writing from raymond, washington on day 19 of my walk with an update on how you can track me as i go.

i left vancouver, canada early in the morning on september 1st and arrived in port angeles, washington by ferry on the 4th. since then, i've walked more than 160 miles over mountains, along highways, and down logging roads to arrive in raymond. "no hitching?" is the most common question i'm getting; i dance my fingers along a (long) imaginary road as my affirmative response.

i spent yesterday at a logging festival in tiny brooklyn, washington, chowing down garlic fries as i watched loggers testing their felling accuracy by trying to use falling trees to crush beer cans. i ammeeting lots of curiosity and incredible, heart-warming support at every turn. i am healthy and happy, and i'm excited about the road ahead. at this rate, i expect to get to mexico by january or february, but you know what they say about plans...

i want to invite you to participate daily in my walk by subscribing to my blog at www.walkingtomexico.com. i'm updating it with a photo and a brief thought or story of the day whenever i get to borrow someone's computer. you can follow the 'subscribe' link to get emailed updates whenever i make a new post. also, under 'map', you can follow the link to get a precise location of where i slept last night.

if you're on facebook, visit the walking to mexico page and leave a comment and follow my updates. i love your ongoing support and hope to share some great stories as the walk continues.

i'm hoping to make it over the columbia river and into oregon in the next few days. can't wait to keep you posted. thinking of all of you and really glad to have you in my backpack.

sincerely,
jordan.