These old shoes helped me finish the walk Day’s 3-4… and yes, I walked with them just liked that.

Day 3 (December 13, 2009) begins and I am feeling good that I made it. We’ve decided to take it slow and see how far I can go. Both Dave and Chrystyna are encouraging in that they are willing to put up with the fact the pace will slow.

We begin where we left off the afternoon before, Seamus Pub downtown.

We flash our “3rd” day sign. It is uncharacteristically overcast and temps are cool (low 50s).

We have a slight disagreement as to what direction we are suppose to head. Dave, after checking his iPhone maps, points us in the right direction. I think this was one of the few times he was correct over the four days. (ha-ha).

We are heading over to Grand Avenue and walking a diagonal north and west to connect with the Arizona Canal. The Canal cuts an angle northwest from there. We are not sure where we will end up exactly.

Not more than 30 minutes from our start we come upon this colorful building.

Sapna Cafe is the most eclectic diner type cafe and we are tempted to stop for breakfast. We are intrigued by its welcoming atmosphere in an otherwise rough looking area and the description of its owner and cook, a globetrotter creating culinary creations. Knowing we are going to be slowed because of my feet, we debate whether to take a break this early in Day 3. Dave and I think it would be cool but decide we should keep going. We default to Chrystyna who seems to think we should try it. So we sit down and enjoy what was Day 3′s highlight and one of the best finds over the four day walk.

The breakfast was excellent. I’ve been back a number of times for lunch and enjoyed it every time. Ana, the owner is always working hard and prepares all the dishes by hand.

I have to admit, the third day is in most ways my least favorite of the walk. To be honest, it was not the most scenic area. While we had been warned that there were some areas that we might want to be careful in because of gangs, I must say we had no problems. I am sure we looked quite the sight with our backpacks, two younger people and a guy limping along the streets.

A mindful bullet hole. Dave tried to position his head to match it.

Most of the graffiti was was destructive to property, there was some impressive art along the way. Not sure what the story would be behind the pictures, but I am sure there are some.

Again, scenery was mostly industrial for a good part of the day. Here we pose for a more serious picture. The valley starts to affect our senses.

Here we are later in the afternoon following the Arizona Canal. For those reading from Colorado, that water is from you! It had rained and was now clearing. Dave was walking backwards again … which was exactly how he looked just before tripping on Day 1.

This was our favorite picture of the day. We were less than a mile from what would be our stopping point of today’s hike. I think we were near 75th Avenue and not sure of the cross street. We were resting near this drainage thing. There was a grate on top of it. We noticed our reflections in the water. I took my Droid and noticed the camera could shoot it through one of the grids! Dave is on top section, Chrystyna lower right, and I on left holding the camera for the picture.

We ended up at a Dairy Queen, just south and east of Westgate. Our friend Carly picked us up to take us back to our cars downtown. We had a beer back at our starting point, Seamus Pub. We would meet at her house later to spend the night and get an early start to Day 4, the final day.

See all the posts on the 2009 Valley Walk here: Crossing the Phx Valley on Foot