DAYS 85-87 - Arlington to Omaha, NE - 1692 miles from home

It's a zigzag path, this pilgrimage. You're going straight for mile after mile after mile. Highway 126 through the Douglas firs and over the Cascades. Highways 20 and 26 for countless desert miles - over the Rockies - through the Sandhills of Nebraska and across the Cowboy Trail. Highway 275 past feedlots and accompanied by semis. And then, as happened on Day 85, as we approached Omaha, you're zigging and zagging on and off state highways, down country dirt roads, up suburban sidewalks, and even - quite memorably this past Friday - deep into the heart of a cornfield.

And the faith at the heart of this Walk - the faith in "We the People" - in the possibilty of connection and healing... in the deepest heart truth of empathy.... Faith in the fearlessness and creativity that can meet this moment, and the next moment, and forge a path forward...

That faith, that path: it's zigzag all the way down.

The headlines snake their way along with us as we stitch our way through the landscape. I'm writing these words in the context of more shooting, more chaos, more cruelty, more confusion.

But then, there's also such deep respite. We're now only five miles from the Iowa border, hosted in Omaha by Bridget Keegan and Jeff Day, staying in their lovely home, being (again, as seemingly always on this trek) fed and cheered and pampered within an inch of our lives. And - Bridget and Jeff are dear college friends from college. Bridget: Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at Creighton University - and Jeff: University of Nebraska professor of architecture, and founding partner of Actual Architecture.

Back in college, I introduced them - this power couple. Yes, World: you're welcome!

Jeff joined us on Day 86, walking our last leg into Omaha. With this pilgrimage, we're continually walking step by step into the unknown... but suddenly I was also walking into the deeply familiar: old friendships; an urban landscape with lots of mature trees (parts of Omaha remind me of the beautiful neighborhoods of Portland, Oregon); hipster streets with vintage stores and cafes; college campuses. And on Day 87, I visited my first Zen center of this trip: another deeply familiar site, even though I've never been to the Nebraska Zen Center before.

The word "Zen" is simply the Japanese pronunciation of the Sanskrit word dhyana: a word that means meditation or contemplation. Zen Buddhism is the branch of Buddhism whose central practice is meditation - i.e. wordless contemplation. This meditation is what Christian contemplatives sometimes call "centering prayer." I am an interfaith chaplain, ordained as a Zen teacher. And although I love me my words and my yackety-yak, I am in some ways most at home when I'm silent and sitting still.

I gave a talk at the Nebraska Zen Center on Day 87, practicing with their community in their gorgeous facility - a lovely old home in an inviting tree-lined street. My talk was about the pilgrimage, about faith, about remaining steady and open-hearted in these zigzagging times. And then eight of us headed out for a stroll through nearby Memorial Park, zigging and zagging with great delight through rose gardens and shady groves and public art installations.

Bob and I walked nearly 200 miles last week, to get ourselves ahead of schedule in anticipation of Omaha. Thus, we have two more "zero" days in Omaha: nothing to do but immerse ourselves in community. I will visit three classes at Creighton; Bob will visit the Great Plains Welsh Heritage Center in Wymore, NE; we will both connect with the Tri-Faith Initiative; I will, finally, attend Kol Nidre services at Temple Israel. On Wednesday a new pilgrim, Chris, will join us for a couple of weeks.

In some ways - although we're not hiking right now - immersing ourselves here, in the heartland and in these communities, is indeed the heart of this Walk. This heart of this act of faith.

Day 87. Pam from Nebraska Zen Center. (Bridget and Perry in the background.) Memorial Park, Omaha.

Day 85. Fontanelle, NE. About 40 miles to Omaha.

Day 85. Is this the road? I don't think this is the road. En route to Arlington, NE.

That wasn't the road. Esty in the cornfield.

Day 85. Beautiful back road, in the hills of Arlington, NE.

Day 86. Walking into Omaha. Our main walkway was Military Avenue - a major thoroughfare bisecting the city, although portions of it are delightfully cut off from traffic. The original "Military Road" - constructed in the late 1850s to move supplies and troops to Fort Kearney - helped thousands of emigrants cross the plains into the northwest.

Seeing the suburbs through an architect's eyes: Jeff take a snapshot of a housing development in West Omaha.

Day 86. View from Military Avenue.

Strutting into Omaha.

Benson neighborhood. Omaha, NE.

RBG and vintage shop in Omaha.

Day 87. Selfie with Terra Hall - member of Nebraska Zen and projects manager at the nonprofit arts, science and education center KANEKO.

87. Bridget Keegan (Pam and Matt in the background). Memorial Park, Omaha.

With members of the Nebraska Zen Center. Memorial Park, Omaha.