96. Rediscovering Resilience: A Woman's Transformative Trek Across America with Barbara Jenkins

Imagine stepping out your front door, not for your usual morning jog, but to embark on a cross-country trek that would forever alter the course of your life. This week, the indomitable Barbara Jenkins joins us to recount her extraordinary journey on foot across America, a narrative woven through her bestselling memoir, "So Long as it's Wild." As she shares the intimate details of her transformation from a life of poverty in the Ozarks to the wild, untamed paths from New Orleans to Oregon, we are transported across the landscapes that tested her endurance and fortified her faith.

Her tales of close encounters—whether with the perilous forces of nature or the unpredictable dangers of human unpredictability—paint a vivid picture of a woman's resilience in the face of adversity. The wisdom gleaned from her experiences, encapsulated within the pages of her memoir, offers us a deeper understanding of the human spirit's capacity to confront the wilderness of both land and soul.

The essence of this episode lies not just in the retelling of Barbara's incredible story, but in the inspiration and encouragement it provides to each of us on our journeys. Walking away, we are filled with a renewed sense of bravery and a reminder of the profound impact that sharing our personal story can have on others. Join us for a conversation that promises to stir the seeker within you and perhaps illuminate a path through your own wilds with the beacon of Barbara's unwavering faith and deep-rooted perseverance.

Connect with Barbara:
Barbara Jo Jenkins co-authored The Walk West (William Morrow) which became an international bestseller and part of the permanent White House Library. A nonfiction blockbuster, it sold 15 million copies, became a Reader's Digest condensed book, and was chosen as one of the most influential bestsellers related to American culture in the last 100 years.

Jenkins lives in Tennessee and loves spending time with her family and friends.She enjoys traveling, painting, writing, speaking, cooking, floral design, creative projects, or sitting in the porch swing telling stories to her granddaughters, Josephine and Lyla.

Website: https://www.barbarajojenkins.com
Instagram: instagram.com/barbarajenkinswriter
Grab her book: https://amzn.to/4b2D1NH

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Chapters

• 0:00 A Memoir of Walking Across America
• 11:10 Walking Across America
• 22:50 Escaping Danger in Lawless Colorado
• 29:40 Sharing Inspiration and Encouragement

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Y'all, it is the season of authors and I'm excited because today, of Barbara Jenkins coming on the podcast. You are going to be obsessed with her accent I am too, but Barbara, you might know her. Actually, she was really famous for book that she wrote with her ex husband about her journey across the entire United States. Y'all, she walked across the entire United States. And Barbara is out with another book telling her side of the story and the events that she had and also how it changed her relationship with the Lord. And so the Lord called her to do something very scary and it changed the entire trajectory of her life. And so stay tuned for this very powerful story from my friend Barbara. Hey friend, welcome to Milk and Honey with Lemon.

Speaker 1: 0:40

The Bible says in Numbers 14-8, and if the Lord is pleased with us, he will bring us safely into that land and give it to us. It is a rich land, flowing with milk and honey. On this podcast, we talk about stepping into that overflow that God has for us by becoming those ultimate Proverbs 31 women. Hey, I'm Lemon. I am just like you, sister Friend. I knew God had something more in store for me, but I couldn't see a way out of the laundry piles and, frankly, I resented that Proverbs 31 woman. How was I going to live up to the hype? That is until I found out how to really step into becoming this Proverbs 31 woman through leadership development. In this podcast, you're going to find financial freedom, leadership, growth and motivation so you'll be able to do all the things God has called you to do with ease and really step into that land of milk and honey.

Speaker 1: 1:29

Welcome back to the Milk and Honey podcast. I'm your host, lemon Price, and I'm so excited because I have Barbara Jenkins with me, and y'all might recognize this name because she has co-authored the Walk West, which was an international bestseller, and it's a part of the permanent White House library. How cool is that? This book are you ready? Has sold 15 million copies. It is a Readers Digest condensed book and it was chosen as one of the most influential bestsellers related to American culture in the last 100 years, and we're going to talk about that a little bit. She went on a three year 3,000 mile walk across America. My gosh, barbara, how has we're going to talk about this? I don't even know how it's possible that Reese Witherspoon hasn't picked up your book, for I hope you're not optioned this. She just released a new book which we're also going to talk about, and I'm really excited.

Speaker 1: 2:23

She lives in Tennessee, y'all. She's close to me and you're going to love her Southern accent. I don't think she has an accent, it sounds normal to me but she loves to just hang out with family and friends. She loves to travel shocker. She paints and she writes, she speaks, she cooks, she has floral design Barbara, you have to teach me how to do that. I'm terrible at that. Then, just really sitting on her porch swing telling stories to her granddaughters, josephine and Lila. Thank you for being here, barbara.

Speaker 2: 2:47

Oh, lemon, it's so fun to be here with you this morning. It's a beautiful fall day and I just appreciate this opportunity to tell you some stories and to tell you about my new book called so Long as it's Wild. You mentioned Reese Witherspoon. She did a movie on a book called Wild. The Library Journal, which is one of the prestigious industry magazines or publications in the publishing business, they reviewed my book and they said if you liked Tara Westover's book educated, and if you liked Cheryl Strayad's book called Wild, you will be captivated by my book. So Long as it's Wild. The title to that book is a famous John Muir quote, who is a great naturalist, an adventurer from the 1800s, but the quote goes something like God never made an ugly landscape, everything is beautiful, so long as it's wild. And so that's how I got the title so Long as it's Wild. And my book has just been released. It's already rated 4.6 on Amazon and it is in memoir. Although it reads like a novel and 100% of the feedback has been.

Speaker 2: 4:20

I could not put the book down. In fact, I got someone contacted me last night on my website and she said this is the first time I have read a book in one sitting. So it is a page turner. It's full of twists and turns, high drama. It is my memoir, where you will learn about how I grew up in the Ozarks of Missouri, a very poor, hillbilly girl. I grew up next door to my poor old grandparents. The street I lived on was a gravel street lined with shacks and no one on my street could read or write, and my parents were the only ones who could read or write and they would read the mail for my neighbors. But growing up without anything, I slept on a little rollaway bed. We did not have an indoor toilet till I was 12 years old and we lived next to the railroad tracks. So I grew up, I fell asleep to the rumble of trains going by at night and this kind of background and upbringing really prepared me to walk across America. I'm the only person in my family on either side that has a college education and I went on to work on a master's degree and I was at a seminary in New Orleans and that's where I met Peter Jenkins and we met, had a courtship, fell in love and he asked me to marry him, but the caveat was he wanted me to walk the rest of the way across America with him. So I walked 3,000 miles. So the question is, who signs up for that? I'll tell you the story. I'll come back to the story of how I decided to go with him, that we walked 3,000 miles, ended the walk.

Speaker 2: 6:22

This was back in the 70s, before the internet, before Zoom, what we're doing right now, the four cell phones, and we ended up on the cover of National Geographic magazine, which opened the windows of heaven, fame and fortune, celebrity hood. We bought a beautiful farm, we had three beautiful children. I ended the walk across America two months pregnant, but the marriage began to crumble with fame and fortune and he was traveling all the time and gone when I discovered that there had been infidelities, with a broken heart, a file for divorce. So the book covers from the hillbilly upbringing to the great, high, wonderful adventures walking across America, fame and fortune, and then losing it all and starting all over and rebuilding my life. So I'm coming out of 40 years of silence to tell this story and I did not want to write this book. I have written books and I have been famous and I have done all that. So the motivation was not about making a name for myself or being famous or anything like that it was.

Speaker 2: 7:48

I had been to an event out in Telluride, colorado, back in 2016 and I was with a group of young adults, friends of my sons, and among those friends were some celebrities like Aaron Paul of Breaking Bad and Sophia Bush, who was famous for television. So we were talking about the walk across America and they both said Barbara, you need to write your story. It would make a great movie. And I just chuckled and I thought, yes, this is what you tell everybody. So I tossed it aside five years past and it was my seven year old granddaughter who said to me one day. She said yo, yo that's my name Yo, yo, did you really walk across America? And it was like a ton of bricks hit me. It was like all the light bulbs. Everything started flashing and I knew then that I had to write this book.

Speaker 2: 8:57

So long as it's wild, you can find it anywhere. Books are sold, of course. It's on Amazon books, a million, all the websites but it took me three years to write this book and it is truly a page turner and lemon. We've it's only been out since the middle of September and this is the middle of October, so we're saying it's been out about five weeks, five or six weeks, and we've already had two film and movie scouts contact me and the publisher. So who knows what the journey of this book will be? But I do think your listeners, particularly women who love adventure, they love challenge, but if they are facing some deep waters and tough times, the stories will carry them through great adventures and great trials and great outcomes. You asked me one question and there was a long answer.

Speaker 1: 10:06

I know we live in the South, y'all, that's how you know I love this. Oh see, I knew as soon as you started I was like this needs. I loved that movie Wild. I forced my husband to watch it with me all the time because I think that I'm going to hike the Appalachian or something one of these days when I don't have small children at home. And so I just live by carelessly through all of these stories right now and I'm like, yes, this, yes, I would want I would be the first person in line to buy tickets to see this movie because it's so fascinating to me. And yeah, how did you even make this decision to walk across America? Because, that's, you had to be a young, a young woman, and you're like all right we're going to do it.

Speaker 2: 10:44

I was in my mid 20s and I was working on a master's degree at a seminary in New Orleans. So I'm a woman of faith. I grew up because I grew up poor. I'm a Zura and I'm a hillbilly, but going to church was basically my social life. So I was, and continue to be, a woman of faith.

Speaker 2: 11:10

And this young man appears on campus and he looks like he is a Viking or something and he's real stocky, but he's obviously a vagabond or something. He's in sneakers and holy jeans and anyway he stopped at this seminary to write his article for National Geographic because he had walked from upstate New York down to New Orleans and in his route he had gone to a James Robinson crusade and had gotten saved. We started dating, we met. How we met is a wonderful story and I tell this in the book. We were having a roast of the professors and it was in the girl's dorm. So you know most of the campus was men, most of them were married, but there were a lot of single men studying to work in ministerial work, some way somehow. So we had a large crowd there and he came and I noticed him that night and I thought he just doesn't fit the mold. Here. All these other guys are in like collared shirts and khakis and here he is in these holy jeans and an old t-shirt and tennis shoes and long kind of blonde hair. He really looks like a viking. I thought I'd like to meet him, but I did not meet him that night.

Speaker 2: 12:41

A few weeks passed and we had another event in the women's dorm and it turned into a water fight and everybody was throwing water on one another. I had a bucket of water and I was chasing a guy out the door. I was going to throw this bucket of water on him and he got away from me and there in the doorway stood Peter and I took one look at him and I dumped a gallon of water over his head and that's how we met. So we started seeing each other, dating, fell in love, got married, but before all that came to fruition he wanted me to walk the rest of the way across America with him, and that was from New Orleans all the way to Oregon, and of course I'd never been camping a day in my life. I grew up in the Ozarks and my mother always said I was mis-pressed because I never I don't look athletic. I'm not an outdoor mountain woman, I am prissy and very feminine. So to transition and change my life that much, I really needed some kind of direction. I said, okay, if something doesn't happen at church, I'll go to church with you one last time, and if something doesn't happen, then we just need to end this I knew it would hurt anyway and you go on and finish your walk and if we still feel the same way about each other, we'll get back together.

Speaker 2: 14:21

So I went into church that day with kind of a heavy heart because I was at a fork in the road. I did not know which way to go. I had been up all night praying for direction. We go in this church and it's a large church, several thousand people Now remember this is before internet, cell phones, all this stuff, so people still carried Bibles to church. There's no place to sit except on the very front row and so we have to parade through all these people looking like Peter, looked like he just came out from under a bridge and I was embarrassed. We sat on the front row because in my mind I thought this is it anyway. It doesn't matter. I could see the wrinkles on the preacher's face we were so close to the stage I was surprised because they rolled out an old woman in a wheelchair.

Speaker 2: 15:17

Her name was Mom Bill. Where I'm from, in the Ozarks, we didn't have women preachers, but this old woman in a wheelchair was going to bring the sermon that day. So they wheel her out and they put the microphone in front of her voice and she starts talking and gives the scripture verse and you can hear the swoosh of all the pages of the Bibles. People turn into the scripture. It was the story of Abraham and Isaac and Abraham had sent a servant to go find a wife for Isaac. They found a beautiful girl. Her name was Rebecca. So they went to her house but her parents left the decision up to her. So the old preacher woman in the wheelchair, she leaned into the microphone and her voice was soft, but yet there was a strength. And she leaned into the microphone and she said the title of my sermon today is Will you Go With this man? You could have blown me over with a feather.

Speaker 2: 16:32

I felt like for me in the context of my life on that particular day, at that moment in time, when I was at that fork in the road, that was the finger of God's asking me, tapping me on the shoulder and saying will you go? I said yes and I was weak as a cat when I stood up. But that's how I decided to go, and little did I know the fiery trials and the challenges that would be ahead for me. But on this walk across America we left on the bicentennial in 1976, took us three years, we finished in 1979, and little did I know the high adventures that I would experience, but the dangers and the trials.

Speaker 2: 17:28

We trapped alligators in the swamps of Louisiana. We were almost struck by lightning more than once in the deserts and the breaks of Texas. We watched tornadoes. We I was. I fell off a 13,000 foot glacier in the Colorado Rockies. I was hit by a car in Salt Lake, outside of Salt Lake City, utah. I walked, we walked across Oregon the coldest winter since 1919. All of those stories are in this book. So long as it's wild, but through each one, through each story, each episode, each danger, and there were many, but there were equally more joys and high moments and victories. But isn't that life? Life is full of mountains and valleys, but this is just a fit of those mountains. I love that so much.

Speaker 1: 18:26

So I know you said, which is mind blowing. I've had that experience too, where you've gone to church, right, you've prayed about something, and then a preacher will say something and you're like, okay, that was directly from God to me. I hear you loud and clear, thank you for that. But then you're like I went through all of these trials, went through, you went through a lot, and so how did it impact your relationship to God and how you related to God, being being that he gave you a really clear direction on this, and then you walked through all the things that you had to walk through.

Speaker 2: 18:57

I think when God calls you to do something, I think we delude ourselves into thinking, oh, this is gonna be tiptoeing through the tulips. But in fact it was a call to rise, to be the woman he wanted me to be, and I had a lot of lessons to learn and I was. I shook my fist at God more than once. I hated walking across America more than once. I wanted to quit more than once, but then there were equally as many times as I was thrilled and rejoiced that I was doing God's bidding, but yet how much, how enriching it was and how wonderful it was for me. So I think that my faith grew. One of the main lessons I learned in that particular journey in life because life is full of seasons and different journeys, and that was definitely one season of my life I learned physically that if I was going to walk 15 miles a day 3,000 miles ultimately and make it all the way from New Orleans to the Pacific Coast in the Northwest, I couldn't do it in a hurry. I had to do it one step at a time, one hour at a time, one day at a time, and I had to shift my thinking.

Speaker 2: 20:32

We live in such a fast, high-tech world today that everything is instant. Gotta have instant gratification, gotta get there. Everything is by the watch, by the clock. When you're on foot, carrying 35 pounds on your back, there's nothing in a hurry. You have to. If you're gonna make it, you've got to shift your entire outlook. You're in a different matrix, You're in a different reality and you have to conserve your energy. You have to take it one step at a time and you cannot get ahead of yourself.

Speaker 2: 21:08

And that is a great and a very deep spiritual lesson, because Jesus, the Good Shepherd, he led us one step at a time, not to get ahead of him, rush ahead, run ahead, but to follow and to walk, for we walk by faith. So, my, there were so many challenges and dangerous times that I know I would not have survived had it not been for the protection of God, for the cries and the prayers. I had a lot of time. Paul was in the desert for three years. I was on the road for three years, so I know what it is to walk and to talk to God for a long time.

Speaker 1: 21:57

I think that's so beautiful, just this experience that you've had and the awful lessons that you got to learn, right, Because I think so many times you're like, all right, I've read the scriptures, I know the things. And then God gives you this very challenging season that forces you to stretch and grow and have a deeper relationship with him and really forces you to put all of your trust and your faith in him as he walks you through something a little scary and outside, way outside of your comfort zone, since you're like I was going to quit a lot and I hated it a lot. I just think that's. I think that's a really beautiful lesson. So if the women listening were like, all right, Barbara, I feel like I'm supposed to do something, or I feel called to do something, but I'm terrified to do it, what would you say to them?

Speaker 2: 22:41

I was terrified of Barbara Gross, America. I was terrified. I got hit by outlaws. Outlaws attacked us. This was in southwestern, southeastern Colorado, a very lawless and empty part of that state. Of course, this was back in the 1970s and it was the close of the day and we were on this very lonely road. And up behind me comes this I could hear the rumble of a car and inside were three drunk men and they were reaching out the window yelling obscenities at me, trying to pull me in the car. Peter was up ahead. He turned around and saw what was going on, so he rushed back. We didn't carry a gun or anything, but we had big golfing umbrellas that were like spears and he pulled out his golfing umbrella.

Speaker 2: 23:33

The driver had bloodshot eyes, long, jet, blue, black hair. He was for lack of a better term I would say a mixed breed. He was part Indian, part Hispanic. I don't really know what he was, but they tried to run us over two or three times, screaming, and we jumped across the sagebrush, ran out into the open area. Another car started to come from off in the distance and when these guys saw that a car was coming, they sped away and they yelled we're going to kill you. We're going to come back and kill you.

Speaker 2: 24:13

So this was the only night we never set up a tent. We found a little low gully Out. It looks level but there's lots of little dips and crevices and ditches out there across the sagebrush. And one of the lessons I learned you know, when animals in the wild are being sought by predators, they either run away or they freeze in place. So we froze in place. We found a low place. We laid low, we just stretched out our little sleeping mats and we hoped it wasn't on top of a rattlesnake den. All night long these guys drove up and down that lonely road with a spotlight across the desert looking for us.

Speaker 2: 24:59

We got up early the next morning and hiked five miles into town, San Luis, Colorado, the oldest town, and went straight to the sheriff's office and told him what had happened. So he told us the story. He knew exactly who these guys were. They were a band of outlaws that came out of the foothills around that country out there, and he had just shot and killed their ringleader the week before. He said the only thing these men understand is a sawed-off shotgun and you are lucky to be alive.

Speaker 2: 25:34

So yes, I found many things across America that scared me. But when God calls you to do something, you know what He'll equip you. So that night, when we were out there under the stars on that sleeping mat, Peter said to me. He said, were you really scared? Were you scared? And I said, yes, I was scared, but I was going to take on the littlest one. I was going to do my best. Take on the littlest one. Anyway, whatever God calls you to do, you can expect to be scared. It's okay to be scared. Just rise and have courage. The righteous are bold as a lion. So you know, don't walk around with your tail between your legs and whimping and whining. No, there's no room for that. Stand up.

Speaker 1: 26:34

I love that advice so much. That is just such beautiful advice. What a terrifying experience to have. And now you get to tell this tale, and I think it's moments like that that give us even deeper faith and deeper trust in our provider and our savior and really just we can rest assured that if he's called us to something, he'll see us through the thing that he's called us to do. So I just want to tell you how much I appreciate you sharing things that you've shared and the insights that you've gained. But I want to encourage people to go get your book and to connect with you. So what's the best way for people to connect with you and go snag the copy of the book?

Speaker 2: 27:10

Well, you can follow me on Instagram at Barbara Jenkins Writer, or you can go on my website, which gives you all the links and all the information that you could possibly want or a way to contact me, and that is BarbaraJoJankinscom. You know that's a Southern name, barbara Jo, so BarbaraJoJ-O Jenkins, gnscom, and I'd love to hear from your listeners, I'd love to know what they think I am. It's great feedback and joy that I did when God called me and said will you go with this man? But then, 40 years later, it was God speaking to me through my granddaughter and it was basically will you write this book? Because I didn't want to and I was scared and there was a lot there. There's a lot of twists and turns and drama, tears and laughter and joys and sorrows, but I wrote it. It's out there, it's life, and I believe your listeners will find that it will give them courage and that it'll be a page turner.

Speaker 1: 28:29

I love that. Thank you just so much for being here. Barbara and y'all, we're going to have to stay in touch because I'm telling you she's going to get, by the time this episode comes out or something, she's going to be emailing me telling me that her book's been optioned because I just I already know it, I already know it. I can't wait. You'll have to let me know when the premiere is, because I will be there ready to go for this event. And so just thank you for being here, barbara. Thank you for being so vulnerable and open and honest about the things that you have walked through. I sincerely appreciate it, and I know our listeners do too. So just thank you for being here. Thank you, liv. I love Barbara's story so much.

Speaker 1: 29:05

Barbara asked for a sign from the Lord. She received that sign, and then it changed her entire life. God had a bigger plan for her, and it was her obedience that led her to the journey she's on, and so, no matter where you're at, I would encourage you to seek the Lord for your next step. Seek the Lord and ask Him what you're supposed to do. Ask for a sign that you cannot miss, because Barbara did, and it changed everything for her. So tune in next time, my friend. Hey friend, what a joy it has been to share today's journey with you.

Speaker 1: 29:40

If you found a spark of inspiration or a nugget of wisdom that resonated, would you bless someone else by sharing this episode with them? It could be the encouragement they need to step into their purpose and calling. Also, if you could spare a moment to leave a review, it would mean the world to me. I really appreciate your feedback and it really helps our community grow. Remember, the road to discovering God's call for you isn't one you have to walk alone. So join me again next Monday for another episode where we'll continue to explore the depths of leadership and the heights of our heavenly calling. Until then, keep seeking, keep growing and keep trusting in His plan. God bless you and I'll catch you on the flip side. Bye, friend.