"I'm walking across America."
imjustwalkin.com
imjustwalkin.com
http://imjustwalkin.com/details
"From John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row:
Once when Doc was at the University of Chicago he had love trouble and he had worked too hard. He thought it would be nice to take a very long walk. He put on a little knapsack and he walked through Indiana and Kentucky and North Carolina and Georgia clear to Florida. He walked among farmers and mountain people, among the swamp people and fishermen. And everywhere people asked him why he was walking through the country.
Because he loved true things he tried to explain. He said he was nervous and besides he wanted to see the country, smell the ground and look at grass and birds and trees, to savor the country, and there was no other way to do it save on foot. And people didn’t like him for telling the truth. They scowled, or shook and tapped their heads, they laughed as though they knew it was a lie and they appreciated a liar. And some, afraid for their daughters or their pigs, told him to move on, to get going, just not to stop near their place if he knew what was good for him.
And so he stopped trying to tell the truth. He said he was doing it on a bet - that he stood to win a hundred dollars. Everyone liked him then and believed him. They asked him in to dinner and gave him a bed and they put lunches up for him and wished him good luck and thought he was a hell of a fine fellow. Doc still loved true things but he knew it was not a general love and it could be a very dangerous mistress.
I’m not walking because of love trouble. And lord knows I haven’t worked too hard. But the rest is right on. I’m anxious. I’m not sure what I’m doing with my life. I need an adventure. And I do want to smell the ground and look at grass and birds and trees. I want to savor the country. And there’s no other way to do it save on foot."
But, Wow, what a cultural indicator the way this guy travels is! i remember reading Peter Jenkins's book A Walk Across America as a kid (highly recommended) and he just had a backpack and a dog. this guy has a cart with a rubbermaid box full of stuff. It captures something about our culture that 'savoring the country' now requires a shopping cart.
Although he seems to have spent enough time thinking everything through, I do think you have a point, I wonder if he will post later that he is getting rid of some stuff. He hasn't hit the Rockies yet (will he go through South Pass? I don't know).
Where do I sign up?
That he spent years under a vow of silence never once setting foot in a motor vehicle and still managed to get a PhD and actually teach in that time is just awe-inspiring.
It looks like he's making some great progress, too.
He kept a daily blog which is very inspiring. Home page: http://www.ryanlukejohns.com/runseurope/ Blog: http://ryanrunseurope.blogspot.com/
Not really. The fact that there's a trail system doesn't mean people do it.
Driving across the country is a pretty huge undertaking, much less walking across it.
The Bruce Trail essentially cuts through my back yard. It is 800km. It is a major accomplishment if, over your life, you manage to walk all of it (in intervals). Very few do it end to end.
I moved away from my hometown a few years back, but last time I went up and visited it, I just went walking. I've driven through it/around it/in it thousands of times, but this time, I slowed things down and just explored, looking at random houses and feeling trees and grass. It was the most pleasant thing I've done in a long time.
Sometimes I hate the internet, it has trained me to have multiple tabs open in life at all times. Disconnecting and just looking and touching the real world is something I, and most of us actually, rarely do anymore.
I want to ride a bike around the country, maybe I'll blog about it one day
I think this is a beautiful idea. It doesn't need to be limited to vacations, either; since about 5 years ago, I've been working on transitioning to an appreciation of this sort of thing. I now walk wherever I can (rough guideline: If it's within 4 miles, and I don't have anything heavy to carry, I'll walk there regularly; if it's within 10 miles, I'll walk there occasionally), and I try to take the train when I travel rather than flying. They're both great ways to get in touch with the terrain, as you mention; I had a colleague in Vancouver tell me that I knew my way around better after a few days than he did after staying there for weeks.