Planning The Big Trek

I continue to read blogs of people that have walked across the United States. Several have used a carts to carry supplies which seems like a good idea. Mark Baumer's cart kept breaking.  It was essentially a stroller meant to be pulled behind a bike. In Texas people kept yelling, "Those babies must be dying."

Matt Green also walked with a cart, but his looked much sturdier. I kept searching for what kind of cart it was. It turns out that his cart also started as a stroller but was built by Runabout in Aloha, Oregon.  The owner of Runabout will sell the frames separately.

Here is a picture of Matt Green with his cart. He also kept a blog that you can read here.

This is Indian Land

I found this on a Berkeley sidewalk during one of my afternoon walks.

Walking Shoes

I have become obsessed with walking across the United States. It fuels my daily life and fills me with hope.  It strengthens my resolve to live boldly.

I have read through Mark Baumer's blog and his account of his own cross country account.  Some how we have linked in the psychic realm. Originally I thought of walking from the Golden Gate Bridge to Brooklyn Bridge, but I am worried that I won't have enough time. So I keep exploring routes with Google Walking Directions. Two nights ago I decided I might walk to Savannah.  After getting further into Baumer's blog I discovered that Mark Baumer also started there.

I have devoured his words and I am full of beef and cheese.  Not every one finds him witty. One man thought he must have a degree in stupid. If this is true, then Mark is my kind of stupid.  He is a one-wheeled motorcycle with a pizza oven and an entourage of clowns hiding in the gas tank.

Yesterday I found the shoes I want to walk across the U.S.  After all, the voyage starts with the feet covered in rivers of lines.  Those piggy-digit-ed extremities make first contact with the earth that is screaming for an embrace from something besides radials and steam rollers in these trying times. The boots were made by Teva. Light. Comfortable. Water proof. The ends of the soles were curved, which forced my knees to bend more.  My knees said Thank You. The boots retailed at $120, but they were on sale for $79.99. I didn't have the cash to take them home, and they aren't listed on the Teva website.

Decisions need to be made.  Planning has to happen. First of all I have to get leave from work to do this. Things are usually slower at the end of the spring and through out the summer. Could I go then?  Can I get a green flag?

Then there is money. I don't have enough vacation time socked away. That means I won't get paid while I am gone. Student loans and other bills still have to be paid. I also have to buy equipment and food. Can I get a sponsor. REI can you help me? Sony can you give me a netbook to blog with.  Can I have my phone for free for a few months Verizon? Canon will you give me a camera for Christmas.  I could be a field tester.  Hey Teva do you want to see how your shoes hold up to hot asphalt for thousands of mile. I can find out for you. Hey snack bar and drink companies do you want pictures of me with your products?  I will be your guinea pig. I will fly your flag. Come on let's do this thing.

Excerpt One: The Boy That Burned His Shoes Crossing The Bridge

                When Jeremiah was young his mother was often startled and scared. She scrubbed the kitchen and the bathroom.  She vacuumed the carpet.  She took control of the space and destroyed anything that did not present a picture of calm perfection.  She did this with bleach and she did it with ammonia.  Sometimes she mixed the two hoping for an early exit from Hamlet’s mortal coil. She only admitted this once, and she played it off as an accident. At the dinner table she would start the confession with the simple words, “You’ll never believe what I did today.” She would then continue, “I was mopping the kitchen floor.  I mixed the ammonia with water.  That is what I always do, but then I realized that the kitchen floors are white. Then I thought bleach is the best thing for white things.   “So I mixed some in,” she said.  “I don’t know what I was thinking.  It was such a stupid thing to do. I nearly died

                Of course the waves went out among the family with forks perched above the chicken fried steak.  Jeremiah sat staring at his plate pondering the words I nearly died. His step-father said, “Why did you do that?  You know that you can’t mix bleach and ammonia!”

                “I don’t know,” said Rose, “I just wasn’t thinking.”

Jeremiah was suspicious.  It made no sense to him. He could not reconcile his mother’s knowledge of danger with a lapse of reason. He could only hear the words I NEARLY DIED.  He knew at that point that she could disappear just as quickly as his dad. No one could be depended on.  People disappeared. It was better not to invest in those he loved.  He knew they would always be on the verge of leaving, so he burrowed further.

                This burrowing was the reason for Rose’s often startled state. As she scrubbed and scoured Jeremiah’s sister Christian hung about her feet seeking attention.  She dragged flowers in from the country with wild black berries.  She presented pictures that she had drawn to Rose. Constantly her presence said Pay attention to me! I am here.

                In the midst of the cleaning and wild berry presentations Jeremiah was silent. Suddenly Rose’s head would explode.  Her attention would snap wake as if an oven timer had chirped louder than six crickets trapped in a Texas pantry. Her brain sounded where is Jeremiah? Then she would dash about the house looking for him. Finally she would find him in his room calmly pushing dump trucks across the wooden floors.

                Jeremiah was two then and he could feel the alarm in his mother’s presence.  Her panic shocked him, but he noticed that she noticed him. At two he was armed with the knowledge that she was aware of him if he was not present. She was aware of him if he worried her. So Jeremiah would perfect the art of absence.  When he was present he would learn to startle.