A New Year

That picture is not me and Arlo, but it's something like my mental picture of us if we were actually walking across the country, rather than walking around our neighborhood. Our neighborhood walks are nice, but not like the picture.

December

I walked over 400,000 steps in December, my biggest month ever, and averaged over 13,000 steps per day. I took over 10,000 steps every day of the month, and my current streak is 61 days. Eight times I walked at least 15,000 steps. Seven of those days were Mondays or Thursdays, my bridge days. The eighth was a Saturday, and I do not even remember why, but I walked over 20,000 steps that day.

2022

Well, it was another year that Trump was not president, so that was good.

When I started 2022, I was in Rocklyn, Washington, 40 miles from Idaho, still walking in the state I started in. During the year, I made it through the rest of Washington and through Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, and Tennessee, and into Mississippi. I started the year with 850,000 steps, and I added 4,350,000 during 2022, walking over 2,000 miles. At the beginning of 2022, my target date to finish was August 31, 2023, and I was 70,000 steps behind that pace. Now my target date is June 28, and I am 174,000 steps ahead.

I failed to get 10,000 steps 13 times in 2022 - twice when I was on vacation in January, nine times when I was on vacation in October, and two times when I just did not get there. If I do something like this again (and that could happen), I will put my walking on hold when I go on vacation, because

From April 5 through October 9, I walked at least 10,000 steps every day, 188 days in a row. I averaged 11,920 steps per day for the year.

The most steps I took in a day was 33,092 on July 18th in Las Vegas. It's a record I am not eager to try to break.

Since Inception

Since October 1, 2021, I have taken 5,200,000 steps total, covering 2,600 miles, which puts me more than halfway across Mississippi, headed to Alabama. I am looking forward to Alabama, because it is the last significant state before Florida, which is the endpoint. (I will travel through Georgia, but only 50 miles or so.) My progress leaves me with "only" 1.8 million steps to go; that will take a minimum of five months.

Once upon a time, I used to bicycle a lot, but mostly I have not kept up with any type of exercise for very long. Now that I am old enough that walking can credibly count as exercise, I am surprised to find myself dedicated to getting out and taking the time every day. This appears to be something I can stick to.

It is hard to say for sure, because any change is very gradual, but I think it is getting easier with time.

And finally, credit to my walking buddy, Arlo, who has walked more steps with his little legs than I have, and has walked with me most of the way, and has tons of energy left when I am done and ready for a break. Maybe I could have done it without him, but he has given me incentive to get going every day and to keep clicking off the miles.

There is a time for walking, and a time for sleeping.

Week 65: New Year's Eve, Tupelo, Mississippi

 

You can take all the tea in China,
Put it in a big brown bag for me
Sail right around all the seven oceans
Drop it straight into the deep blue sea
She's as sweet as Tupelo Honey

Van Morrison, Tupelo Honey

My path takes me a few miles West and South of Tupelo, but it's good to have a good picture, and a picture of a statue of Elvis in Tupelo works for me.

Tupelo honey, by the way, is a real thing, made by honey bees that gather their nectar from the Tupelo tree. It is only produced in Southern Georgia and the Florida panhandle, and rumor has it that it tastes unusually sweet. I think I will buy some, just to try it.

Tupelo is the birthplace of Elvis Presley, and his childhood home is here, and a museum and several statues of him. Elvis is a big deal in this part of the world.

More interesting, at least to me, is that a trail called the Natchez Trace, and a roadway called the Natchez Trace Parkway, go through Tupelo. The Natchez Trace is an old forest trail that starts (or ends) at the Mississippi River at Natchez, Mississippi, far south of Tupelo, crosses the Tennessee River in Northwestern Alabama, and ends (or starts) at the Cumberland River at Nashville, Tennessee. It's about 440 miles long, and it would give me a good reason to visit Mississippi and Tennessee.

I will post a little retrospective of the month, the year, and the trip so far in the next couple of days.

Week 64: Christmas Eve, Cornersville, Mississippi.

Cornersville, such as it is

I cannot really find the inspiration to make something out of nothing this week, so let's just say that Cornersville, Mississippi is an unimaginatively-named place with no significant buildings and no significant people. And here we are.

An interesting thing happening this month is that I am walking more than ever. If I only average 10,000 steps per day for the rest of the month, I will walk more steps this month than any other so far, despite a couple of below-freezing days this week that presented a challenge. Unless I become injured or ill, I will easily break my one-month record.

There is a simple reason for this phenomenon: bridge. I usually walk to and from the lodge when I play, twice a week, and that adds 7,000-8,000 steps to my day each time. This is the first month that I have played consistently, so my steps are up significantly.

Also, I got an email today saying that chess club may start up again soon...

Three more weeks to get to Alabama. My current streak of 10,000-step days is 54.

Tonight, Chinese food and a movie, a surprise Jarrod picked out. Merry Christmas to all.

 

Week 63: Mississippi

Hedge Farm

M-iss-iss-ipp-i. I knew how to spell Mississippi when I was very young, maybe seven or so, because the spelling was like a little chant. I'm not sure I knew there was a place called Oregon, but I could spell Mississippi.

This week I left Arkansas and crossed the Mississippi River into Memphis, Tennessee, walked through Tennessee and into Mississippi, and passed 5,000,000 steps.

I am currently twenty miles into Mississippi, at a town called Red Banks. Red Banks does not look like much. According to Wikipedia, it is a census-designated place with a population of 215. Unlike some recent towns we visited in Arkansas, it is neither all white nor all black, but rather about 70% white, 20% black, and 10% other, which is nice. It contains two travel centers across the street from one another, two dollar stores side by side, several churches, a few auto parts/repair businesses, and a barbeque place called Clancy's Cafe. They also have this nice-looking place called Hedge Farm, which is a venue, and reviews on Google agree that it's a very pretty spot. They host weddings.

What I recall best about driving through Mississippi is that they have rest stops where all you can do is rest. No bathrooms, nothing but grass. No one stops at rest stops to rest; it's a euphemism. I have to pee. Otherwise I will just keep driving.

When I go to Mississippi for real, I think Biloxi is the place to go. It is on the coast, has some very grand-looking hotels on the beach, and claims to have several casinos to choose from, which may explain the big hotels on the beach.

I will be in Mississippi for NewYear's Day, but by then I will be halfway across. Total distance in the state will be 165 miles.

Midweek Post: Walking in Memphis

I remember that pyramid

Put on my blue suede shoes and I

Boarded the plane

Touched down in the land of the delta blues

In the middle of the pouring rain.

From "Walking in Memphis"

I am including this post because today I walked into Tennessee, but by the end of the week I will be in Mississippi, so Tennessee gets a post before I leave.

Along with Arkansas and Mississippi, Tennessee is one of three states along my journey that I have driven through, but did not go to for any reason other than to pass through. In fact, starting today, I am more or less following the route Jackie and I drove on to go to a wedding long ago, and I will be on that same path all the way to Birmingham, Alabama, where the wedding took place..

If I make it to Tennessee in real life one day there are plenty of possible things to do, including visiting Nashville, Graceland, Dollywood, or the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Internet says the most popular attraction in Tennessee is Dollywood.

Actually, today I am right at the Tennessee border, more or less standing on the Memphis-Arkansas bridge over the Mississippi River, crossing between the two states. That bridge is in the picture above by the way - not that one in the front, but the one behind. If you look close enough, you might see me walking across.

My entire walk across Tennessee will be about 19 miles, all in the greater Memphis area, as Memphis sits in the far southwest corner of Tennessee.

That pyramid used to be a sports arena, by the way, and is now a Bass Pro Shops store.

Things to do in Memphis include Graceland, food and music on Beale Street (prominently mentioned in the song referenced above), and the National Civil Rights Museum. Also, you can shop at Bass Pro Shops in a big pyramid if you want.

Week 62: Jericho, Arkansas

Jericho will be my last stop in Arkansas, as I expect to enter Tennessee, then leave Tennessee and enter Mississippi in the next week.

The picture is a different Jericho, the one in Palestine that Joshua conquered in the Bible, and the one that calls itself the oldest city in the world. Apparently it it at least 11,000 years old. I thought it made a better picture.

What I find interesting about Jericho, Arkansas is that it was a town of 184 residents as of the 2000 census, of which 92.9% were African-American. I have seen places in urban areas with mostly black residents, but a little town with almost all black people is a surprise to me.

I have to note that I walked a long way this week, so at the beginning of the week I thought maybe I was going to stop a few miles earlier, in Turrell, Arkansas. When I did a little research into the town, I noticed it was 88.6% black, a town of 517 people.

When I posted about Hoxie, Arkansas two weeks ago, I noted that the town was 98.15% white, because I thought that looked unusual. The composition of the population in the three towns appears to be related in a way. A little more research shows that black people were not welcome in many Arkansas towns (and maybe still are not, though a bit more covertly), so I suppose they created their own towns, and that segregation remains, even if it is not enforced the way it once was.

So that's a little creepy.

This coming week I will pass 5,000,000 steps, leave Arkansas and enter Tennessee, and then leave Tennessee and enter Mississippi, as the whole trip through Tennessee is only about 20 miles.

Week 61: Saint Francis Sunken Lands

I just crossed the St. Francis Sunken Lands near Lake City, Arkansas, and here is a thing that might be interesting to see in Arkansas, and something I did not know existed.

I had heard that there were once large earthquakes near the Mississippi River, but I did not realize that there are large rifts in the land that are still there today. The earthquakes were called the New Madrid Earthquakes, and they occurred between December 1811 and February 1812. Not many people lived in the area then, and no one knows how many people died (apparently not many), but lands rose and fell due to the earthquakes, and the St Francis Sunken Lands dropped six to eight feet and flooded. The area is now a swamp, but there is a road over it, and I just walked across.

I would like to see that in real life.

One more stop in Arkansas, then it's on to Tennessee.