Week 73: Midland City, Alabama

 

I teased a picture of Ozark last week, but I walked past Ozark, Alabama a couple of days ago. Still, the best picture of Midland City is a big plantation-looking building similar to the ones in Lowndesboro, so I'm going with this one.

This is my seventh stop in Alabama, and it will be my last. Next weekend, I should be in Georgia.

This was one of my poorer weeks of walking - I missed my 10,000 steps twice - but I still walked over 70,000 steps for the week, and my average for the month is over 11,000 steps per day, though not by much. The weather has been very cold - there is snow on the ground right now - so I have taken shorter walks, walked indoors, driven to bridge, and skipped my walk with Joel this week. The forecast says it will be a little warmer - mid to high forties - starting Wednesday, but still 30-ish at night and nothing as high as 50 for the next 10 days.

I am ready for warmer weather, although even mid-forties will be a noticeable improvement.

Week 72: Walking Backward

Brad Pitt, totally serious warrior

I find this picture funny. The movie, Troy, made me laugh, a lot. It was definitely not meant to be funny, but the direction was so silly that I started laughing early and never stopped. I laughed at an overlong stare out to sea, at the huge CGI armada, at the camerawork that was so intent on showing us the impressive sets, or maybe it was just more CGI. I think there was a slow-motion agony and death scene near the end that had me giggling. It was surprisingly kind of fun.

Last week I said I was near Highland Home, Alabama, and this week I am at Troy, Alabama, 25 miles down the road, despite walking over 40 miles during the week. The trick to that feat is that Google Maps keeps trying to change my route, both going forward and behind me, which changes the total distance and changes where I am. I try to force it to follow the route I have already walked, but the details change. A couple of weeks ago, the path to Miami was 3,481 miles. Now it is 3,496 miles, which instantly puts me 15 miles back from where I used to be.

What does not change, though, is that the real goal is 7,000,000 steps, as tracked by my phone, and I keep getting closer to that goal no matter what Google Maps says. I am over 5,775,000 steps, with 112 days at 11,000 steps per day left to go. The walk across the US is just a way of visualizing the 7,000,000 steps.

And so, I am two full weeks away from Georgia, and next week I should be a few miles past Ozark, Alabama. I have a picture in mind...

Week 71: 500 Days

Cheaha State Park

Today is the 500th day of my walk across the United States, and I find myself near Highland Home, Alabama, just under 100 miles from Georgia. There will be a 600th day before I finish, but not too many after that.

Going forward, I will leave Alabama in less than three weeks, go through Georgia in a week, then spend 90 days or so in Florida before reaching Miami. Early June.

I have missed my 10,000 steps per day goal 51 times since the beginning, which seems like a lot to me, but 36 of those were in 2021, only 15 since. Twelve of the fifteen days I was on vacation or driving most of the day. So I think it's a good record.

As the picture shows, there are things to see in Alabama, but as I have walked through Arkansas, Mississippi, and now Alabama, I have been reminded of the racism that is an undeniable part of the history of the South. Many of the things the Internet suggests for you to see in these states are civil rights memorials, landmarks and museums; the reason so much of the civil rights movement took place in the South is that black people here were suppressed by open institutional racism. Current politics are a reminder that the racism never went anywhere. The South is still a source of shame.

One hundred days to go. Plus a week or two.

Week 70: Lowndesboro, Alabama

Half the town could live in this place

I will post a few pictures from Lowndesboro, because it contains several genuine antebellum structures, so it is more picturesque than you would expect a town of 89 residents to be.

Apparently Lowndesboro has not had the same tornado problems that Selma and Sawyerville have had, so far.

I have now walked slightly more than halfway across Alabama, which came as a bit of a surprise, but this is my fourth week in Alabama, so I am making my way. There will be at least three more stops before Georgia.

I do not know how old the building in the picture above is, but it looks something like a puzzle I own, so I posted it. Here are some other Lowndesboro buildings:

The Pillars, built in 1857

Meadowlawn, 1853

CME (Christian Methodist Episcopal) church, 1833

Lowndesboro Presbyterian Church, 1816

January 2023

It's cold out there

At the end of January, I find myself close to...Selma Alabama. Which is where I said I was on Sunday. This is because I was actually a couple of days short of Selma on Sunday, but I knew I wanted to write about Selma, and next week I will be well past it. It was in fact today, February 1, that I walked through downtown Selma and across the Alabama River on the famous Edmund Pettis Bridge, headed south.

I "only" walked 355,000 steps in January - 50,000 fewer than in December - still better than my goal of 341,000. There are a couple of reasons I walked a bit less last month:

• January is a cold month, and I decided that Arlo and I did not need to go on long walks outside when it was close to 30 degrees or colder, so I walked around my living room sometimes rather than venturing out. When I walk indoors, I quit when I hit 10,000 steps. When I walk around the neighborhood, I keep walking until I get home, so it's different.
• I started playing bridge at a different bridge club, one that I drive to, so I stopped walking the extra 7,500 steps or so to get to the lodge twice a week. The plan though is to start going to Jubilee Bridge Club again once a week starting next week, so that should increase my steps.

I made it to 10,000 steps all but two days in January. My current streak is 17 days.

I am less than 100 miles into Alabama, with over 180 to go, so I should still be in the state at the end of February, closing in on Georgia.