I crossed the GWB to leave Manhattan. My last sight of NYC.

Last Thursday I decided on a whim to walk to my cabin, which is just about 100 miles away in the Poconos mountain range in Pennsylvania. I have been talking about doing this for a couple years now, ever since we bought the cabin. For some reason I got a bee in my bonnet about it Wednesday night and I set off on Thursday morning without special shoes or training or a single clue about long distance walking. I was hoping to take 3 days to get there.

I’ve since found out that there are a few things I should keep in mind when walking on roads in a long-distance sort of a way.

1. Thin-soled shoes are not going to cut it when you’re walking on asphalt and concrete. You need some cushioning so that the balls of your feet don’t end up totally bruised.

2. It’s very, very hard to walk in the afternoon when you are in New Jersey crappy-ass towns with no trees, low buildings, and sans shade of any kind.

3. A very fit person can cover 20 miles in a day reasonably well if they intend to walk more miles the next day. In my excitement I covered around 30 miles on day one, and 10 on day two. Then I crawled into the woods to lay down. Then I called Jad  to come pick me up. When he got there an hour later I tried to stand and couldn’t. The muscles in my calves and hips burned with a (righteously) angry fire. They were understandably pissed off, as I am not at all fit and have not done much of anything but lay down and sit in front of my computer since January 16 when I had back surgery.

4. I found out I am not too proud to use one of those motorized carts at the grocery store. When faced with the choice of walking down the LONG aisle in a country grocery (post pick-up), my heart sang at the sight of those carts that the 500 pound women use.  It was SO worth the humiliation.

5. Aside from my body’s mutiny, I absolutely adored my day-and-a-half of walking. If my legs would let me I could have kept going till Seattle.  There’s nothing better than putting some miles under your feet. If I had the time I would always travel this way. I can’t wait to do it again.