*Walking Home*
By: Joe
14 December 2007

Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz said, “There is no place like home.” Home is the best place to be when things go bad. Unlike Dorothy, getting home takes more than clicking our heels together. This is my story of walking home.

Who: 48 year old guy. I run three miles about twice a week. My job is not physically strenuous.

What: Walk home from work. Seventeen miles by the truck odometer.

At various times in my life I have lived as close as 1.5 miles from work and as far as 97 miles from work. One of the things that bothered me when I worked 97 miles from home was that I had very limited options if I needed to get home and my vehicle was inoperative. My current job is 17 miles from home and I wanted to test the practicality of walking home. Seventeen miles seemed to be at the very outer limits of practical walk-home range, at least it was before I ran this exercise.

How: Disabled vehicle scenario. In addition to my normal work clothing (dress shirt and slacks) I supplemented with additions from behind the seat of the truck and contents from my Back Home Bag. Basically walk out the door, grab a bag and a couple of things from the truck and start walking.

Where: From center of mid-Western 400K metropolitan region to home 17 miles away. Route paralleled my normal commuter route but used pedestrian paths, tertiary and secondary roads. Only ¼ mile was the same as my daily normal commute.

One advantage to walking home is that I had time to investigate the various routes and weigh their advantages and disadvantages. A 400K metropolitan region is not a big city, but it does have some less savory patches. Many of those tougher parts of town are between work and home. I have little hesitation about walking through parts of them under at some times under some conditions. Wearing a backpack is not one of those conditions.

When: Started December 10 at 8:30 in the morning. Temperatures ranged from 25F to 32F with steady 6 mph wind out of the Northwest. A half inch of ice on top of 2 inches of old snow.

I chose December 10 because it was a day I had off work and because the weather predicted for that day is typical of 75% of the December-through-February weather.

Why: Short answer: To see if I can.

The scenario I chose to simulate was a disabled vehicle. Possible causes, in no particular order are:

• Collision
• Malfunction
• Misplaced keys
• Bad fuel
• Vandalism (four slashed tires, for example)
• Roads shut down/traffic

Trip Notes:

8:32 I walked out of work. It has been light for about 40 minutes.

8:42, Finished adding snow pants, sweater, and transferring some odds-and-ends to pack. I lift the bag to sling it over my shoulder and the zipper splits. Repair with one safety pin. Start walking down Municipal pedestrian/bike trail. Four hundred yards after leaving the parking lot I see first and only other walker of trip.

9:10 I reached the end of the pedestrian/bike trail. I took the obligatory picture of where I work.

During the next forty minutes I walk through the rich part of town. I walk past the Country Club, Governor’s Mansion, Municipal Rose gardens and the Yacht club.

9:50 Stop at big cemetery. Grab sandwich and bottle of pop from bag. Zipper of bag spits open again. Add another safety pin. Eat while walking.

10:25 Stop at Nature center to use restroom. I notice that the camera is hanging out of the bag. Add two more safety pins.

11:35 Stop at small restaurant for lunch. This town is exactly at my half way point.

I ate a light lunch because I was worried about waste elimination. Sorry for the poor picture quality but camera lens fogged up and I did not want to wait for it to warm up. I was hungry! Note that the cinnamon-swirl bread did not even make it this long.

11:55 Back on the road. The second half of the route is much less civilized. Typical view down road.

12:20 Stop at small cemetery and pop a couple of ibuprofen. Say short prayer for Olive, died at age nine in 1894. She let me lean my bag against her stone while resting.

12:55 I saw a Pileated Woodpecker swinging from a grape vine. Second half of walk is MUCH less civilized.

1:25 My last break. I ate a tin of sardines and candy bar.

2:40 Pick up mail from mailbox and walk up the driveway.

Observations and Conclusions:

What worked:

• Boots. At work I alternate hiking boots and New Balance cross-trainer shoes. The cross-trainers would not have worked on this walk because of the slop.
• Clothing. Layers are good. I was a little too warm but could peel down.
• Route. Some stretches had heavy traffic but that was unavoidable.
• Time slot. Time of departure may not be my choice if I need to do this “for real” time.
• Food (good choices but did not need as much as I took. Need fork for sardines) I took:
• My work lunch (two PBJ sandwiches, two granola bars, 4 oz applesauce)
• Four 200 calorie granola bars (800 calories total)
• Two candy bars, Hershey dark chocolate (400 calories total)
• Two cans of sardines in mustard (300 calories total)
• Beverages,
• 1 liter water in two, ½ liter pop bottles
• 1 liter Mountain Dew w/ sugar. (400 calories)
• Safety pins

What did not work:

• The bag.
• Should have stretched more often.
• I took too much stuff. Should have sorted at truck to make mission/weather specific.
• Over killed batteries. I took 8 AA. Camera and flashlight both use them.
• Won’t take digital camera next time.

Miscellaneous notes:

• Took Band-Aids but did not use them. Will keep on list
• Should have brought boot laces.
• Refuse to take MP3 player. One way to gauge your need to drink/eat/rest is by your ability to attend to your surroundings. Tunnel vision = BAD. MP3 players make you tune out your surroundings….never a good idea, and they short-circuit this feedback mechanism.
• Will take $20 in 5 dollar bills. Being able to stop for a hot meal was a real treat.
• Remove all ATM receipts from wallet. I have read too many horror stories of people who lose their wallet and then have finders looking for them because they had a sizable balance in their account.
• I did not use the stocking cap or the scarf. I used the mittens sporadically. Will leave all supplemental clothing in pack because it gives me 10 degree Fahrenheit capability and costs little for bulk or weight.
• Walkers are almost invisible because of our low social standing. I became visible when I stopped walking because I became a threat. Hence, I took fewer, and shorter, breaks than I originally planned.
• Cemeteries are great places to stop for breaks. They often have water in the summer time. Places with water shortages probably have recycled water, so be careful.
• I carried no weapon. Possession of weapons is grounds for instant dismissal at work. I did carry a knife similar to http://www.buckshotscamp.com/Mora-Yellow-Handle-Fish-Game-Knife.jpg
• The rough rule of thumb of 100 calories per mile worked pretty well. It is close to what I ate/drank if you factor in the lunch that I bought.
• Don’t forget tissue/toilet paper. It has a thousand and one uses.
• Need reflective tape for coat if time of trip will be after dark.

Wrap-up:
Would I do it again? Absolutely! I want to do the same walk during the spring, summer and fall.

Are there conditions that would prevent me from taking this walk? Absolutely!

• Four or more inches of fairly new snow. I had to step off the road about 50 times to avoid traffic. The snow is twice as deep just off the road because that is where the snow plows put it. Snow coming over the tops of the boots would turn a very long, pleasant walk into a survival situation
• Temperatures below 5 degrees Fahrenheit. One of my initial concerns with clothing was that I knew I would chill down when I stopped walking. During the actual event, the only time I stopped walking for more than two minutes was when I ate lunch at Mike’s Village Restaurant
• Significant down-turn in my health or fitness.

And I want to leave with a final quote: In times of stress, Barrett Tillman said, "You won't rise to the occasion – you'll default to your level of training."
Joe

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