The bottom of the barrel

I hope we've now reached our lowest point as we made some pretty good progress last week, going 90.5 miles, which was our highest total since week 7!  Not great, but definitely an improvement.  We are now scheduled to arrive on June 30, 2011, so despite our increase in mileage we've added on another 10 days to our journey heading into the winter months!

Looking at our road ahead we've got 96.5 miles to Lawton, OK, then another 127 to Estelline, TX, 169 miles to Clovis, NM, and another 221 to Albuquerque.  This is a long leg of our journey, in fact, the longest leg of our journey.  After this it should start to get a little bit easier on our way to California:
414 miles to Phoenix, AZ
368 miles to Oceanside, CA

So we've got 1395.5 miles until we reach the west coast!  With 8 more weeks to go we would need about 174 miles per week if we were to make it to California by the end of the year.  We've done that before 5 weeks, but it has been a long time since we've gone that far in a week.  With the days growing shorter for most of the time, it will definitely be tough.  Let's give it our best though!

Welcome to Oklahoma!

Well, it certainly took quite a while, but we arrived in the Sooner state finally!  Our tenth state. 

We've now gone just over 1500 miles on our journey, and our new projected finish date is 6/20/2011.  We are slipping everyone!

Let's take a look at our weekly totals:


 

Week 1	176.5
Week 2	182.5
Week 3	169
Week 4	158
Week 5	204
Week 6	182
Week 7	213.5
Week 8	67.5
Week 9	65.9
Week 10	40
Week 11	41.5

We've gone 214.9 miles in the last 4 weeks, and I did 100 of those.  Let's get going everyone!

A Scranton excursion!

This morning Lynn and I woke up early and took a jog/walk around Lake Scranton.  Here are some of the sites:

With just a quick search I found this picture from the summer as a before picture:

Almost in Oklahoma!

Slowly but surely we are getting there, with just 37.7 miles to go until we reach the state of Oklahoma!  Let's get their this week!

Ending a streak

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days.  With the playoffs, and a trip to Hershey Park I've been busy and haven't gotten a chance to update the totals. 

With a late and disappointing night last night because of the playoffs this morning was rough.  With it raining outside, I hit the snooze alarm a couple of extra times and really just wanted to climb back in bed.  Staying up late hurts when you are trying to get up early, but I decided to get out of bed and continue my streak, which now stands at 80 days in a row.

I know that it will eventually end, but I was happy to extend it for another day, and get some more miles in!  Today I completed week 4/day 1 of the couch to 5K plan and did this:

Brisk five-minute warmup walk, then:

• Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
• Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
• Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)
• Walk 1/4 mile (or 2-1/2 minutes)
• Jog 1/4 mile (or 3 minutes)
• Walk 1/8 mile (or 90 seconds)
• Jog 1/2 mile (or 5 minutes)

I've been using a podcast and going by time, and things went well.  When I weighed in this morning I was down 54 since my starting weight, and logged my 318th mile of the year today.  I set a goal of reaching 500 for the year, and have been going 3 per day, but need to average just 2.5 to reach 500 for the year.  I don't think it'll be a problem!

How are we doing?  Well - we've got just under 70 miles until we reach Oklahoma!  Let's get it done soon!

How is everyone doing? 

104 miles to Oklahoma

We are getting closer and closer to reaching Oklahoma, although still have a little bit over 100 miles to go.  Let's all get moving and get to Oklahoma!

A little update

Well, we've slowed down considerably over the past week, and we are now 131.85 miles outside of Oklahoma.  Our projected finish date is now 4/28/2011, so make sure you get your miles entered if you've done them, or get out there and get moving if you aren't!

Not only does it seem like we are taking the longest time to get to a state, after passing Little Rock we are now on the longest leg of our journey - 906 miles from Little Rock to Albuquerque.  From Albuquerque we head west to Phoenix (404 miles) and then on to Oceanside, California (368 miles).  So we are making progress, and we'll get to California, and then start coming back!

Any predictions on when we reach California?  I'm going to go out on a limb and predict December 21st.

I saw this the other day, current Yankee manager, and former Pittsfield Cub Joe Girardi, and though I would share:

And now some more Flaming Lips until we make it to Oklahoma!  Sooner or later you'll get sick of me playing the Flaming Lips and get moving, and we'll make it to the Sooner state!

My new toy

Last night I found a new little free program that I downloaded to my phone, and it tracks your distance, speed, and after your workout it uploads it to your account.  Pretty cool stuff!

So here is my normal morning route with just one loop around the park:

Almost in Little Rock

We are just 10.6 miles away from Little Rock, but 170.6 miles away from our goal of making it to Oklahoma this week.

Our weekly total so far this week is just 46.5, our lowest total yet.  If you've been walking make sure and get your miles entered!  So far this week I've put in 63% of the miles. 

And until we get until Oklahoma, some more Flaming Lips - this time doing a Who medley.

No excuses!

Watch this video all the way to the end, and then get moving!  Let's get to Oklahoma everyone!

Finally - No Rain this morning!

I hope everyone is out there and walking on our way to Oklahoma.  Don't forget to keep logging your miles!

Rain

Hopefully the rain isn't keeping everyone inside, and from working out.  I hope everyone is getting out there and making the best of it!  Let's get to Oklahoma this week!

And until we get to Oklahoma, more Flaming Lips.  This time with a cover of Purple Rain -

Congratulations to Lynn!

I wanted to say congratulations to Lynn for becoming the four person to reach 100 miles!  Lynn has been on a role lately, putting in miles for 10 straight days, so keep up the good work Lynn!

I also wanted to congratulate Mike, Michelle, and Betty Ann for all putting in at least 5 days last week!  It's nice to see everyone working harder on our journey across the country!  I know we'll get there, in fact, our projected finish date is now 4/5!  We'll have to start adding on miles soon!

With just 200.6 miles to Oklahoma I think that we can get there this week!  Until we do I'm going to keep playing the Flaming Lips!

Setting Goals (and making them!)

Congratulations everyone on reaching state number 9 - Arkansas!

More importantly, we've made it to Forrest City, Arkansas!

 

There really is nothing significant about Forrest City, except  last week I challenged everyone to do 3 things:

1. Get to Tennessee
2. Get to Forrest City, AR
3. Reach the 200 mile barrier

Not only did we complete all 3 goals, but we went above and beyond going 208.5 miles so far!  I'm not sure if everyone has entered all of their miles for the week yet, but I have a feeling we will be going up by at least a little bit. 

Everyone should be really pleased with our progress this week, and for reaching all three of our goals!  I talked to most of you last week and several of you committed to going a certain distance, and I know everyone pushed hard this week and did what they said they would do.  Great job everyone!  Not to mention, it isn't every week that you get pounded by the remnants of a tropical storm, but we managed to make it through it, and reach our goals.

Earlier today I said I thought that we wouldn't reach a new state next week, but I'm thinking maybe, just maybe we can do it.  We would need to travel 222.1 miles to reach Muse, Oklahoma, and I think if everyone pushes really hard we can make it there!  So that's my challenge to everyone this week, let's get to Oklahoma!

I'm going to shoot for a little bit more than the 35 I went this week and see what happens.  It may not be much more, but I'll see what I can do.

Week 8 - Our journey ahead

I know that week 7 hasn't been completed yet, so we'll have some more miles that we will enter so the final totals will go up.  Here is what we've done per week so far:

Week 1	176.5
Week 2	182.5
Week 3	169
Week 4	158
Week 5	198
Week 6	182
Week 7	133.5

I'm pretty sure we are going to be in Arkansas all week, as we head across towards Oklahoma, our next state (after we officially hate Arkansas). 

Here is where things stand right now:

• Forrest City, AR - 43.9
• Little Rock, AR - 93.2
• Mena, AR - 127
• Muse, OK - 33

We can add that all up and see that we are 297.1 miles away from Oklahoma!  So I don't think we'll make it to the Sooner state, but we'll get pretty close.

I've been to Oklahoma once, and saw perhaps the worst thunderstorm I ever have in my life, and definitely the biggest hail.  Oklahoma is also home to one of my favorite bands, The Flaming Lips. 

Welcome to Memphis!

We have just 50.9 miles to go until we reach our goal destination for the week, Forrest City, Arkansas! 

While I think that we'll meet our goal for the week, one thing I didn't share is that we'll be crossing this today:

That's the Mississippi River, which will lead us to our next state of Arkansas.  So we'll get to Arkansas today, even if we don't make our goal, but let's make our goal!


I couldn't decide on today's video, since a couple songs came to mind - Walking in Memphis, or Memphis, Tennessee, since both came to mind, so I'll include them both, although I'm not too crazy about either of them.

Welcome to Tennessee!

Congratulations to everyone!  We've now made it to Tennessee, and we now sit at 53.9 miles away from our goal this week of Forrest City, Arkansas!

I think that we can make it there!  If you haven't entered your miles for the week make sure that you do so, and let's all get out there and give our all tomorrow, and I think we'll make it! 

I plan on taking a 4 mile walk in the morning, then I'm going to walk down to a fall festival with the kids tomorrow, so you can mark us down as 10 total! 

A couple upcoming milestones

• Dad needs just 12.5 miles to reach 600
• I need 5 more to reach 200, and I'm getting it tomorrow!
• Lynn needs 14 more to reach triple digits

And last but not least, Mom needs just 1 more mile to reach 1!  I'm just kidding on the last one, but since she doesn't read the blog I can do that!  She does owe me four for the week though, and I expect her to get it!

Tennessee Tomorrow!!!

We've got just 29.4 miles to go until we hit Tennessee, so if you haven't logged your miles yet for the week make sure to do so, because I know we are going to reach Tennessee tomorrow!

We've got 95.4 miles to go until we hit Forrest City, Arkansas, so let's all give our best effort this weekend, and reach them both!!  We can do it!

Welcome to Betsy!

Who logged her first miles on our Walk Across America! 

We are off to a good start this week, and are now 99.4 miles outside of Tennessee.  With 165.4 miles to go before we reach our weekly goal of Forrest City, Arkansas.  We'll get there, so keep up the good work everyone!


On to Tennessee!

Welcome to the Magnolia State!

Well, I'm pleased to report that we did in fact make our goal and arrive in Mississippi yesterday, state number 8!  With Dad and Ann's mileage from yesterday it put us over the top, and we are now 1.1 miles into our journey in Mississippi! 

Great job everyone with the last minute push over the weekend to get us there!!!  It didn't look like we were going to make it for a while, but it was a rough week, and we came through in the end!  Great job everyone!

Now for our reward - another challenge!  Let's see if we can go even further this week!  We've never broken past that 200 mile barrier in a week, so I say let's go out and do it this week, because I know that we can.  We've managed to make it into a new state in each of the past weeks, so for our new challenge this week I say let's try to reach not one, but two states.  That's right, I think we can make it to both Tennessee, and Arkansas this week! 

From the border of Mississippi to Forrest City, AR it is 202 miles.  136 miles to Germantown, TN.  I think we can do it, who's with me?

Closer and closer to Mississippi

We are getting closer and closer to Mississippi, with 15.9 miles remaining.  I don't have any mileage from Dad and Ann today, so they should put us that much closer, or maybe even over the edge!  We'll see!

Great work everyone on getting out there and getting us so close to Mississippi!  I'm going to take a closer look at next week's route, and see what type of challenge we can do!

41.9 Miles to Mississippi

We are getting closer and closer, with just 41.9 miles to go until we get to Mississippi!  I don't think that we are going to get there tomorrow, but let's give it our all and see what we can do!

By the way, after today's miles were entered we sit at 999.5 miles.  I can safely say that we'll get to 1000 tomorrow!!

Let's get moving Saturday!

I've gotten in a couple smaller walks today, and ended up putting in 5 miles total so far!  It's Saturday and beautiful out (although still a little bit warm).

This song came on while I was walking today, and it always gets me moving faster!  Let's get as close to Mississippi as possible this week!

107.3 Miles to Mississippi

Well I think our big plans to make it to Mississippi are going to be delayed, with 3 days left and over 100 miles to go. We need about about 38 miles per day (Friday, Saturday, and Sunday). While not impossible (we did have one day where we did 39 miles in a day, so it can be done. Everyone will need to push really hard though if we have a chance!

If you have done some walking and haven't entered them in yet let's get them in there and get to Mississippi!

A Little Inspiration

Updates and Milestones

Just some quick updates, and some milestones for today.  We are now about 32 miles outside of Birmingham, Alabama and making some good progress!  We are about 132 miles away from our next state - Mississippi.  With 5 days left in the week we'll need about 26 miles per day to make it.  Not impossible, but it will definitely be tough, so let's give our all and see if we can make it!

I've been meaning to post this for a couple of days, but congratulations to Ann for becoming the third member of our team to cross 100 miles!  Great job!

Also, Dad crossed the impressive 500 mile barrier, and he has been a walking, running, and biking machine!  With over half of our mileage he is definitely our MVP so far!

And finally, I reached 150 miles today, and also when I weighed in this morning I reached my 10% weight loss goal.  Now it is on to my second 10% goal!

On to Mississippi! (Another mini challenge and question)

So what's next after Alabama?  The state of Mississippi.  Our first destination in Mississippi will be a place called Gattman, which is 190.4 miles away.

I think we can get there this week, so is everybody up for the challenge?  Just as a point of reference, our previous high in mileage was 182.5 miles in our second week, but I know if everybody is committed we can blow past that and reach 190.4 miles this week, and arrive in Mississippi.  With eight people logging time this week that works out to 23.8 miles per person for the week.  I've got confidence that we can do it, so let's all push a little bit harder and get it done!

So, the next question for everyone - I noticed that we go pretty close to Tennessee on our way west.  So close in fact that if we add 24 miles to our journey we can make a detour in Tennessee and add another state to our list.  So what does everyone think?  Are we up for adding 24 miles to our journey?  I vote for yes!

And just for reference, if we maintain our current pace we are on target to finish April 21st, which is almost four months before our finish date.

Sweet Home Alabama?

I hate to declare victory prematurely, but I think we've made it to Alabama. We are just five miles out, and Dad and Ann's miles for the day haven't been entered yet. I'm almost positive that they got at least 5 miles in today and arrived in our 7th state! Keep up the good work everyone!

21 miles to Alabama

We are getting there! After logging yesterday's miles, and Lynn and my miles for today we've got 21 miles to go to Alabama!

So if you haven't already make sure you log your miles, and if you haven't walked yet get out there and do it! Let's get to Alabama today!

Sunday Morning

It's a beautiful Sunday morning, and I hope that everyone is having a great weekend, and getting lot's of walking in.  I had a nice 4 mile walk this morning, to reach 12 for the weekend.  We are almost to Alabama!  Let's get our miles logged and make it there today!

And now I'll leave you with one of my favorite bands I've recently discovered -

A weekend challenge for everyone

Well, we've managed to get to Atlanta, and our seventh state will be Alabama, which we are 61.8 miles away.  With two weekend days (along with any miles you haven't entered yet) I think we can get there!

Who is up for the challenge?  I'm pretty confident I can get 12 of those miles, so we need another 50-ish.  Let's do it!

30 Miles to Atlanta

We are currently about 30 miles outside of Atlanta, Georgia, on our way west.

Georgia was the 13th, and last of the original colonies, and the fourth state to ratify the Constitution.  Georgia is the ninth most populous state, with Atlanta both the largest city and the state capital.  There are 9.4 million people in the Atlanta metropolitan area, making it the ninth largest in the country.  Home to the Braves, Falcons, Hawks, along with Coke, Delta, and Turner Broadcasting.

Having been to Atlanta I can honestly say it was some of the worst traffic I have ever seen.

We've made it to Georgia!

State number 6!  Keep up the good work everyone!

6 at 6

I was up at 6 this morning, and got in a nice 6 mile walk.  It was a nice walk, and very quite and it's funny some of the things you think about.

What drove me nuts today is the saying - "God forbid you get hit by a bus".  You never really hear about anybody ever getting hit by a bus do you?  I think there are probably many more common ways of dying than a bus.  That expression just drives me nuts!

Anyway, it's 9/11 nine years later.  I've been using the shuffle function  for my music, so I never know what I'm going to.  Today this song came on, which seems fitting.



Hope everyone has a good day, and to paraphrase Neil Young - Keep on Walking in the free world!

12.7 Miles to Lauren, South Carolina

Not exactly a big city, but it is right on our route, and looks like a nice place.

So what's next past Lauren?  The Georgia line is about 97.7 miles away, with Atlanta about 175.4 miles away from our current location.

After Atlanta we'll be heading west, with the major stops along the route in Birmingham, Little Rock, Albuquerque, Phoenix, and then California!  Then we'll be heading back east, but we've got a while before we'll be doing that.

Just a couple of milestones today, we are now past the 10% mark on our journey, so keep up the good work everyone!

Today I became our second member of the century club, reaching 100 total miles.  Ann is getting closer and closer to becoming the third on our team to reach 100!

After that Lynn and Betty Ann have both reached double digits (actually both have gone more than 20 miles), but nobody else has more than 10.

But Mom promised me that she'll put in 6 miles over the next week, and Mike and Michelle will be back from their honeymoon soon, and I'm counting on both of them to get some miles logged!

Keep up the great work everyone, we are a lot further than I thought we'd be at this point!  Remember, every bit counts.  Rome wasn't built in a day, and like the old Chinese proverb says -

“It is better to take many small steps in the right direction than to make a great leap forward only to stumble backward.”

Welcome to the Palmetto State!

We've arrived in state number 5, South Carolina!

South Carolina was one of the original 13 colonies, named after King Charles the 1st.  Carolus is Latin for Charles.  With 4,561,242 residents, South Carolina is the 24th most populous state.  The capital is Columbia and South Carolina was the 8th state admitted to the union.

By area it is the 40th largest state, but my memories of South Carolina were from driving to and from Florida, and it seemed like quite a large state because it took forever to get out of it!

I pick cities along the route to help map it out, and Union, South Carolina was directly on our route 64.3 miles into our route.  We've gone a little bit further, but I still need to figure out exactly where on the map.

There were several professional football players from Union, a former professional basketball player, and a former NASCAR driver, but you probably one of the more infamous residents - Susan Smith, who was convicted of drowning her two sons.

On that note, let's keep walking!

A little motivation

I was talking with Dad this afternoon, and we were discussing people who have lost weight successfully.  I'm subscribed to a blog where they send out success stories, and thought I'd share.  You can find their stories here.

I especially like this story detailed on the blog here. Check it out if you have some time, it is a pretty inspiring story!

On Past Charlotte

We've now traveled 590 miles, and getting close to 10% of the total journey.  We've now made it 63.6 miles past Charlotte, pictured above, and are now on our way to Atlanta, Georgia.  I'll update us tomorrow with our current location, along with the distance left to go to Atlanta.

A little bit about Charlotte, the largest city in North Carolina.  Charlotte has many nicknames, including the Queen City, Hornet's Nest, and the Gem of the South.  Charlotte is home to the NFL Panthers and the NBA Bobcats.

And one final note, in 2007 Charlotte was named the fourth best "Walking City" in the country.  Sounds like a good destination for us!

Day 25

Physical fitness is not only
one of the most important keys to a healthy body;
it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.
-John F. Kennedy


We've been at this for 25 days now, and I'm very pleased with our progress so far.  I hope everyone keeps up the great work, and get busy if you aren't walking, or working out!  


I've been settling right in the past couple of days after returning from the wedding.  Tuesday night I broke out the Biggest Loser game on the Wii, and decided that I'll go through with the workout program.  It looks like every other day workouts, at least from the first week's schedule.  I must say that I was really happy when it said you are almost done with your first circuit, only to be worn out even more when they started a second circuit.  


It was a pretty tough workout, but I got through it.  Tonight was my second workout, this time upper body, and I definitely worked up a really good sweat.  A really, really good sweat.  Yesterday I did my normal three mile loop in the morning, then yesterday night we took the kids to "Paradise Park" and I did another three miles while they were playing.  With no school this morning I got in an extra mile on top of my regular three mile loop, and walked to the library during lunch today to pick up a couple books I had on hold.  


I'm feeling really good as I get closer and closer to my first goal of 10% weight loss.  


I'll be updating our progress shortly, as it looks like Dad and Ann have caught up with entering their time.  I'm pretty sure we'll get to Charlotte and beyond tonight!  

33.4 Miles to Charlotte

A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but
otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the
world. - Paul Dudley

We are getting closer and closer to Charlotte, so get your miles in and help put us past that final leg and into and past Charlotte!  I realized that I made a mistake calculating the number of states that we'll be going through, forgetting South Carolina, so we will be going through 25 states instead.  We'll be going the same total distance though.

We've got 5517.4 miles left on our journey, and our new projected finish date is now 5/23/2011.  So we've slipped a little bit in the projections, but I think that we'll get there!  Then we'll have to figure out where to go next year!  Any ideas?

Back to Normal

The greatest accomplishment is not in never falling, but in rising again after you fall.
Vince Lombardi 




I don't know about everyone else, but this weekend has left me pretty tired.  I know that I ate and drank much more than I should have, and didn't sleep as much as I should have either.  But I had a good time, and it was definitely a special occasion so I'm not going to beat myself up over it.  


I was pleased that I got a chance to work out each day at the very least, and didn't eat as bad as I could have.  But I was much too tired to wake up this morning when I should have, so I skipped my normal morning walk.  This afternoon I did take the kids for a walk to the park, which is a mile round trip, and did three loops around the .4 mile path.  I was still dragging quite a bit more than normal, but I was happy that I got in at least a small walk, and now it is back to normal with healthy eating and my morning walks.  


For me it's now been 37 straight days were I have walked, so I'm excited to keep up the streak.  My goals for this week are to walk every day and become the second person to log 100 miles.  


Dad is the first, and has been really carrying us with his running, biking, and walking!  I know that I'm proud of all the hard work that he has been doing, and he's definitely helped to inspire me to keep going!  

Week 3 Update

Week 3 of our challenge has officially passed, and currently we have gone 129 miles for week 3, which was our lowest total yet.  I know that it was a busy weekend with Michelle's wedding, but it was great to see everyone!

I also know that our numbers will go up for week 3 once we get all of our mileage entered!  With all of the activities going on this weekend I was pleased that I got in walks Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, even if it meant going to bed at 2 and waking up at 6.  I'm tired today though, and slept through my alarm.  Hopefully we'll get at least a short walk in today, but back to my 6 AM walks tomorrow!

We've got 48.4 miles to go before we hit Charlotte, North Carolina.  Keep on moving everyone!

15.5 Miles to Greensboro, North Carolina

Almost there, I think that we should make it to Greensboro tomorrow!

State Number 4

Welcome to North Carolina!

As we continue our southwest trip from Washington, DC to Charlotte, NC we crossed another state border, and are now in the state of North Carolina.  We are now about 40 miles away from Greensboro, North Carolina, and 91.4 miles away from Charlotte.

We are currently around Yanceyville, North Carolina, but there aren't many major towns around us now.  According to the town website, the best part of living in Yanceyville is All of the Above, which includes the quaint town, the people, the green surroundings, the hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, and canoeing.  Sounds like a nice little place to pass through!

A little about North Carolina, it is the 10th most populous state in the country.  The capital is Raleigh, and it is the 28th largest state in the US.  North Carolina was the 12th state admitted to the union.

We'll continue on our southwest path after going through North Carolina and we'll hit Atlanta before we begin our western path across the country.  California here we come!

My walking route

I've settled into a good routine, waking up early, currently the alarm goes off at 5:55 AM, get dressed and head out the door on my 3 mile route.  Officially it measures in at about 3.2 miles, but for my purposes 3 miles is close enough.  The bad part of following the same route every day is you go the same place every day, but the good part is things are familiar.

I pass many of the same people every day, both on foot, either walking or running, or even in the car.  After 31 straight days of following pretty much the same route I even have some people that drive by beeping and waving.   I've made some small changes to the route adding a little bit of distance.  I added a little bit of distance by looping down a residential street, and went a street further past Church street (there were two things that bothered me about Church street - 1) there are no churches on the street, and 2) there was a house with a big Red Sox flag).  I also go a street further in the opposite direction and dub the route my 'Statue of Liberty' route now.

Why do I call it that?  Because of this in the back yard:

Its a little blurry from taking the picture while walking (and not trying to be obvious about it), but as you can see there is a mini Statue of Liberty in their backyard.

On my walk I go past both the police station, and the fire station.  I go past a cemetery, the post office, and the library.  A gas station and a WaWa, along with two pizza places and a liquor store.  A TV repair shop, pharmacy, butcher, a salon, and the Flying Pig Saloon.

I go past many houses, and walk a loop around the path at the Paoli Battlefield before heading home.  There is a park right next to the Paoli Battlefield, where I walk with the kids.  I took a few pictures tonight of the loop I walk each morning -

One of the monuments:

The middle of the loop:

The sun setting for a change:

Feel free to tell us all about your routes!

The Big 4-0....0

We made it past another milestone today, moving past 400 miles!  We've made it 6.7% of the way through our journey, which I think is very good for just starting week 3.

Keep up the good work everyone!  Let's get moving and remember to log your miles (Lynn!).

Just a quick sanity check on our journey, we've averaged a bit over 25 miles per day for the first 16 days.  Dad, Ann, and myself have logged miles every day so far!

There are 349 days left in our journey, and to make it to our goal we'll need to average 17.2 miles per day.  If we remain on our current pace we are projected to finish on Dad's birthday, April 13th!

Getting up early to walk - A Quick Week 2 Update

Getting up while the first number on the clock reads 5 has left me worn out at night, and today was the first day of school/last day of our sprint at work.  I'll post a progress update soon, but we did walk more miles in week 2 than week 1!

180.5 compared to 168.5.  Keep up the good work everyone!  We got off to a good start in week 3 with 29 miles on the first day, without everyone entering their info.  I know Lynn walked and don't see her miles yet.  We may just beat our 32 miles in a day record.

Pictures from my walks...

State Number 3 - Welcome to the Commonwealth of Virginia

We've now made it to state number 3 - Virginia!  Virginia is nicknamed the "Old Dominion" and was the birthplace of 8 US Presidents.  Anyone know who all 8 of those presidents are?

Another trivia question - Virginia is one of four states that designate themselves as Commonwealths.  We've got people living in two of those Commonwealths, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.  Anyone know what the fourth Commonwealth is?

Here is a picture of the Virginia flag:

We've actually made it through quite a bit of Virginia, and our now .9 miles away from Jetersville, Virginia, no relationship to Derek.  Jetersville is part of Amelia County.  It looks like quite a small town in a small county of 11,000 people.

The county is served by the weekly Amelia Bulletin Monitor.  When I checked out the paper's website they had a breaking news bulletin -

Breaking News

Officers respond to mooning report 

Keep your eyes peeled, or shielded as we walk on through!

31 Miles Today

Which is our biggest day ever!  Our previous high of 28 miles was done yesterday, so we are really on a roll.  Keep up the good work everyone!  Its nice to see us setting records.  We need 45 miles over the weekend to beat last week's total.  Let's get it done!

Erica and Ashley each logged their first miles tonight on our walk to and from the park tonight.

Leg 2 (Completed)

For the second leg of our journey we traveled from the capital of Maryland, Annapolis to the nation's capital, Washington, DC.

We completed the second leg of our journey on August 22nd, four days ago.  From here our road heads a little bit southwest before going west.  The next major stop on our journey will be Charlotte, North Carolina.

Leg 1 (Completed)

Once again we started off our journey in Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes, Delaware, and we started off down route 9 passing through Georgetown, Delaware and crossed into Maryland on route 24.  Once in Maryland we started heading south down Sharptown Mardela Springs Road until we reached route 50.

Route 50 was part of the original highway system that was established in 1926 and stretches across the country. We could just travel Route 50 across the country, but this sign made me think otherwise:

70 miles was long enough, but it did get us across Chesapeake Bay and once across the Bay we headed south past the Naval Academy and into the capital city of Maryland - Annapolis.

Which brings us to the end of our first leg.  Up next, from one capital city to another!

Back to the Blog

Two changes - I'm going to move back to the blog.  I'm having trouble with the web page, so I think for our purposes the blog will work well enough.

The second change is to the route.  I was having trouble following along with the American Discovery Trail, and knowing where exactly we were on the route, which makes things difficult.  We'll still be moving across the country, starting from the same location, but I've created a new route that will take us across the country, and back again with the finishing point in Malvern.  The new route will take us through 24 states, including the District of Columbia and will take us 6010.4 miles, which is a little bit higher, but based on our progress so far I know that we can get there!

I'm expecting more mileage from both Mike and Michelle after the wedding, and Mom and Kim both need to get moving!

We'll take a southern route across the country, crossing places such as Charlotte, Albuquerque, and end up in Oceanside, California.  Our return trip we'll be passing through Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon National Park, and Indianapolis.  I've got the route all planned out, and I'll update on our progress right now.

Keep on walking, running, and biking!

The Starting Point

Cape Henlopen State Park, Delaware

Currently 79 degrees.  Here is some information about our first leg of the trip:

Cape Henlopen to Maryland State Line

Upon leaving Cape Henlopen State Park you pass the Cape May/Lewes Ferry, which crosses Delaware Bay to Cape May, New Jersey. The ADT stays on the main road through Lewes, a growing town of about 2,500 people that is rich in history. Settled in 1631, Lewes is considered the "first town in the first state" and offers a number of shops, restaurants and motels.

After a short section along busy U.S. 9, which has a wide paved shoulder, the route follows paved country roads into Milton. Located on the Broadkill River, this town was the shipbuilding capital of Delaware in the 1800s. It is the site of many fine Victorian mansions. Prime Hook National Wildlife Refuge is a few miles east of Milton and makes an interesting side trip for those who enjoy bird watching.

After leaving Milton, the ADT follows rural roads through farmland. Soon after crossing U.S. 113, the trail passes through Redden State Forest, which offers primitive camping. Continuing west, the trail enters Bridgeville, a town of 1,500 people and the agricultural and railroad center of the region. Bridgeville has a bed and breakfast.

The ADT follows country roads through the unincorporated towns of Cocked Hat, Adamsville, and Hickman before leaving Delaware on Rural Road 113, which becomes Hobbs Road in Maryland. The boundary between Delaware and Maryland is part of the Mason-Dixon Line. 

The Spreadsheet for Tracking

You should have received a link to the spreadsheet if you've confirmed that you are doing it.  Just enter the miles that you walked into the spreadsheet on the date you walked them under your name and that is it.  I'll total it up and post updates as we go across the country.

There are a couple of tools that you can use to map your distance.  There are a bunch of google map pedometers out there where you can just click the route you took.  Here is an example of one:
http://walking.about.com/library/walk/blgooglemap1.htm

If you want to estimate it you can use this as a guide:
walk slowly = 20-25 mins per mile 
walk briskly = 17-20 mins per mile 
walk fast = 13-17 mins per mile 
jog = 9-13 mins per mile 
run = 5-9 mins per mile 



We aren't looking for precision, just a good estimate of your distance.  If you have any other tips for tracking your mileage post away!

Our Path

The American Discovery Trail is the only coast to coast non-motorized recreational trail and stretches from Delaware to California.  The trail splits in Ohio into a Northern path and a Southern path, and for our purposes we'll be taking the Southern path of the trail.  Our journey will take us across 12 states, starting in Delaware, traversing across Maryland, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada before ending up in California for a total of 5048 miles.

Across our journey we'll look at some of the highlights, and hopefully this will be a fun experience for everyone as we move closer to our goal.  I'll try and put together a spreadsheet and the map to get that out tonight.  We'll start our journey today, August 16th, 2010 and end our journey on August 15th, 2011.

Have fun everyone and get moving!

A Virtual Journey Across America

I was looking for ideas to stay motivated, and came across what looked like a fun challenge idea, a virtual walk across America.  The route will be the American Discovery Trail, which is 5048 miles from one end of the country to the other.  We'll have a year to complete our virtual journey.

I'll create a simple spreadsheet where everyone can log their totals that they walk, run, or bike each day and I'll plot our course across the country weekly.  The goal will be to reach the final destination, 5048 miles.  I thought it would be a fun experience, so I'm not looking for exact measurements, just a rough idea of how far you've gone as close as possible.  I'll send out some free tools you can use to measure your walks, and get the map set-up.  You should be able to post to the blog, and if you want to invite someone to join please let me know and I'll add them.  The more people that want to do this the better.  We'll have a year to complete this virtual trek, and if we finish early we'll have to figure something out, maybe we'll start walking back.  I'll get some more details out soon, but wanted to officially kick off our virtual walk across America.


I'll leave the blog open for now so anybody can view, but you have to have permission to post.