Oh, no!

I looked up the distances from town to town and discovered that, unless I made mistakes with my arithmetic, it will take me 5.5 months to walk the whole route as projected. Maybe I need to make some adjustments. Or I could do it in stages ...

One possibility is to drive from Galveston (or Baytown/Houston) to New Orleans, along the coast, in the gypsy van with Guy, between March 8 and 13, then start walking on Route 11 on March 16 or so. That might cut three weeks from the total but would still make the trip well over four months. So watch for other changes.

I would love to know if anyone is reading this. Please leave a comment - you can use the 'anonymous' option, but sign your name at the end of the text so I can know who you are. Or become a 'follower' to follow the walk and the plans leading up to it. Thanks for your interest.

Time to get serious

It's the middle of January, the time I set for myself to start making more specific plans for my walk. 

Now I am appealing for walkers and a driver to join me for at least some of the way. Please let me know if you are interested: greta_browne@hotmail.com. If you know of anyone who might be interested, pass the word on. Thanks.

Walkers must be able to walk 15 miles a day, and they should have enough money to cover basic food expenses and to get home again. As long as someone is driving the support van we will have a kitchen and we will be able to transport sleeping bags, tents and other items in the van instead of having to carry them on our backs. 

As it stands now, I've set the beginning of the walk for the 8th of March, from Galveston. I hope to make the 360 miles to New Orleans by the weekend of April 10-12. That's an average of 11 miles a day, which is less than the 15 miles I've projected for the entire walk. But I hope to meet up with my husband in New Orleans that weekend so I'll just have to push harder as I turn north on Route 11. It's probably a good idea to start slowly and give myself, and whoever else might be along, time to get used to walking every day. 

Extending the walk

Yesterday I received a wonderful boost from Adrienne, one of the women who had hoped to join me for the walk but found that her circumstances weren't opening up for such a commitment. At a meeting of Global Warming Crisis activists Adrienne suggested that those who wished to walk to focus attention on the urgency of the crisis could do so locally, one walk at a time. I would love to see that happen, here in the Lehigh Valley and elsewhere. 

Adrienne painted the image of a person wearing a T-shirt with a Fight Global Warming logo, walking alone or with others, talking to passers-by and passing out information.  If this happened all over the country it would have an impact. We know that others, in Australia and England if not other places as well, have been walking to call attention to Global Warming. As far as I know, theirs have been one day walks through towns and cities. I hope that my walk inspires many to walk a day or two, or a week or more. I would love to help organize such walks, so please contact me if you have nay interest in this idea:  greta_browne@hotmail.com. 

From Houston

I'm on my way back now from Louisiana and Texas, and soon I will write a longer reflection on my days in the area where I plan to begin the walk two months from now. Suffice it to say for the moment that the trip has reaffirmed my decision to walk for all the grandchildren, even if I have to do it alone. It also confirms my preference for walking with companions so let me know if you're thinking about it.

Today I want to share just a short quote from yesterday's Houston Chronicle, on the editorial page. A list of 5 SIGNS THE WORLD IS CHANGING quotes Peter Bishop, a professor of strategic foresight at the University of Houston: 

# 2  Danger to the planet is different

                  • Once we worried that nuclear war would destroy the planet. Now many believe we are killing the environment

                  • Some consider this period the Sixth Great Extinction. The fifth one wiped out the dinosaurs.

This, my friends, is what I'm talking about, and what I plan to walk about. I'm glad more and more people are waking up, but we have to act fast, and everyone needs to get on board.