Up mountains, along rivers, on tracks and in parks...
New Zealand
New Brunswick, Canada
NY, USA
Pakistan
Inside -- Outside
Prince Edward Island, Canada
Tanzania
Uptown, downtown and all around town...
Spain
Belgium
United Arab Emirates
Some meandered and then some raced...
Denmark
AZ, USA
On beaches and in the woods...
Ontario, Canada
In the dirt and amongst the leaves...
Ontario, Canada
North -- South -- East -- West
Wales
South Africa
CA, USA
Wales
Sidewalks and boardwalks...
NY, USA
IL, USA
Trails, rails and canals...
AZ, USA
Denmark
England
From Sunrise to Sunset
FL, USA
Turkey
But most importantly...
YOU DID IT!!! Thank you to each and everyone of you - here there and everywhere - for bringing the world a little bit closer one step at a time. COME WALK WITH ME!
I am going to walk no matter what. WHY
should I care if anyone else does? My walks will continue each and every
day -- day after day, year after year.
WHY count?
Walking daily is my me time -- private and personal. Why should I invite people from around the world to celebrate walking with me?
Who cares?
And just when I am getting discouraged and about to give up on the whole idea of a World Wide Walk, I get this...
"You truly amaze me.
What a wonderful idea your world-wide walk. I've had November 1 on my
calendar for weeks and have planned my walk along the beach in Santa Barbara,
under the post card palms, with my 4-legged friend, Luna. I may even get
the rest of my family to join me. I
feel as if I'm going to a party with people from around the world. So sad
that every one of all the world's people can't find it in their hearts to just
walk together..."
I've always liked to walk.
As a kid I would hike in the woods surrounding our house in upstate New York.
When I would tell my Mom I was headed out to explore with a PB&J and canteen filled with "goofy grape" she'd always say,
"Just be home in time for supper!"
In my teens, my best friend
and I walked EVERYWHERE -- to go shopping, to concerts, to part time jobs and
sometimes to even meet boys. (Happily one of those boys is now my husband) Yet
at 16 I couldn't wait to get my driver's license and the freedom I believed it
held....
A few years later I went to
school in New York City. A great big walkable city and as a "New
Yorker" that is how you naturally got around. Again I would head out to
explore a different world on my own two feet. This is when I started to
unconsciously learn that this was freedom. I could go in any direction --
the wrong way down a one way street, turn right instead of left, go up
instead of down and open that door to see what was really behind it.
On foot I am connected to my
world. Everything becomes clearer -- multi dimensional. I am not
living my life as an outsider looking through a pane of glass. I can feel
the breeze, hear it play in the trees, smell what the day might hold. I become
a part of nature.
At 3 mph, it is the human pace, the natural rhythm that around the world we all
share. When walking whether in your own neighborhood or in a far away village, it is a way to connect to a place and its people. A
nod, a wave, a smile...an invitation to share a cup of tea. It is where
those serendipitous encounters lie. Though maybe only for a moment in time, but
a cultural connection that becomes a part of who I am.
It
is also a connection to within myself. As you walk your entire body is in sync.
Your arms match the movement of your legs and your breathing matches your pace.
It becomes a time that thoughts are free. Creative ideas emerge, problems are
solved, bad moods are turned to happy, presentations are practiced or if need
be I can JUST meditate and think of...
And Gene and Jo Ann Taylor were ONLY 30 something.
It was the year 1989...
when the first episode of The
Simpsons aired and Bette Midler's "Wind Beneath My Wings" was one of
the top 10 hits.
That same year the Taylors struck
out on their own, leaving their well paying steady corporate jobs to spread
their own wings.
1989 was an up and down year for sports fans in San Francisco. The 49ers won the superbowl, the Giants lost the World series.
As Gene and Jo Ann set out on their entrepreneurial adventure they too were about to learn about ups and downs.
The year was 1989...
when the first World Wide Web server
and browser were just being developed.
Gene and
Jo Ann were spreading their news with a paper printed newsletter. Sign sealed
and delivered right to your mailbox...not your inbox. Postage was only 25 cents.
There was no google. No social
media. No texting, friending or tweeting.And a cell was a basic structural, functional biological unit. Not a device that you couldn't function without. Together they were leading face to face walks, side by side throughout
Arizona not sitting in front of a computer mesmerized by Facebook..
And the excitement of taking photos
on a trip was dropping off your film cartridges at the local Walgreens then patiently waiting 3 days before you could relive the memories -- No sharing in an instant, no instagram!
The world was changing...
Ronald Reagan uttered "Mr Gorbachev, Tear Down That Wall" And the Dalai lama won the Nobel Peace Prize. Good was happening -- yet sadly apartheid still existed in
South Africa...
In 1989 the Taylors had only been to
3 countries on one continent not expecting that 25 years later they would have explored over 30 on 6.
Many people set out to change the world...
In 1989 Gene and Jo Ann set out to share the world
...and in sharing, their dream was to make a positive change...one step at a time.
Introduction: We have made many friends along the way that share our love of walking. In celebration of Walking Connection's 25th anniversary, we are featuring some of the people that we have met that have inspired us to keep on walkin'. The following was written in 2000 by one of our heroes! There are some people that cross your life's path that you can never forget...
What
Did I Do? It was April Fool’s Day. I
started my walk at an altitude of 250 meters.
My destination seemed so very far away. And what were those little black dots?
What was that grayish mass?
Was I really up for this challenge? I wasn’t sure, but I kept moving, putting
one foot in front of the other. I had
to keep my eyes down to avoid tripping over the quartz and serpentine stones
scattered everywhere.
Soon, icy
blue shapes came into focus. They were
bigger than I thought. And the black
dots became people. As I drew closer, I
saw water trickling down everywhere, creating new shapes as it went towards the
stream bed.
I didn’t want
the group to stop and wait for me, so I followed directly behind our
guide. As she cut new steps into the
ice with her axe, I climbed, sometimes holding the rope for dear life, and
lifting myself with the walking stick.
The steps were at least 1/3 of my height.
There was a
man resting alongside the trail who the guide said, was a hermit who lived in a
cave. Sometimes he helped the guides
clean up the trails. We said “hello”
and moved on, climbing at a slow pace.
Finally, I knew I could not go on. I told the guide that this was all I could do. She looked at me
and laughed, saying: “That’s all your group is going to do. We’re going back down now.”
Very
carefully, we descended from our lofty plateau, placing our feet in newly
chopped ice. It was very slippery. Finally, we
reached level ground again. The outing
took approximately three hours. I was
elated. I wasn’t sure I had the
stamina...
But I did it.
What Did I Do? Why, I climbed 70 meters on the Franz Josef Glacier in the South Island of New Zealand.
P.S. April Fool’s! Our guide did it to
us. Remember the hermit? Well, he was actually one of the regular guides. He didn’t live in a cave.
More to the story: Joyce Keinitz is my hero. Diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1994 at the age of 55, she was determined not to let that slow her down. With a twinkle in her eye she set out on many adventures with the Walking Connection. In the year 2000 she traveled with me to New Zealand. Three days before we left she had a chemo treatment. Though one
of the many side affects is fatigue, as
you can see by her story, that did not stop her from living life to the fullest and challenging herself. Sadly Joyce lost her battle with cancer in October of 2001. Though many years have past, when I think of Joyce on top of that glacier, I missher positive spirit that still makes me smile...
"Don't cry when the sun is gone,
because the tears won't let you see the stars." ~ Violetta Parra
(In celebrating the Walking Connection's 25th year we are featuring some of the people we have met along the way that share our love for walking. This is the first in a series. Enjoy!) John Dwyer is from Wellington New Zealand. He found us on the internet around the year 2000. In those days we had a membership that included a red T-shirt. John a keen walker, wore his proudly.
He has kept in touch over the years and always participates in our annual World Wide Walk. Though communication is much easier now with e-mail and Facebook, in the beginning he hand wrote letters to Gene and I about his walking adventures. Here is one of those wonderful letters we received in February 2004:
Hello Gene and Jo Ann,
A couple of weeks ago I went on holiday with my Sister and her family for a three day trip into the forest near Rotorua. While attending to our forest accommodation fees, a staff member at the Tauranga Department of Conservation, who are in charge of our forests here in New Zealand, tapped on my back and said...
"Ah!! a well known overseas walking group this"!!He had seen the two boots that were printed on the back of your T shirt. Turns out he took your group for a hike when you were last here.
Also he had worked in the same
forest near where I had lived and worked. I had worked
part time planting pine trees and have visited there
since whenever I return to my old home town area.Of course the conversation was also
about "The Walking Connection", so although you may have only been
here once, your T shirt bought alive someone else's memory of you previous
visit.
John on the trail in January, 2004 "My red Walking Connection T shirt, a high visible object, on our walk."
Our two day hike in the Whirinaki forest, was great, alongside a river, in Native forest, with three steep rock gorges, a large waterfall and a limestone cave to explore as well. The 26 km hike, with a overnight stay in a forest cabin, of bunks, candles, sink and table, was a very peaceful place to rest for the night. Being next to the river and being able to see some blue ducks which are native to the forest, early in the morning, was a high light.
We camped the 2nd night by a waterfall, and swam in its pool and its flow was a great back massage, when you backed up to it. It was cold water, however we were very much in need of a shower after hiking for two days in the forest.!! This had a very basic camp ground of a toilet and somewhere to camp on. How we slept that night!!
Next day we went back into the forest for a three hour walk to a fresh water lagoon, where there were ducks and frogs among the native trees, growing in the lagoon edges. The walk in warm sweaty conditions was well worth the effort. Summer time here in January.
My red Walking Connection T shirt, a high visible object, on our walk.
