My plan was to take a 50-mile walk following the same path Robert F. Kennedy chose for his historic 50 mile walk in 1963 at this same time that year. I was motivated to see how this hike would have felt for him and also as a way to try and relive my attempt at a 50 mile walk in the summer of 1963. (Click here to learn more about the 50-Mile Hike Phenomenon back then)… Continue

This article in NY Times talks about a new 4th factor - walkability - in evaluating your home. The first 3 are of course, location, location, and location. "New urbanists" are advocating denser cities designed for pedestrians and mass transportation.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/10/business/10every… Continue

Summer of '62

What made the year 1962 especially memorable for me was a hike I took with two fellow thirteen-year old school friends. Mind you, this was no ordinary jaunt, and no ordinary event. This was the notorious fifty-mile hike so famously endorsed by President Kennedy and his National Physical Fitness Program (aka Cold War Stress Reducer). Out of the way kissy Hush Puppies, I’m strapping on my Chuck Taylor All Stars for this job.
Traversing the boundaries of seven city limits, and back a… Continue

Hiking the Grand Canyon, South Rim to North Rim and back to South Rim

I arrived at GC National Park Saturday 6/13 in the afternoon in my Nissan Versa (most uncomfortable driver's seat ever) rental car from Phoenix, and the rest of the day tended to making camp and getting supplies and waiting for my companions who arrived after dark. We set up camp, had a couple beers and went to sleep. Sunday and Monday we did the tourist stuff, sightseeing along the rim at different point… Continue

At my 45 year high school reunion we reminisced about our fifty miler. Four of us finished, it was some time in the spring '63, we were juniors in high school. My time was 13:47 roughly (at my age, memory is difficult).

So now we are thinking - four years from now, how about a fiftieth anniversary 50 miler? We are quite old, but it would give us something to shoot for. And we have four years to prepare. I am to get new knees this December, and a few of my high school classmates are thinking of… Continue

I've been searching my mind for exactly why four of us hiked from Roselle to Netcong, New Jersey (nearly 50 miles) when we were 15 years old. It was a heady time in America when a dynamic young president, JFK, challenged everyone (see The 50-Mile Hike Phenomenon). And, it seemed at that time that we, as individuals and as a nation, could meet those challenges. Of course, there's also a certain invincible attitude that… Continue