On Monday, April 17, 2017, I began to walk across the United States. (You can read each day’s blog entry and see photos if you click here<\/a>.) My hope was to complete the journey from the Pacific to the Atlantic sometime in November, but that was not the case.<\/p>\n Phase 1 lasted 40 days. (I realize the significance of this number, but it was not intentional.) By Day 40 I realized, after having already succumbed to the heat once before in the Mojave Desert, I was again headed in that dangerous direction again. I encountered a “heat dome” in the southwest US, which caused me to have to cut the trip short. It was 120 degrees in Phoenix the week I stopped walking, and it was time to end my quest.<\/p>\n During the next six months, I thought about resuming my walk. On February 1 of the following year, Phase 2 of my journey began. I knew a little more about what to expect. My son Adam graciously agreed to provide me with a month of car support. During that time we would stay in motels together; he would drop me off in the morning and pick me up in the afternoon after I’d completed a day of walking. This worked fine, until it didn’t\u2014a week after we began, I developed severe blisters on my left foot; the skin split, my foot became painful and swollen. After receiving medical care in Mesa, Arizona, I decided to abort the walk yet again. I drove Adam to the Phoenix airport and then drove myself home to Oakland. I saw a podiatrist the next day; he told me I needed to rest my foot and let it heal.<\/p>\n I rested and healed, and after two weeks at home, I packed my gear and took a Greyhound bus from Oakland to Los Angeles, and then a second bus to Las Cruces, New Mexico, where I began the final phase of my walk.<\/p>\n On Sunday, June 24, 2018, after a total of 170 days on the road, I walked into the surf of the Atlantic Ocean, completing my journey at Rehoboth Beach, Delaware.<\/p>\n After spending time on the Jersey shore, my friend drove me to Newark Airport where I flew to San Francisco, non-stop, on United. I was met at the top of the airport escalator by my wife, Sharon, and several friends. It was an incredible and welcome surprise! We returned to Oakland on BART, and I began recovering and reacclimating\u00a0to “normal” life.<\/p>\n During my journey, many friends, family members, and strangers followed\u00a0my progress on Instagram:<\/strong> @jazztonight or friended me on\u00a0Facebook:<\/strong> Robert Schoen. All the posts, from Day 1 to Day 170, may be read in order by clicking here.<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Here are the answers to the most Frequently Asked Questions\u00a0people ask about my journey.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n At age 70, I wanted to do something that most people do not<\/em> do. Ever since reading Peter Jenkins\u2019 1979 book, A Walk Across America,<\/em>\u00a0I\u2019d thought about this. I\u2019ve read a number of\u00a0accounts of men and women who’d walked across the US, and decided that if I was ever going to try, the time was “now.”<\/p>\n At 70 years old I was not getting any younger. Although there were people older than I who had successfully walked from coast-to-coast, each year that went by decreased my own chances of success.\u00a0Thus, “now” was the time.<\/p>\n My father, Michael W. Schoen, passed away on March 7, 2017 at age 96. He was a World War 2 veteran, and flew 44 missions as the flight engineer and top turret gunner in a B-24 bomber in the Army Air Corps. \u00a0I did not consider starting the trek while he was alive. This journey was in his honor, and dedicated to his memory.<\/p>\n No.<\/p>\n Every account I\u2019d read about walking across America was filled with people offering generous and kind assistance, food, money, shelter, and good wishes. Also, I\u2019d lived more than half my life in Oakland, California. I love it here, but some people are afraid to drive through it, which is utterly ridiculous. People are generally good. The only time I\u2019ve ever<\/em> been mugged was in one of everyone\u2019s favorite cities, Barcelona.<\/p>\n Yes.<\/p>\n After seeing Jason Bourne kill a man using a ball-point pen, I carried a similar pen<\/a> on this trip.<\/p>\n I also had a can of Bear Spray<\/a>, which is just pepper spray. I didn\u2019t expect (or want) to use it, but when people asked me this question and I told them I had pepper spray, they seemed to feel better about my being able to thwart evil-doers. (I eventually shipped the bear spray home, but kept the pen.)<\/p>\n I began my journey at the beach near the foot of the Santa Ana River Trail in Huntington Beach, California. I then walked to Flagstaff, Arizona. Originally I was going to head north towards Colorado. But I decided to avoid the snow (it turns out there were severe snowstorms in the area I would have been traveling through); so I decided to continue on Old\/Historic Route 66 and Interstate I-40 for several more states. However, an Arizona highway patrol officer informed me along the way that pedestrians are not<\/em> permitted on the Interstate systems in most or all states (although cyclists generally are). Thus “My Plan” changed once again.<\/p>\n Phase 2 of my journey began by “making up” the approximately 100 miles I avoided walking in the Mojave Desert during the heat dome and, after I recovered from my foot injury, I resumed in Las Cruces, New Mexico.<\/p>\n I learned early on that one needs to be flexible on a trip such as this, and I changed my projected route several times. I walked north from Oklahoma through Kansas to just south of Kansas City. Then east, mostly on Highway 50, to Cincinnati (where my son lives). From Cincinnati to the Atlantic Ocean was the final phase of my journey.<\/p>\n I’d originally planned to walk to Coney Island (near where I was born in Brooklyn). Later, I considered Ocean City, Maryland, but eventually decided on Rehoboth Beach, Delaware for a number of logistical reasons. Regardless…Coast to Coast. Ocean to Ocean.<\/p>\n Everyone wants to know about shoes! My conclusion after a lot of research and trial pairs is that there is absolutely no perfect shoe for such a journey–you’ll probably get blisters no matter what you wear. I started with two pairs of Ecco BIOM Fjuel racer sneakers. I discarded those after buying a pair of North Face trail shoes. After a few hundred miles those wore out and I bought a pair of Merrell Moab Ventilators<\/a> in Flagstaff. I loved the Merrell’s and later bought two new pairs (one pair was waterproof). In spite of my early success with these shoes, I eventually developed severe blisters. Long distance walking is a tricky thing. In the end, I probably went through 5 or 6 pair of shoes.<\/p>\n I also wore a pair of Reef \u201cslides,\u201d<\/a> which are great! For socks, I mostly wore Darn Tough Merino Wool<\/a>\/Nylon\/Lycra hike\/trek socks. Nothing but the best. I tried some Injinji socks\u2014the ones that have individual spaces for your toes, but I wasn’t enamored. I also worn Smart Wool “liner socks” with my Darn Tough socks with mixed results. I came home with blisters.<\/p>\n I carried an iPhone 7 Plus and a 12″ Macbook, as well as a Mophie XXL<\/a> battery pack (a great unit!) and a small solar charger.\u00a0I later shipped the MacBook and solar charger home.<\/p>\n Yes. I posted pictures and text every night on Instagram and Facebook. These daily posts were also available on my website blog, Notes Along the Journey<\/em> (notesalongthejourney.com). I kept in touch with several people on a regular basis by phone, text, email, and FaceTime.<\/p>\n Not as much as you might think. I was as prepared as I could be, but you can’t anticipate everything. I tasted failure and defeat, but persevered. I tended to get anxious when I didn’t know where I’d be sleeping at night.<\/p>\n First choice was a motel room. When none was available I slept in my Kelty Salida 2 tent someplace on the roadside, in a park, or in someone’s backyard. I also slept behind a restaurant that was being renovated and behind construction sites, and abandoned buildings (and once in a shed). I slept in Best Westerns, often used the Wyndham Hotel Group (Super 8, Days Inn, etc.), Motel 6, Choice Hotels, and Marriotts, etc., and stayed many times in independent “mom & pop” motels. While I liked staying in motels, I also liked being in my tent. Each provided a different nighttime experience. Looking at the moon and stars through the tent in the desert was\u00a0a glorious experience. Sitting in the Jacuzzi at a Best Western after a long day of walking was also pretty glorious. Rain, heat, and high winds sometimes spoiled an otherwise pleasant tent experience.\u00a0(In Cincinnati, I replaced the tent with a \u201cbivy\u201d sleep sack; it was smaller and lighter, but not anywhere as roomy as my tent.)<\/p>\n Dogs. I had several encounters.<\/p>\n Heat.\u00a0Extreme heat. 105\u00b0F and higher.<\/p>\n Cold. Extreme cold. Some snow.<\/p>\n Wind. High winds. Wild fires.<\/p>\n (Later) Insects. Ticks. Bedbugs. Flies.<\/p>\n Getting sufficient nourishment on the road, where services were very often lacking, was an issue. While I generally don\u2019t eat meat or poultry and rely on fish and vegetable protein, I made an exception because of this unusual situation, and added Progresso canned\u00a0chicken & noodle soup to my diet. I ate it out of the can\u20142 portions in every can\u2014when there was no microwave available, e.g. in the tent.<\/p>\n\n
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