On Walking

amy doyle

17 Dec 2024 — 6 min read

I love to walk. When I was working out of town (a lot!) I would call Craig after a hectic day and he would often say to me "after you go for your walk, you'll feel better"; and he was absolutely right. I'm not sure exactly why. There are all kinds of things about mind-body connection, which you can google to your hearts content, but then you're still sitting, staring at your computer. I think it's one of those things that has to be experienced.

I know there are people who can't walk and sometimes they find movement in other ways. And, I understand pain and frustration. Before leaving for Scotland, I had done something bad to my ankle. Walking was, at times, excruciating. And, guess what, our plan in Scotland was to not have a car and walk everywhere or take public transportation (yes, you have to walk to the bus or the train). This is a metaphor for life, of course, but I just kept putting one foot in front of the other (and doing what my doctor told me to do), and it eventually got better, and then really good. Not everything gets better, I get that, but some things do. And, whatever it is, just keep putting that one foot, in front of the other.

Sometimes it's just blind faith. In November I visited my brother, Charlie, and his wonderful wife, Kelly, in Richmond, Va. He took me to the Blue Ridge Tunnel which was very cool.

You can google it, it's very interesting. It's an abandoned train tunnel, part of the Blue Ridge trail, and built next to it is the actual working train tunnel.

It's about a mile walk through the tunnel, and, as I've said, I like to walk.

Thankfully Charlie (First Responder) thought to bring flashlights. Otherwise, it's absolutely pitch dark (now I know what they mean by that) in the tunnel. This tunnel you couldn't see the quintessential-light-at-the-end-of, until close to the very end. I freaked out half way through, but geez, whadya gonna do? On top of that, when we got to the other end, and my knees stopped rattling, Charlie informed me, we either go back through, or we hike the 7 miles around to the parking lot, which we didn't have time to do and also be back in time to meet Kelly for dinner (I think she would have understood.) So, back thru utter darkness...one foot in front of the other...metaphors abound!!

The next day Charlie and I took off for Georgia to meet up with my niece and nephew, David and Carrie. They were Airbnbing a place in Helen, GA (omg, this town is Christmastown-barvarian-alpine-village-elfs n Santa on steroids).

However, there is some FABULOUS hiking around the area in North Georgia, the start of the Appalachian trail, just 20 miles west. Waterfalls and lakes, deep in the Appalachian mountains, met me as I laced up my hiking boots and got my trail-legs on. My feet like the feel of the trail under them, no concrete or black top, no cars whizzing by, just dirt, earth, rocks, and....

So, back to the topic of walking. I've got lots to say about it.

It's not that I'm against cars. I have one. Craig and I are presently sharing a car, which worked good in theory as Craig works from home 2 days a week and otherwise takes the bus or bikes to work. But there have been those times where the bus has been unreliable, or we both have to be different places at the same time, and riding your bike in snow and ice isn't really a great idea. Fortunately we have good neighbors, but where we live it's probably not going to be a good long term solution.

But, this is as much a systemic problem. It's interesting that in downtown areas where you don't need cars, it's more expensive to live. So, wealthy people who can afford cars move into walkable neighborhoods, pushing out, gentrifying low/moderate income folks, and also hiking up the real-estate values in the area. It's cheaper to live out in the country, but you pretty much have to have a car. Much of the US lives in areas where there are no sidewalks and it's not safe to walk on the road in front of your house. You basically have to drive to a park or gym, or wherever, to get in a walk or some exercise. It's not just poor urban planning, but poor rural planning. You've heard a lot of talk about "food deserts" So, yeah, you need your car, not just to get exercise (ironic) but also to eat. If you haven't, by now, found me insufferable, then you may want to read my blog on culture shock and American grocery stores: amys-blog-dont-even-get-me-started.ghost.io/returning

Americans love their cars. In New York, grand-theft auto is a felony if the car is worth anything over $100, regardless of the condition. Many forms of child neglect continue to be only a misdemeanor. Ok, like I said, don't even get me started.

But, we build huge parking lots and 6 to 8 lane highways for our cars. I know I have found myself driving from one shopping plaza to another less than half a mile away as there were no safe ways to walk there. A recent NYTimes article actually supported industrialized agriculture because it took up less land. Industrialized agriculture isn't necessary healthy food, but still, we all gotta eat. However, I wonder if there's really been an assessment of land use (parking lots, highways, abandoned strip malls). An interesting book called The Next American Revolution by Grace Lee Boggs and Scott Kurashige describes the transformation of abandoned areas of downtown Detroit into community gardens. I hear it's actually becoming a tourist destination for Canadians...lol!

Ok, all of this can become rather frustrating and depressing. Where to begin, right?? For me, I find myself going back to some of the simple things my mother taught me. Now that I can appreciate it and I'm no longer my teen-age self having to know it all, many of the things she said make lots of sense. So, mom, if you're looking down from your cloud right now, I know God is keeping you busy with all of your angel duties (my mother would actually love being an angel, and I think she is, but in the Gabriel sense of you either do what I and God think is best for you, or you won't be able to talk for 6 months!), well, here it is... 😉 The simple tip of the week from mom; practical, save-the-planet stuff you can do right now. It really is the little things that matter.

— – -> My mom, in teaching me how to drive, she said, so many times, "take your foot off the gas". Her theory was that if you take your foot off the gas (anticipating stops, anticipating down hills) then that saves gas. So, for instances, many drivers step on the gas, slam on the brake; step on the gas, slam on the brake. If the light is already red, why are we pushing down on the gas to race to a red light, only to step on the brake and sit there. Why do we push on the gas when we know a down hill is coming, get to the down hill quickly, only then quickly put on the brake?

It's a different way of driving. I guess you might call it mindfulness-driving...lol. Idk, maybe try it. Or you already may be driving this way and done it all your driving-life (maybe you actually listened to your mother!). It would probably be an interesting study on how much gas this may save.

Alrighty, so now maybe I've run out of steam, for now...or run out of gas!!