How To Walk Across America
This weekend I flew out to San Francisco to see my really good friend Nate Damm walked across America. Well, he didn’t do it all yesterday. Back in February, Nate started walking in Delaware and headed west for San Francisco. For the past 7 months, Nate’s been walking…and walking…and walking some more.
In between we took a short little road trip to Portland, but for the rest of the time he just walked.
He got up in the morning. Walked until he was tired. Pitched a tent and slept. Then did it again. And again. And again.
From February 26th to October 15th.
He walked. Ugly step after ugly step.
231 Days in a row.
231
Think about that.
15-25 miles a day on average. Over 3,000 miles total. On foot.
Nate likes to point out that he’s not the first one to walk across America. I like to tell Nate to shutup. Walking across America might not be that ‘hard” in the traditional sense of the word – after all anyone can walk. And that’s all you have to do. Walk.
That’s all there is to it.
Day after day after day. That’s it. But a lot of people still haven’t done it and most people won’t. Simply because they don’t have the persistence required to do something 231 days in a row.
Most things in aren’t actually impossible. People just think they are because they give up too soon.
We like to glamorize the days on the coasts. The memorable ones. The ones that seem to be important, but it’s the time in the desert. The spots between
Don’t stop. Keep going.
Congratulations to Nate. It’s a big deal and a great story. Be proud.
[Click to see Nate’s last few steps across America if you’re reading in your email]
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Impossible Announcements: T-shirts have been shipping out from the first order. Most of them should be arriving today & tomorrow. There have been a few delays with the women’s shirts due to some some sourcing problems on American Apparel’s end, but I have it on good authority that those few stragglers will be shipped out this week. GET EXCITED.
Also, the last t-shirt commercial was so much fun we decided to do another. Enjoy and go pick yourself up an impossible shirt if you haven’t already.
[click to watch video if you’re reading this in email]
[photos courtesy of Bekka Scott and Sarah Peck]
that sure beats my measly 27 days walking a tropical island 😉 I do want to do the Appalachian trail someday, the Camino de Santiago in Spain, etc but I don’t really have the desire to walk across America. One of the first that I know, other than the Oregon trailers, is the Peace Pilgrim. She dedicated her whole life walking across America back and forth for peace. That’s basically all she did! There’s an interesting book about her titled the same name.. Not to knock on Nate. It IS amazing. Anyone who does that has my respect.
I walked 35 miles or so with Nate and I was beat! 27 or 200+ days in a row seems like a lot to me!
Congratulations to Nate! And guys, you are seriously ROCKIN’ those Impossible shirts!!
I figured he deserved something after walking across a freaking continent 🙂
Not to diminish anything accomplished here, but he walked across a country, not a continent.
If walking from one ocean to another ocean is all it takes to ‘walk across a continent’, then he should’ve just made the 37-mile trek across Panama.
So totally, completely, fantastically, impossibly, wonderfully, EFFING AWESOME. LOVE!
I would agree. Nate is pretty EFFING AWESOME :).
Dang it! Another great commercial!
And my shirt arrived today!
And I introduced a group of second-graders to parkour! Okay, so maybe it was more like hurling their little bodies into a concrete wall, but hey, they’re second-graders, it’s not like they knew the difference!
The shirt finally arrived! #BOOM. Hope you like it Dave!
Hey Joel, you ship anywhere in the world?
Yup.
Anywhere. In. The. World.
#BOOM
three buddys and i are goonna make the trip. from fl
Awesome! I’m doing a walk across now too. Nice to catch up on other walkers like Nate!
DUDE I’m ready. I don’t know what for yet. But something. This site is incredible. Ironic that I found your blog today? I wrote this just this morning, “The Slow Demise of a Cubicle Dweller” and needed some inspiration. http://turningcountry.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-slow-demise-of-cubicle-dweller.html
What a wonderful story. To huff and puff your way from one edge of America to the other is outstanding in my mind. I have done numerous long distance bike trips and I know how difficult the task is at a certain point. Everyone always believes it to be sunshine and a pleasant breeze at your back. They don’t understand the fatigue, the biting rain, the bugs, the heat….Congratulations. Phil Robertson
well on 1/10/2014 I will be 37 and I will have over 100 days clean. Im a addict “well was a addict. Back in September I was in a car crash and that was the last straw. I will be leaving Detroit MI on my birthday “January 10”, I call it “Just walking around the block”. My plan is to go south from Detroit head towards the warm weather, like GA. From there head west to CA, once there head to WA. then I plan to take the North route back to Detroit. I hope to walk the Mighty Mac “Mackinac Bridge” on labor day 2014. But thats my plan. Hope to see some cool and inspirational places…. I need to do this for years I have been thinking about it “The Walk” my kids “all 7 of them are all for it..
good luck mate sure you will enjoy the walk,i am hoping to do the east to west walk in the very near future ,who knows we might cross paths. jeff from the uk