Wednesday, February 27, 2008

New Members Welcome and Signup

Welcome to Walking to Somewhere, a virtual hike for writers and others trying to fit walking into their busy lives. We walk individually in our own lives but plot our mileage against a common goal to give each other group support and encouragement.

Reply to this note with your email in the form "username at mail dot com", spelling out the special characters. That makes it harder for spammers and sniffers to latch on. You'll need a Google or Blogger id to sign in.

We're currently (as of 1 March 2008) hiking the Appalachian Trail, which runs from the top of Springer Mountain in Georgia to the top of Mt. Katahdin in Maine, a distance of about 2175 miles, not counting getting off Katahdin at the end. Here's a map and overview of the trail. We'll have a progress marker where we can track our mileage, and periodically we'll have "virtual campfires" where we can roast marshmallows, share progress, and tell ghost stories.

So...how this works...

You can count anything that you do under human power, you just have to be able to measure it. This means you can walk, cycle, row, whatever. Outside or on a gym machine. Track your progress in miles; it'll be easiest if we're all working on the same frame. (The information bar includes a pointer to a kilometers-to-miles converter if you need one.)

Every day, whoever's ready to tally up first creates a post with their mileage for the day, and the rest can post in comments. Doesn't matter who. Everyone here has author privileges; it's a group blog. We don't have to check in daily, but I'd guess two or three times a week might be the minimum to keep inspired. I'd suggest we post our progress as today's miles/ miles so far/ total goal.

We're going to post in photos when we can locate ones that show where we are, so watch for those!

12 comments:

Chris said...

Count me in. I have to get a pedometer though, and today is not the day to be out there, as we're expected to get at least 5" of snow! Yay, but yuck, because I'm afraid to drive in the stuff when it's that bad.

Maripat said...

Is that you snoopy? Cool. Anyway, the more the merrier!

chanpheng said...

I saw Bonnie's note in LJ and decided it's a fun thing to do! I've hiked on the real Appalachian Trail in the past - so it will be fun to track the miles while walking along the Mekong!

Claire Goverts said...

Sounds like fun, and I could use some motivation to be more active. Count me in to (now to find my pedometer and hope it works - though if I walk/bike the canal path that's got mile markers).

Helga said...

Hi! This is Helga, Margaret's friend. I finally have a pedometer, so I'd love to join you! (And try to catch up while also doing NaNoEdMo. Eek.)

Maripat said...

Helga, I sent an email invite to you via your yahoo account. Claire and chanpheng, sorry I don't have email addresses but I believe you're friends with Bonnie? She should be back soon. Sorry about the delay.

Maripat

Maripat said...

Claire and chanpheng, we need your email addresses to send an invite. If you could leave your addresses here spelling out (at) and (dot), we'll send the invites right out. Thank you!

Claire Goverts said...

Sure, no problem. :)

cgoverts(at)gmail(dot)com

Maripat said...

okay, Claire, invite sent. Welcome!

chanpheng said...

Sabaidee Maripat! My address is chanpheng.lew (at) gmail (dot) com

Thanks a lot for organizing this!

Maripat said...

Chanpheng, I sent out the invite this morning. Sorry it took me so long. Welcome!

Pandababy said...

I would like to be Walking to Somewhere with you all. I'll be trailing everyone but it will be inspiring just to know you are all out there walking; and what a great idea - a virtual trail of steps measuring out a real place.

Are there any plans to virtually walk the Pacific Coast Trail? I actually did a mile of it on Mt. Hood one year.

my address is april.dauenhauer at gmail dot com.

This is much better for me than Volkswalks, which I wanted to do but even their 5k level course would be more than I could finish.

I hope I can my pedometer to work.