Today I knocked out a nearly 20-mile walk, following a standard local bike route from my house in Carrboro to the Saxapahaw General Store. I figured it would take a bit more than 5 hours, so to beat the heat I left at 6:45am. Scores of cyclists seemed to have adjusted their Sunday rides for similar reasons. But maybe so many out on a Sunday … Continue reading Carrboro to Saxapahaw
Walk Across America Training #2 Continue reading Carrboro to Cocoa Cinnamon
First big training day – double digits with a pack! Continue reading Walk Across America – Training Day #1
My youngest brother is getting married today. I am honored to be a big part of it. Continue reading My Brother’s Wedding
Thoreau writes in his essay, Walking, “I wish to speak a moment a word for nature.” I too wish to speak a moment, but not for nature, even if my topic is often mistaken for something natural. I want to recognize that embarking on a 7-month, non-work-related journey is a full-on exploitation of my individual privilege. This understanding makes my innate desire for travel and … Continue reading My Privilege to Walk
PRE-WALK, BLOG #1 I’ve got big dreams. Big goals. Always have. Probably goes back to when I was a kid and found my dad’s do-before-I die list. I don’t remember what it said exactly, but as soon as I read it I wrote one of my own. At 8 years old I hoped to one day run a marathon, ride a horse in the Mongolia … Continue reading My New Everest
When Katie booked her week-long bike trip through Arizona, I was like, “Hey, I wanna go somewhere too!” So I booked a trip to México. Big surprise. 2017 had been busy, work-wise. So a break was in order. I hadn’t revisited my book-in-progress since December and my lasting memories of it were largely self-critical. My internal dialogue: There’s no plot. The characters are undeveloped. Why … Continue reading A Short Week in Roma Norte, Again
“Memory is the one true agony carried in the body.” Doug Rice’s An Erotics of Seeing is witness to the purest of all enigmas, memory. I take slower steps, wander the streets of Mexico City, look closely at small things. Forgotten things. Remembering beauty. “Ghosts haunt the streets, the alleys. Words replace people. Names.” “Most times, a word never becomes more than a shape to … Continue reading A Visual Book Review: Part 2
Doug Rice’s An Erotics of Seeing is a gift of observation. A peek through a crack. A breeze. Makes it hard to keep your your eyes open. Makes tears fall. My response: a practice of seeing. A Saturday morning walk through the streets of México City. “The longer you live, the more you die.” What you see becomes you. Find questions in the image. Is the after more real than the before? … Continue reading A Visual Book Review: Part 1
After cleaning my flat and stashing a fresh Andrew Jackson in a Coca-Cola bottle for my gracious hosts, I secured my backpack, left the two sets of keys on the kitchen counter, and locked the doors behind me. There was no going back. I marched around the corner to a new café I’d just learned was minutes from my front door – Cucurucho – where I had … Continue reading Esfumarse (to vanish)
Tom Griffen 
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