One mild spring day when I had nothing better to do I decided to see what it would be like to walk into town. I did not have to. I had a perfectly functional bike or I could have asked my father to drive me but for whatever reason I decided that I would walk.
Where I lived at the time was in a rural part of California that was between new and old versions of a highway. Our house at the time was on the old highway with two lanes and sometimes had a shoulder or not. I was used to walking and cycling on these rural roads and rarely had any problem. Just as riding in a car is a different experience than cycling, cycling is a different experience than walking. So, for whatever reason I decided to walk. When I say that I wanted to walk to town, I am not talking about the small, barely noticeable pit-stop on the new highway that was only two miles from our house but I meant to go all the way to the city limits of the largest city in the area. This place had a population of more than 90,000 people and was where I spent much of my childhood. The walk was approximately 11 miles, one way.
I made that walk and returned home with sore feet, a sense of accomplishment and a question to myself, “Why did I want to do that?”
I can not fully answer that question, especially since now it has been so many years. However, I understand now though that I wanted to do it for two reasons that I can think of. I wanted to see what it was like and I could not think of any better way to expend my energy. To this day I still walk someplace even though there are easier or faster ways for me to get there and back.
When I was out walking today, a friend drove by and stopped to ask if I needed a ride. I was less than a mile from my home and besides, I was out for a walk. I appreciate that thought though. This attempt at kindness started me thinking though.
Are Americans afraid of exercise?
The answer of course can not be a simple “yes” or “no” because Americans are not one people. We are a diverse population and we have many life circumstances, different interests, different abilities and that makes things complicated. I have lived in places where even on a 40 degree Fahrenheit day like today I would have seen many pedestrian and cyclists braving the wind just like me. Where I live now though, despite the nice walking weather, I saw neither. I did see lots of cars though. Cars driving, cars in parking lots and people sitting in their cars eating soft-serve.
Where I live now is not very relaxing and peaceful to walk or cycle around. I’ve fished in the streams of the high Sierra Nevada mountains and walked the streets of Los Angeles. I can appreciate when people try and make communities more pedestrian and cyclist friendly and I am going to support it in whatever way I can but I understand, I know, that nothing is going to drastically change until we get people out of their cars and off their motorcycles.
Every vehicle, even electrically powered ones, make noise, especially at moderate speeds. Yes, it is true, and electric car can creep up on a person when it is traveling slow. I know, I was hit by one in a dealership lot. Thankfully, neither myself or the Prius were injured. Individually the noise from each vehicle may not seem like a lot but get a few going by on a street and they will drown out everything but the loudest sounds. Stand next to a freeway and you can’t hear anything unless it’s amplified. In contrast, fishing along the Feather River we would hear only wind, water, birds and one of my camping buddies opening a beer can even though we’re almost a mile away from each other.
Sound travels and it travels a longer way than people might realize. People complain about it around their homes and put up sound reflecting walls along freeways which reflects some of the sound away from the houses but increases the noise on the streets. Then, when they get into their cars, some of which are highly sound proofed, they turn on their radios or talk loudly on their phones. They may not even hear the noise from their own cars but will certainly complain about the noisy motorcycle and roars by which interrupts their favorite song.
I am all for making new bicycle and pedestrian friendly trails and bike lanes but that is only one aspect. I am also in favor of changes that slow down cars and encourage people to get out and walk. If we do not decrease the noise around our trails and reduce the traffic on our roads than people will not feel that getting out is all that relaxing.