Another Long Walk: Five Years Later
Some of you very likely remember Morgan and my adventures four years ago, as we traveled from DC across the country and back, searching for a new place to call home. But true original Road Goes on Forever readers will remember this blog actually started for a different purpose.
In early 2021, in the wake of a pandemic and, at 30 years old, in the first semi-involuntary period of unemployment of my life, I was inspired to take a long walk by the now-late Washington Post reporter Neil King. It came down to the random chance of seeing a Twitter post by King, mentioning he was heading out of DC on a walk to New York City (you can read about his walk in his book, American Ramble).
To this day, I’m not sure why the idea resonated with me so much. I was certainly aware of the idea that people walked long distances, but it may have been the idea that this wasn’t some done-to-death path like the Appalachian Trail, and that for the first time in my adult life, I had the time to attempt something like this.
The inspiration came from my parents’ decision to sell the home I grew up in in northwestern New Jersey and move to Florida. Over the decade since I’d graduated from college, I’d fallen out of touch with most of my hometown friends, and even increasing numbers of my family were giving up on the Garden State and New York and moving (where else?) to Florida. For this reason, it only seemed to make sense to see, in depth, the one part of the state I’d always liked but never spent a ton of time exploring: the shore.
So, I did it. Over the course of two separate weeks, I walked from Cape May to Atlantic City, then from Sandy Hook to Atlantic City, just as the shore was beginning to fully reopen post-COVID. It was one of the most memorable and rewarding experiences of my life, despite a hurricane, multiple near-strandings in random corners of the shore, persistent harassment by New Jersey teenagers (in both official and non-official capacities), and even a run-in with the law on the very first day that almost made me miss the ferry from Delaware. Maybe I’ll actually write about it all sometime, I still have my journals.
Well, it’s five years later, and here I am, this time fully involuntarily unemployed. Maybe I’ll talk more about that later; maybe not. But this time, there’s no need to concoct an idea, as this one’s been brewing for a while. And the logistics are a lot easier, living two miles from the Gulf of Mexico instead of the hours-long trip from DC to New Jersey. Plus, with summer looming, there’s no time to waste.
So later this week, I’ll be walking the length of the beaches of Pinellas County, my home for the last nearly four years. When we last left you, we had just settled here in Tarpon Springs, a relatively abrupt stop to 13 months of constant motion. It has been an up-and-down four years in many regards, but our love for our new home hasn’t wavered.
In our little peninsula-on-a-peninsula, we’re lucky enough to have two quiet beaches in our town (Fred Howard Park, operated by Pinellas County, and Sunset Beach, owned by the city), with the rest of the county’s world-famous beaches – including Clearwater Beach, Pass-a-Grille, and others – further south. Two state parks make up significant parts of our coastline (Honeymoon Island State Park and Caladesi Island State Park), while the award-winning, county-owned Fort Desoto Park sits at the mouth of Tampa Bay, offering some of the region’s only easily-accessible beachfront camping.
I’ll be seeing (very nearly) it all over a five-day, 45-mile trek, starting this Wednesday:
- Wednesday: Honeymoon Island
- Thursday: Caladesi Island to Clearwater Beach
- Friday: Clearwater Beach to North Redington Beach
- Saturday: North Redington Beach to Pass-a-Grille
- Sunday: Fort De Soto Park
I’ve seen a decent amount of this, in parts. But my 2021 Jersey Shore walk taught me that there’s no substitute for seeing it all, because the gaps and transition zones are as important as the sights and attractions.
I hope you’ll follow as I post my daily updates on what I’m seeing and learning about this beautiful part of the country.
