Letter to Rachel's Challenge.

I'm eagerly awaiting a response to this.

Dear RC,

I am a teacher at MCMS in Moorehead City, North Carolina.  You fine folks came to see us a few months ago.

For the last few years I have been tossing around the idea of a "pilgrimage" to one place or another.  I never knew where I would go, I just knew that I would head West.  I always planned to take my "pilgrimage" in the fashion of a "knight errant."  Knight errants were men who would travel about seeking out challenges, adventuring, righting wrongs, and doing good deeds.  Knight errants would also typically invoke the name of a lady before they committed a deed of daring do.

Experiencing Rachel's Challenge helped solidify a few things for me.  First of which was a destination.  I would like my long walk to take me to Rachel's hometown in Colorado.  Secondly, in keeping with the style of the knight errant I would like my good deeds to be done in Rachel's name.

Basically I am asking for your permission to use Rachel's name and make her hometown my destination. I understand that the idea of a man hiking about the American countryside like a modern day Don Quixote may seem very much out of the ordinary, and that you may hesitate to acquiesce.  I look forward to hearing a response from you and perhaps discussing my long walk with you further.

Thank you for your time,

Rodney Woods

Life is in the details.

So I've been doing some thinking about my walk and I've come up with some concerns.

Here's some examples:

1. How am I going to do it?
2. Is Columbine/Littleton too far?
3. What if I don't finish?

#1 I can tackle right now.  How am I going to do it?  The simple answer is "I don't know."  I have no idea how I'm going to accomplish this task.  I figure putting my right foot in front of my left foot is a good start and I plan on repeating that step as many times as necessary.

#2 is easy as well.  The answer there being..."probably.  Well actually more like: "It probably is too far but that's where you're headed by golly so quit your belly aching."

#3 is a bit more difficult.  I'm starting as soon as school lets out for the Summer (I'm a teacher if you hadn't surmised) so I will have most of June, all of July, and a healthy chunk of August to complete the trip.  A rough estimate would put me at about 72 days to finish the trip. So, 72 goes into 1,700 how many times? 23.611 repeating.  So I would have to walk an average of 23.6 miles per day to reach my destination.  That doesn't sound like much does it?  However I'm not an uber-hiker and I have to have time to do good deeds on the way or what is the point of being a knight errant?

I'm considering starting my walk in Boone, NC, home of my Alma Mater ASU.  Of course this would only take down my MPD (miles per day) to 20.5 and considering most hikers consider 15 mpd a good sane pace, I might be biting off more than I can chew.  What's a knight errant to do?

Why?

Besides passively and discretely posting this blog on my facebook and Armour Archive profile, I haven't actually came out and told many people that I have decided to undertake this journey.

I don't think many people would understand why I am choosing to attempt this feat.  It sounds crazy whenever I think about it to myself and when my wife and I discuss it.  I know it must sound insane to the rest of the world. I haven't told anyone close to me about this because I don't want anyone to try to talk me out of it.

It's hard to articulate my reasoning for taking my long walk.  Ever since I was a young man (11-12) I have felt like I should do something like this.  My walk has always been one of those things I felt like I wanted to do, but there was no way to actually go after it. 

I'm not doing this for fame, or money, or attention. This is one of those things that you feel in your bones.  It is something that I have to try and if I don't I will regret not trying for the rest of my life.

It's only 1,700 miles right?

The Goal

So this is what I'm planning to do:

1. Walk from Havelock NC to Columbine CO.

2. Do good deeds along the way.

3. Do it all in the Summer of 2012.

Those are pretty much all of the details I have hammered out so far.  Oh, that and I will be wearing chainmail.  Heck, if I'm going to be a Knight Errant, I might as well dress the part shouldn't I?

Red Tailed Hawks

Lately I've been seeing quite a few Red Tailed Hawks out and about.  It seems like I've seen one just about everyday for the past few weeks.

When I was younger my father would always point them out to me when he saw them.  He would always make it a point to tell me to look at the tail which is of course a rusty shade of red.  It was always special seeing one with him.

I can't help but wonder if there is a reason I've been seeing so many of these birds lately.  It could just be the time of year or the area I have moved to (Coastal NC,) however I can't help but think I'm seeing them for a reason.

My wife (who knows a lot more about these things than I) has told me that the Native Americans believed that birds once communicated openly with people and still try from time to time.  We have, unfortunately, lost the ability to understand them which I am sure is a frustrating for them. So what kind of sign could it be that I keep seeing these noble birds?

Doing the right thing.

How much time would it take from your day to do one good thing?  Nothing big or involved, just something good.  For example, you see a piece of trash in a parking lot.  How much time from your day would it take to pick it up and put it in a trashcan?  No time at all, you were walking toward the door anyway weren't you?

How about randomly putting a shopping cart that is loose in the parking lot into the corral?  That could take maybe two minutes tops.  There you've done something small that will help someone out.  They didn't ask you to, you just did it because it was the right thing to do.

How much better do you think your community would be if people took the time to do one good thing each day?  A random good deed here, an act of unsolicited kindness there.  We are not too busy to do these things.  Just do it because you know it's the right thing to do.