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on October 17, 2011
Evan Burchard
Posted project update #16See you again in 2012, Iowa
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on October 1, 2011
Evan Burchard
Posted project update #15Goodbye Indiana, Hello Illinois!
Hey everyone!
It's been a while since our last long update when we crossed into Ohio. We're pleased to report that we've been in two states since then - across Indiana and now we're in Illinois. That marks 7 out of the total 13 states we'll cross, which feels pretty great!Speaking of feeling great - or not - we've taken the last few days off while Jade recovers from Bronchitis. Despite feeling a bit under the weather, we did take a little trip to Chicago (Evan's first visit, Jade's second) where we saw a hilarious show at The Second City and caught up with Evan's college buddy (and backer) Sam. We even had a chance to tour the Chicago Board of Trade and see the activity on the trading floor at closing bell - pretty intense stuff!
Did you know that winter is coming? That is what we keep hearing! Not to worry - we've stocked up on cold weather gear: hats, gloves, coats, under armor, etc, so we'll be nice and toasty. So far, our coldest night has been around 40 degrees, and we were very warm in our sleeping bags. Tomorrow's high is around 60 degrees, which sounds like perfect walking weather to us!
We have 2 1/2 more states of corn and soybeans to look forward to (the rest of Illinois, then Iowa and Nebraska) then we'll be in Wyoming, where we'll have to say goodbye to flat terrain and hello to some serious inclines, but by that time, we'll probably be ready for a change of scenery!
A very special thanks to Evan's relatives in Morris, Illinois, who hosted us and showed us the local sights while Jade recuperated. We were even featured on the front page of their local paper (check it out here: http://bit.ly/p6frBi). Jade's feeling better so we were back on the road today and things are great! We're looking forward to crossing the Mississippi River in a couple of days!
If you have any advice for us, or know anyone in our upcoming states, or just miss us and want to say hi, drop us a line at adventure.access.trail@gmail.com.
Here's us at the Indiana and Illinois borders!
Cheers,
Jade and Evan
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Anne Hubbard on October 1, 2011
Amazing! Can't believe you're three months in-- Jade, we miss you, but oh what an adventure the two of you are on.
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Dianna on October 7, 2011
Hi Jade! Ditto what Ann said - and I hope you are feeling much better and have fully recovered from bronchitis. That's a nasty bug!
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on August 25, 2011
Evan Burchard
Posted project update #14Back on the Road & Halfway Through Ohio!
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Hi Everyone!We took a short hiatus to rest up and see our families, but we are back on the road as of August 16 and we’re now almost halfway across Ohio. When we walked through where we both grew up, we had some “guest walkers” join us: Evan’s dad walked with us for a mile and a half, Jade’s mom rolled with us for a couple miles, and Jade’s aunt Jill joined us for an entire day - 23 miles! We even had some local news coverage while we were home. Check out the newspaper article attached below! We felt a little bit famous as we traveled through Northwest Pennsylvania and Northeast Ohio, because people who had seen the news coverage would stop us on the road and want to chat with us!
As we mentioned in the last update - we switched from backpacks to a cart, which has made things much easier. The cart is awesome on flat stretches, and not too bad on hills either, plus we can take turns pushing, which gives the other person a break. Having the cart also makes us much more visible to cars passing by, and one nice family we met near Middlefield, Ohio (home of the 4th largest Amish settlement, by the way) even gave us an orange flag that we have attached to our cart for added visibility.
As we approach the Toledo area, that means that we are almost 1/4 of the way across the US!! Can you believe it!? We’re also starting to think about gear for cooler weather, but for now it's still in the 80s so we're definitely looking forward to some crisp fall air. We’re also looking forward to walking through states in the US that we’ve never been to - Evan has never been between Ohio and California and Jade has never been between Chicago and California. Between here and Chicago we have friends and family members along the way who we are very excited to see! Maybe we will be able to convince them to walk with us for a day too!
We’ve uploaded lots of new pictures to our Flickr account, which you can check out here. We had a bit of a backlog of photos to upload, so they’re not all in order but they should give you an idea of what we have been up to!
Here’s a picture of us crossing into Ohio!
Cheers,
Jade & Evan -
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on August 5, 2011
Evan Burchard
Posted project update #13Brief Hiatus in PA
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on July 23, 2011
Evan Burchard
Posted project update #12We're in a non-coastal state!
We crossed the Delaware River the other night, which meant we had made it to Pennsylvania! Since we both grew up in PA, we were very excited to be in our home state! Crossing the PA state line also meant we had made it to the first state that does not touch the ocean, so we're making progress!
Then the heat wave hit, and as crazy as we are, we knew there was no way for us to walk in that heat, so we have taken a few rest days to beat the heat and we'll be back on the road tomorrow.
For the next couple of weeks, we'll be in PA and looking forward to a sharp decline in the amount of hills and bears that we encounter once we're across the state and entering Ohio. Just kidding, we haven't met any bears yet! When you're camping though, we've found a couple things that sound like bears, but are not. Here are some videos we found on youtube that exemplify our (hopefully not growing) list of those things.
-Growling raccoon (One of these angry dudes was *right* outside of our tent!)
-Snorting deer (Yes it doesn't sound that dramatic, but 9 hours of that outside your tent is pretty freaky)
We're having tons of fun but the walking is hard, especially when it is so hot out and there are so many hills! We've been able to do over 20 miles in a day but it basically takes from sunrise to sunset. We will be able to increase our pace after we are out of such hilly terrain and the weather starts to cool off a bit. But for now, we're toughing it out and trying to get in at least 15 miles per day.
We'll keep you updated on our travels across Pennsylvania. Two places you should check out for more frequent updates are our Twitter and Flickr feeds. We try to update those at least once per day while we're walking.
We don't always have cell service or a full battery, but we love hearing from all of you. The texts, phone calls, and emails have helped keep us sane through the raccoon and deer encounters, rain storms, heat waves, and hills. Please keep in touch!
Cheers,
Jade & Evan
PS: Here's a picture of us on the bridge crossing the Delaware and entering PA!
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on July 10, 2011
Evan Burchard
Posted project update #11General Updates & Happy Birthday to Jade!
Hey Everyone!
We've had an exciting few days! We crossed our first state line, Jade celebrated her 25th birthday, and we were interviewed by the Hartford Courant (the nation's oldest continuously published newspaper!) Here's the link to the Courant article: http://www.courant.com/community/west-hartford/hc-walking-across-country-0710-20110709,0,1125408.story
We took a rest day today in honor of Jade's birthday. We spent some time on our "day off" planning out our next few weeks and updating our website.
With Jade getting an iPhone for her birthday, and Evan struggling with carrying any extra weight in his pack, we've decided to ditch the laptop and will be updating using our mobile phones only. Which means we'll have more frequent, but shorter updates. The Kickstarter updates here will still serve as our primary blog. Our twitter account (@adventureaccess) will be the place most frequently updated place, and our trail has officially been moved to the flickr map. The map is a little sparse at the moment, but we'll be updating the trail more frequently as we go.
Thanks for following us on our adventure!
- Evan & Jade
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Jill Wieland on July 10, 2011
Happy Birthday Jade!!! I remember your birth like it was just yesterday!! Love you Aunt Jill
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Dianna on July 11, 2011
Happy Birthday, Jade! July birthdays are the best, even if you spend them walking across the country. Continued good luck and best wishes to you both!
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on July 6, 2011
Evan Burchard
Posted project update #10Walkability, what we've learned so far
Our bodies are adjusting, but we've got a ways to go before this will be "easy" by any stretch of the imagination. We try to be as prepared as possible each day, but certain things have crept up that are hard to know about ahead of time.
-Disappearing sidewalks
-Bad neighborhoods (we're looking at you, Main Street in Worcester)
-Speed limits of roads (for once, we really wish that people would obey these)
-Traffic throughput of a road
Specifically for google maps, we'd love if these issues were more apparent or accessible. Other things on the wishlist might be a streetview tour of a route in video form or a way to optimize for safety/walkability instead of total distance. Even with their warning of "Walking directions are in beta. Use caution – This route may be missing sidewalks or pedestrian paths.", it's unfortunate that we can't rely on what is otherwise a pretty decent tool.
We're getting better at figuring out good ways of routing, but from what we can tell, the tools just aren't there at the moment. However, when we get to a point in our route that just isn't walkable, we are getting pretty good at figuring out safer alternatives, even if they take a little longer!
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t.golden on July 6, 2011
we did a 1100 walk across england and scotland andthe part i didnt prepare for or fully realize is where we walked on roads.. it is dangerous, and now i avoid it if at all possible.. we began to make choices to go around and take trails as much as possible. we did have a route advisor who wasnt with us, but who we called every day and who had done this journey, who helped up through the most congested areas.. walk safe!
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Lisa Buie-Collard on July 6, 2011
That's what this is all about, figuring it out so that the information will be there for those who follow you. You sound like you're doing a great job of documenting and working in 'real life' mode. Thanks for the update!
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on July 4, 2011
Evan Burchard
Posted project update #9Some highlights so far!
Happy 4th of July, everyone!
A quick update: we're almost out of Massachusetts! We'll be crossing into Connecticut the day after tomorrow. Our biggest accomplishment so far is that we walked over 20 miles in a single (very hot!) day! Here are five more awesome things that have happened so far:
- happening across a lemonade stand run by some young entrepreneurs in Natick, MA
- camping outside without being eaten by a bear
- breakfast at Sunnyside Diner in Ashland, MA (we were SO hungry!)
- a visit from our friends Matt & Lisa in Worcester, MA
- seeing fireworks three nights in a row!
As for the frequency of our updates, we're mostly using a solar charger to power our devices, so we're at the mercy of the sun in terms of how much power we have to use! So we'll be uploading pictures, tweeting, and generally updating as frequently as we can but if you haven't seen anything from us in a day or two - we're fine, just conserving our batteries!
Stay tuned.
Jade & Evan
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Lisa Buie-Collard on July 5, 2011
You go Jade and Evan! Glad you're doing so well and all is fun for now. Wondering how your feet are feeling after a twenty mile day!
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Jason Morrison on July 5, 2011
You guys! This is all awesome :) I, for some reason, had July 5 stuck in my head as your departure date - Sorry to have missed your going-away walk!
I'm looking forward to keeping up with your updates. Keep truckin!
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on June 30, 2011Funded!
The Adventure Access Guide: How to Walk Across America by Evan Burchard
We are creating the Adventure Access Trail, a new walking trail from Boston to San Francisco. http://adventureaccess.org
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105% funded $7,383 pledged
- 143 backers
- Funded Jun 30, 2011
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on June 30, 2011
Evan Burchard
Posted project update #8Please join us for the walk send-off: TODAY at 7pm
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Jill Wieland on June 30, 2011
Good luck Jade & Evan, I'll be with you in spirit. I'm about to bake Nate his 33rd b-day cake.
I wish we were all with you today to see you off. I wish any one of us could be with you. We will see you when you get nearer. Love you guys. Aunt Jill xo -
t.golden on June 30, 2011
good luck on your adventure. if you are walking through sedona, you are welcome to stay with me..
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wendy shakespeare on June 30, 2011
It's 6:30 right now which means in 30 mins you will be starting your incredible journey!! I'm looking forward to each & every update ;) stay safe & best of luck!! Aunt Wendy
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Evan Burchard
Somerville, MA
Getting ready to walk really really far.
A good decision! Looking forward to reading more about your adventures in the spring :).