One column in particular was dedicated to the existence and promotion of the American Discovery Trail, by which users can hike from one coast to the other - that is to say, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean or vice versa. Anyhow, I have previously submitted articles about topics such as visiting national parks, purposefully driving tiered highway systems, and completing treks through all the counties in each state among other largely impractical yet satisfying pursuits. Google “moth memes” for further information you will be greatly entertained. So why did I embark on a seventeen-mile easterly jaunt from Tuckahoe State Park to Hickman? For starters, if you have read my other Caroline Review think pieces, you know I am drawn to travel checklists like a moth to a flame. Nevertheless, I persisted across Caroline County. Little Enos Burdette in Smokey and the Bandit put it more bluntly: “A legend and an out-of-work bum look a lot alike.” Ouch. To be sure, the role of walking personality is a job that pays zero dollars.
None of the fanfare, laurels, and global publicity - not to mention free dinners for life at local restaurants - that undoubtedly would accompany the feat could be counted as motivation, however.
To my knowledge, no county native has ever completed or even attempted the journey and for that matter probably never even contemplated such a quixotic endeavor.
This is my story, gonzo journalism style. With these works of art fresh on my mind and with total disregard for my deteriorating forty-something body, an idea for a romanticized quest dawned on me: I should walk across Caroline County. Robert Redford and Nick Nolte subsequently starred in the film version, though they were depicted as much older than Bryson and his companion Stephen Katz were at the time. Readers may be familiar with the creative non-fiction book A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson that chronicles the aging travel writer’s abortive attempt to complete all 2,200 or so miles of the Appalachian Trail.
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