Physical training

Recent articles

• Rolling the odometer over the Tigris River
  I am on track to roll the odometer, knock on wood, with some friends in Portland over Memorial Day weekend. (By “roll the odometer” I mean walk my 1,000th mile — I have 869 so far.) That naturally got me to thinking, where will I roll the odometer in Turkey? So I consulted my route […]
• Descending to the Mediterranean – Konya to Silifke
  The leg from Konya to Silifke is about 160 miles, so it’ll take me 2-3 weeks to walk it. I estimate I’ll be passing through this area in mid-November. The route climbs from Konya’s 3350 feet to over 5000 feet, and then drops to sea level. Most of the drop occurs over a 25-mile stretch […]
• On the plateau – Lake Egirdir to Konya
  This leg is about 150 miles long, so it’ll take me two or three weeks to cover it. The first week or so will be a time of lakeshores and memories of St. Paul. I’ll spend a couple days walking along Lake Egirdir — it’s not a huge lake, but remember I’m walking, so my […]
• FAQ: What is the latitude?
  Q: What is the latitude of the trip? A: The trip takes place between 36 degrees North and 39 degrees North. Similar latitudes in the US would be San Francisco, Denver, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C. […]
• Bought my ticket
  The other day I walked my 600th training mile. These days I carry a fully-weighted backpack when I walk, since I’ll need to be able to carry everything with me. I am on track, knock on wood, to hit the 1,000-mile mark in Portland over Memorial Day weekend while I’m doing a walk with my […]
• Plan B
  Syria’s looking a little choppy these days, so I’ve been working on a Plan B. Maybe Syria will have it all sorted out by the time I show up, but you never know. Plan B would have me walking the full length of Turkey, from the Aegean coast to Iran. 1300 miles, just no Syria, […]
• Why I want to walk
  Yesterday some people asked me why I want to walk. Why not take some other form of transport, they asked me, like a bus? It was an excellent question. Taking a bus would in fact allow me to see more of the country. Walking will limit my range. If something is a mere 60 miles […]
• Climbing onto the plateau — Denizli to Lake Egirdir
  This leg begins at Denizli, a city about 1,000 feet above sea level, with a population of about 500,000. From Denizli I will climb about 2,000 feet onto the edge of the Central Anatolia plateau. The climb is very gradual — it’ll take me about a week, since I’ll only be covering about 12 miles […]
• Solo but not alone
  Until recently I found myself waking up in the middle of the night wondering where will I sleep on that first night outside Kusadasi, 12 miles into a 1300-mile journey. Is someone going to take me in and let me sleep on their living room floor? If I sleep on the side of the road, […]
• Menderes river valley
  The journey will begin in the Aegean port town of Kusadasi. Kusadasi means “bird island.”  The city’s primary industry is tourism.  Tourists come by sea on cruise ships, and by air and land from Europe and within Turkey. The city’s base population is about 65,000, but during the summer tourist months the city’s population can […]