A Walk Across America

I have been using A Walk Across America, by Peter Jenkins as a required reading for over ten years, in The Lifestyle Enhancement class I instruct at Southeast Missouri State University. I also require: Tuesday's With Maurie. These two exemplary accounts of life and its meaning and purpose, serve as a primary source of motivation for the seventy five behavior change projects each student must engage in each semester.
At the conclusion of each semester I ask the over 100 students enrolled in all three sections, if I should reduce the required readings, by eliminating either book? The answer is an emphatic, no! I have included some comments from students presently enrolled in the class.
"This book definitely affected me in a positive way. I believe that I always look for the deeper meaning in things, and this book had a pretty obvious one. In a time period where everything is getting ready to change for me (I am graduating in May, moving, and starting a career), it made me realize that other people are scared too, and that you can be successful even if you are afraid and unsure now".
"Reading this book has made me think more about the decisions I've made in the past and now. I believe that my life is somewhat like Peter's life was before he decided to "walk". I have done, and still do a lot of things that other people expect of me. Don't get me wrong they are all beneficial things, but they are done for the wrong reasons. Things I do, choices I make should be for me, not for one that wishes they could've live their own life in a different way. I admire the fact that peter just decided that he was going to "walk" his life out. He now could have some control over the problems he faced and how he would, himself, solve them".
The words and tales Peter Jenkins described helped move my students out of their comfort zone, and created an amenability and impetus for change. A Walk Across America is an outstanding tool to create insight and pride in our country and most importantly the book serves as the motivation for students to walk out of the ordinary and into an extraordinary lifestyle.
Additionally, students are assigned a take home midterm and are asked to answer four questions about the book and must summarize each in two pages. I have included some student responses, which document the progress students have made in both intra and interpersonal growth. I am aware of no better way to get students to examine their lifestyle.
"I think that I will grow from this book, because it has showed me that I can do anything that I put my mind to. There is nothing that is impossible it is just a matter of me getting out there and doing it. This man trained himself, put his body through hell, and still was victorious in what he wanted to do. This also showed me that there is a great world out there and many great people. Sometimes it seems that when things are not going so well in my life that I want to blame it on other people. I now realize that I am the only person that can make myself happy. I am in charge of my own fate, and no one can take that away from me. The main thing that I learned from this book is that anything is possible once you put your mind to it. I want to leave this paper with one of my favorite quotes that I feel is most fitting for Peter Jenkin's story. "A Journey of a Thousand Miles begins with one step".
"I think I will grow by letting myself "walk" after graduation. I am not going to walk across the country, but I think I will explore my options a little more. Maybe it isn't so important that I get a job in my field immediately. There are some things I would love to do first and maybe this is the perfect time to try them."
I am certain, that without this classic book, A Walk Across America, I would not be able to move my students from where they begin to where they need to be.

...I am a professor at a well known, highly ranked college and before that for ten years a high school teacher.

For all the years I have been using A WALK ACROSS AMERICA in my classes, no book I have ever used has been so beloved and accessable and taught so much in Peter Jenkins' ever so subtle way to my students. That means, no book, including several classics. Of course, Jenkins book having been a best seller since 1979 and having had over 100 printings is no considered a classic...There is no travel book, and for that matter almost no other book, published in the last twenty years that can match the sales and reaction performance of A WALK ACROSS AMERICA.

Obviously no book appeals to everyone but A WALK ACROSS AMERICA comes close based on reactions over my fifteen years of teaching thousands of very opinionated students...

Even before I had ever heard of this book, I wanted to do what Peter Jenkins did and just hit the road. So my judgement might be more than a little biased.

Nevertheless, I thought this was a very good read. There's at least two levels to the book. The first of course is the journey. Some guy walks from Upstate New York to New Orleans. How could that be boring? It's a really good story with adventure, freindship (I felt like I knew his dog), thrills, big thoughts, a little bit of romance at the end, and most impoartant of all, great characters.

That brings me to the second level of this book. The characters Jenkins meets make you stop and think. From the poor black family that invited him into their meager home for several months, to the lonesome mountain hermit, and the Guv'nah of Alabamy. I don't want to sound like an after-school special, but Jenkins's experiences make you rethink your assumptions and sterotypes. Take the hippie commune farm, for example. I won't reveal the biggest plot point that occurred there, but one thing that really struck me was their pushiness. Even though hippies are "supposed to be" accepting, peaceful, and have a kind of "do whatever you want, man" attitude, they were relentless on pushing their ideas onto Jenkins, insisting that he join them and that their way of life was the best.

So in short, I say read this book. EVen if you don't want to get into the sociology of it, it can stand up as a fantastic adventure story. Heck, if I had a couple million dollars and could cram the whole thing into two hours (and still do it justice), I'd make it a movie, just so even more people could know about it.

Peter Jenkins story of his 1973-1975 walk from New York to New Orleans is one of those books that you just can not put done once you have started. You will find yourself thinking about the book when you should be doing other things and you can't wait to pick it up again. When I finished reading the book I wanted more. I even purchased the old April 1977 National Geographic Magazine to read his article that he wrote for them and see even more of the pictures of his journey. Luckly, Jenkins journey does not stop in New Orleans, his walk continues and so do his books: The Walk West, The Road Unseen, Close Friends, and Across China.

Peter Jenkins says, "I started out searching for myself and my country and found both." The story would have been good enough just hearing about the trip, the things that he saw, how he survived, and the companionship of his faithful dog; but what make the book great is the people. The people that he meets, how they accept him, and in some cases don't. It is the sociology as well as the adventure that make this one of the best books I ever read for pleasure.

When I was 18 and my great-grandmother was 78, she gave me this paperback, saying, "I loved this book! Full of laughter -- and tears." Almost twenty years later, I still consider it to be the best story I have ever read. It has inspired me to read more, write more, and especially, love my country and the people in it more. Peter Jenkins' printed words are so richly descriptive and heartfelt, the reader will know each character as a close friend and each location as if the Keds were his/her own! This is a timeless classic.