Taking A Walk

by Dwayne Phillips

I want to walk down U.S. Highway 11 from Northern Virginia to Louisiana.

I’ve had this desire for several years now. This all started in 1980 when I graduated college and moved from Southeast Louisiana to the Northern Virginia suburbs of Washington D.C. With breaks for graduate school and living outside the U.S., I (then my wife and I) drove from Northern Virginia to Louisiana and back twice a year.

We drove on Interstates 81, 40, 75,and 59. We would see exit signs pointing to the small towns all along this route. Often, the small towns were on U.S. Highway 11. I looked at this on the maps and learned that 11 paralleled most of our drive on the Interstates. Perhaps one day, we would drive the route on Highway 11 instead of the Interstates. That would be interesting. But then somehow I thought that it would be more interesting to walk along Highway 11.

Well, here we are. The time to walk won’t be any better for us. Inspired by friends who have hiked the Appalachian Trail and by books of travel and walking, we are doing this. We are walking down Highway 11 from Northern Virginia to Louisiana. This is about 1,100 miles.

Phase 1: Virginia

Life has a way of altering plans. So it is with a little regret, that we are breaking our walk into phases. Phase 1 has begun: Northern Virginia to the Virginia–Tennessee border. This is about 350 miles, and we should be able to do this in 30 days of walking. It will take us a third of the way to Louisiana.

I hope that Phases 2 and 3 will occur during 2009.

Phase 2: The Virginia–Tennessee Border to Birmingham, Alabama

Phase 3: Birmingham, Alabama into Louisiana