Where do the Country Bumpkins Walk?

burlsgirl · Post by **burlsgirl** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 1:22 pm

I'm describing myself, here. We live on basically 20 acres of pasture. That's in the back. In the front, it's the highway. The fact that there's "nowhere" to walk has been a bone of contention with me the whole time we've lived here. I suppose I could load up the four kids (ages 1-8 ) and trek across the highway to the dollar store (the only business in town) and back again, but that's not going to be much walking time, you know?

Any suggestions for some serious walking time in a tiny town with either pastures or highway with no sidewalks? Assume I'll have all the kids with me.

Thanks!
Em

gratefuldeb67 · Post by **gratefuldeb67** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 1:55 pm

Um, it sounds llike your own backyard would be perfect.
Can you walk around the perimeter, or would you be sinking into marshy mud too much?
Good luck!

Debs

burlsgirl · Post by **burlsgirl** » Tue Nov 18, 2008 2:18 pm

Hi Debs!
I can (and sometimes do) walk in my backyard, but it's boring as all get out! I hate walking without going somewhere, you know? That's why I no longer own a treadmill!

Maybe I'll just make it a point to get out once a day for however long, then just keep doing my intervals.

Thanks for replying!
Em

CharlieAngel · Post by **CharlieAngel** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 12:14 am

20 acres.. boring as heck... Hrm...

Get your workout in and plant a garden around the perimeter and build a meandering walking path! Teach the kids all about the local ecology in doing so.

Set out some bird feeders, do some bird watching while you're out. Grab a camera, take pics of flowers, etc. If you lack destinations, make your own..

Post by **reinhard** » Wed Dec 10, 2008 2:38 pm

Any interesting critters on those pastures? Any woods or such around?

"Country walks" seem like a more straightforwardly attractive prospect than city walks. Just pretend you're someone out of a Jane Austin novel going on a "long walk." Even if you don't live in Merchant Ivory caliber English countryside, there's gotta be something around to capture the imagination. Maybe your initial walks can be reconnaissance missions/perceptual scavenger hunts to find something of the sort if nothing comes to mind.

Reinhard

15n@50 · Post by **15n@50** » Mon Feb 02, 2009 2:36 am

Urban Rangers, Oddly enough, rural rangering does not have that many advantages.

For one thing, for a good part of the year, there are people with guns and such skulking about in those woods. A few years back I took my dog for a walk along an old sunken cart path between stone walls on land owned by one of the preservation societies. We came upon a guy crouched down in the middle of the path, dressed in fatigues and carrying a very serious looking bow with an arrow nocked and ready to go. I nodded and kept on walking but I was glad that I hadn't let my dog off the leash. And that I wasn't wearing one of those funny hats with the antlers.

And then there are the narrow country roads (no sidewalks or shoulders) which make walking difficult when there is any traffic at all. It is even worse when there is a lot of snow on the ground.

Give me city walking anytime! Or public park lands close to cities because they often don't allow hunting.

Em, On the other hand 20 acres sounds awesome. The first thought that came to mind was a 20 acre maze -but then again you might need the pasture to be pasture. Or maybe set up a path on the perimeter with exercise stations for yourself and/or obstacles for the kids. Of course if you've got dangerous animals in the pastures it is always fun to duck under the fence and then run like hell when they chase you.

Excellent exercise. Really gets the blood going.

mjn · Post by **mjn** » Tue Feb 10, 2009 3:13 pm

I live in the country and find that I love walking in the country the best. I love nature, so that makes it fun for me. I walk alot and yes, even when the snow drifts in the ditches are 2 ft. higher than me. I love the change of seasons and like walking in all kinds of weather. I have a 5 mile course that I walk and I change up some of my walks to include walking in beanfields and pasture. I walk mostly on gravel and some on highway. I choose gravel because it is less traveled. I take my dogs and they love the exercise. I feel blessed to have the places to walk that I have. I look for animal tracks as I walk and I look at wildflowers and birds. I cross 2 bridges when I walk and I love to look at the creek below. Anyway, that is where this country bumpkin walks.

brotherjohn · Post by **brotherjohn** » Thu Feb 12, 2009 3:00 pm

I'm a country bumpkin, too, and this discussion has renewed my faith in the world. I have decided I am going to become a rural ranger.

I think that the reason that I have resisted it until now, is because in the country you really CAN'T walk many places as a mode of transportation. I live 5 miles outside of a town of 300 people. I can't really walk to town...especially without being run over on the highway. I also can't walk to work...because that is 35 miles away!

(Maybe this helps account for why Mississippi is the fattest state in the Union. That, and also the fact that we deep-fry everything. We would eat deep-fried bicycle tire...if it were rolled in corn meal first.)

Reinhard, I take your pronouncements very seriously. And up til now I have not been able to take a rural ramble without feeling that I am one of those people wearing the ridiculous walking-get-up that you describe. I mean...after all...I am not really going anywhere.

But, from this moment own, I will think of myself as a rural ranger. I will no longer feel that the no-essers see me as a cracker in a neon jumpsuit walking in search of my next Krispy Kreme. Instead, they know that I am Henry David Thoreau walking to my cabin on Walden Pond.

blessings,

John

Post by **reinhard** » Fri Feb 13, 2009 5:30 pm

Brother John,

I will no longer feel that the no-essers see me as a cracker in a neon jumpsuit walking in search of my next Krispy Kreme. Instead, they know that I am Henry David Thoreau walking to my cabin on Walden Pond.

I love it. This is brilliant. The Don Quixote workout

I'm sorry if my "aqua sweatpants" comment ever seemed discouraging -- but if it led to this, then I guess it serve its purpose after all!

Reinhard

brotherjohn · Post by **brotherjohn** » Sat Feb 14, 2009 8:22 pm

No apology needed, Reinhard.

Knowing that you are a Lutheran, we can't expect you to speak "Ex Cathedra"

You are a gentleman and a scholar! May your tribe increase!!

Post by **reinhard** » Wed Feb 18, 2009 5:39 pm

Ah, but I am an ecumenical Lutheran

Reinhard

bonnieUK · Post by **bonnieUK** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 5:27 pm

reinhard wrote: "Country walks" seem like a more straightforwardly attractive prospect than city walks. Just pretend you're someone out of a Jane Austin novel going on a "long walk."

I'm lucky to be able to fit in both urban and country, and I'd say they both have pros and cons, urban walks have nice flat paths & a distinct lack of mud, but the downside of car pollution and dull grey concrete backdrop. Country walks give one the opportunity to pretend to be a Lothlorien Elf just nipping down to Hobbiton for tea

however possible mud and lack of a structured route can be annoying. The clean air is a distinct bonus though.

bonnieUK · Post by **bonnieUK** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 5:29 pm

p.s. on second thoughts, where I live is probably more like Rivendell than Lothlorien

Finnigan · Post by **Finnigan** » Wed Mar 11, 2009 12:23 pm

I live 5 miles outside of a town of 300 people.

I often wonder how far little Laura Engles walked to school each day. Didn't someone post a while back that the average person 100 years ago or so walked over 5 miles a day?

MysteryLover · Post by **MysteryLover** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 6:16 pm

Well guys, I'm neither an Urban Ranger, nor a Rural Ranger. I guess I would be a SubUrban Ranger. That poses it's own problems. I live just a little too far to walk to anywhere productive, yet I don't quite feel safe walking the streets alone. Any ideas? I'm thinking of driving to the neighboring housing developement and walking along those streets. They are a bit more populated. Maybe I can even recruit a few friends from there to walk with me. What do you think?

BTW, I'm laughing at the previous post that mentions someone lurking in the woods in fatigues. A similar situation happened to me with shotgun hunters just walking down the street - scary!

Post by **reinhard** » Thu Apr 02, 2009 8:05 pm

I often wonder how far little Laura Engles walked to school each day.

Not sure about the mileage, but I assume her step count would have been something like this:

From:

http://www.acsm.org/AM/Template.cfm?Sec ... ENTID=4205

The results of the study indicate that a very high level of physical activity is integrated into the daily lives of the Amish. Amish men, who mostly work as farmers, reported an average of 10 hours of vigorous work per week and took an average of 18,425 steps a day. One man recorded more than 51,000 steps in a single day by walking behind a team of horses while farming. Women, most of whom report being homemakers, engaged in more moderate forms of activity such as gardening, cooking, and childcare, but still achieved an average of 14,196 daily steps. Other forms of physical activity performed were determined and quantified by the questionnaire, which asked the participants to record three physical activities they performed each day. On average, the Amish participated in roughly six times the amount of weekly physical activity performed by nearly 2,000 participants in a recent survey in 12 modernized nations.

yet I don't quite feel safe walking the streets alone. Any ideas?

Form a suburban ranger posse?

You might be surprised, if you try it a bit, to find there are some interesting and safe and maybe even useful routes to walk. Worth some reconnaissance.

Reinhard