Take a Hike

Who knew I’d be walking before biking this year?  Memorial Day turned warm and breezy with Palm Springs humidity, so Michele and I took to the 606 to do six miles on foot.  Just like Roger Daltrey, I could walk for mile and miles on such a day.

Growing up, we always walked places, to my grandmother’s, the grocery, the Tastee-Freez on 58^th Street.  How do you get a kid to stop complaining?  Why, buy him a foot-long hot dog, of course.  What I learned to do with family I continued on my own.  On Fridays in high school, I’d walk the mile through open fields (my high school was then in the boondocks) to the bus stop.  In college, I seemed to walk everywhere.  On one of our first dates, Michele and I took the “L” to the end of the line and walked back in the direction of DePaul.  It’s so long ago, at least I think that’s what we did.

Walk or ride, which is better?  Force me to choose, and I’ll take biking.  You cover more distance and generate your own breeze, but feet on the ground do serve a purpose, especially on vacation.  When Clare was in third grade, I got to be a contestant on “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” (I did, but higher powers decided otherwise), and we walked all through Manhattan.  Cities are made to walk through, and maybe we’ll do the Brooklyn Bridge one day.  Maybe I’ll ask someone to point out Ebbbets Field for me.