(Entertainment-NewsWire.com, December 12, 2014 ) Chicago, IL -- Each year, an uncounted number of adventurers attempt to walk coast-to-coast across America. One man who did the long walk hopes to help make cross-country walking safer by helping long walkers tell their stories.sharing their experience.
Chicago based writer and transcontinental hiker Tyler Coulson has launched IWalkedAcrossAmerica.com and HowToWalkAcrossAmerica.com to bring new attention to this growing pastime. Coulson and his dog, Mabel, walked across America in 2011, an adventure that became the subject of the 2012 book By Men or By the Earth. Since then, he has seen transcontinental walking grow in popularity and become more mainstream.
"Each year it seems like more people than the year before," Coulson said. "I wouldn't trade my experience walking across America for anything--but that doesn't change the fact that it is an inherently dangerous activity. When people ask me for advice about taking the walk, the first thing I tell them is to consider not doing it!"
But people rarely listen to reason, according to Coulson. After answering more questions and responding to more emails than he could count, he compiled much of what he'd learned on the road in a book called How To Walk Across America (And Not Be An A**hole) Vol. I, in which he did strongly suggest people not walk across America.
"If people are going to continue doing this, then I'd like to see it become safer. The only way that can happen is through education." Coulson hopes to make cross-country hiking safer by raising awareness of what Coulson calls "The Long Walk", and by providing a forum for successful cross-country walkers to share their tips and inspiration.
At IWalkedAcrossAmerica.com, a community of transcontinental walkers are keeping a list of names and statistics of people who have successfully walked from coast-to-coast, or farther, and providing a curated forum for successful long-distance hikers to share bits of their stories. Most people who walk across America do so for a cause, and the site will help cause walkers as they are known continue to discuss their causes after they complete a transcontinental hike. Many people do the Long Walk for personal reasons, and they are invited to share their inspiration, as well.
Coulson hopes that HowToWalkAcrossAmerica.com will be a useful resource for anyone considering taking a Long Walk, regardless of whether the potential walk is for a cause, to get in shape, or just to see the country. Coulson and other transcontinental hikers will discuss the pros and cons of transcontinental hiking, share tips and tricks from the road, and help potential walkers decide whether such a long walk is really right for them.
"I think the goal is to build a community of people who are interested in these crazy, epic, long-distance pilgrimages. Look, I'm funding these sites with sales of a book called How To Walk Across America And Not Be an A**hole--and it's not exactly a best seller. So this isn't really about making money. I just want people to know that it is possible to get out there and do a coast-to-coast pilgrimage, and that there are people doing it every year. I want people to be as safe as possible."
About The Walkout Syndicate:
The Walkout Syndicate is a small, independent publisher of transformational personal stories and genre bending fiction. Founded in 2012 to publish By Men or By the Earth, The Walkout Syndicate is now accepting limited submissions.
