Why?

Picture of the LRWT while journeying through Savanna, Illinois. Photo by Lori Gum.

Why Am I Pulling A Friggin’ Little Red Wagon Through America?
I conjured up this project with one simple idea in mind, to walk and pull a little red Radio Flyer wagon with what little I could carry while “Living off what fat of the land remains.”

…that, and ideals too grandiose and complicated to express properly here.

While the ideals still propel me on to discover some deep-seated need that I cannot yet explain, I’ve come to learn so far on this journey Why? is not a question but an opportunity for any individual to interpret the answer as they may.

Here’s a few of mine:

• To get out of the house
• See what’s over the horizon, over there
• On a dare, said I’d pull the little red wagon till I found another cup of coffee as good as the house coffee at Steep & Brew back on State Street in my hometown, Madison, Wisconsin
• To “…burn the fat off my soul.”
• It is what it is
• It’s performance art, and the journey is the canvas
• Strangers become friends
• To go where no man has gone before – pulling a little red wagon
• To simplify life for awhile; to listen to the sound of the feet on the earth, and to be humbled by the overwhelming existence of the universe at night (simplified definition: to get real again)
• To learn to laugh at myself
• To learn to cry, again
• To challenge myself, like a mountain climber would challenge themselves; to do a seemingly irrelevant thing not for the act of doing it but the process
• The little red wagon is my church
• To finally memorize by rote the correct spelling of epiphany
• It’s my job I like to do
• For serendipitous experiences
• To live life for awhile not to produce widgets but to create why-nots

Thanks for your interest in this journey!

Jeff

Below is rigamarole I’ll probably delete soon…

Here's a crowd gathered 'round the ol' wagon at the Wheeler Council Ring in Madison, wishing the "Train" a safe journey.

The LRWT project is my own puppy I dreamed up on a whim…that one day, as I write this today, pulling a little red wagon through America would make all the sense in the world. 

With the Radio Flyer wagon in tow, my Log Cabin RV, with all the amenities (see video) one needs to camp each night, I’d Live off what fat of the land we have left. That and grocery stores.   

It all began at the Wheeler Council Ring in Madison, Wisconsin. From that day in early September through November 2009, I walked what I figured 480 of the 600 miles mostly along the Mississippi river to Jackson, Missouri, just about 8 miles from Cape Girardeau.

As serendipity would have it, a friend was traveling back from a holiday visit in Madison to San Antonio, a previous stomping ground of mine, so I chose to ride along with him and winter in his home in San Antonio. From here sometime in February, I will begin again… 

Along that first leg of this journey, it became increasingly obvious that the meeting of people, myself and others, strangers, gave us all a sense of belonging–isn’t that ironic?–that some fuel called ambition and moments golden I can only describe as serendipity and an innocence of generous support bonded us to moments that, as a wonderful memory, one can hang upon a wall like a cherished painting. 

With continued support, more of those moments can be published here at the LRWT blog. Here’s one example for you, meeting up with Lori while we were both visiting Savanna, Illinois who took the “tracks” photo below.  

I plan I wish I hope (fate has the final say, of course) I will make it to the coast of Oregon by 2011. That’s where I’ll hang up the tennis shoes and park the wagon and go sit down on a beach and watch the sea and wait for the waves to tell me what next to do. Maybe put pontoons on the wagon? Ha! 

Whatever it is I’ll then do, I do know it will not be common.  

I’ve constantly been asked “Why?” on this journey. I’ve replied a zillion reasons, standing there, wagon in tow, out in the middle of a nowhere. Now, I can honestly say, “I don’t know.” Something just friggin’ tells me to do this. If there is a cause, it is what has come up on its own during my experiences on the first leg of the journey: It’s the population expansion of our entire race, and its overall effect on every aspect of our lives.  

 It’s quiet literally performance art, an en plein air project–it will be what it will become.  

 Have you felt that way, too, some unexplainable need to do whatever it is that seemingly makes no sense to anyone but you? I call that art.  

You’re invited to share in the LRWT journey at this blog, and watch for “Train” if it happens to be coming to your area.  Up near the right-hand corner of this blog is “Get LRWT Updates!” for you to sign in for email updates. 

Another way to “participate” is check out the sponsor page on this blog–the LRWT is in need of a few digital goodies! (and tennis shoes!). Go check out what’s needed…   

And, thanks so much for your interest, if indeed you’ve read this far.

Jeff