Peter Jenkins · 1979 · overland

Peter Jenkins set out from upstate New York in 1973, disillusioned with his country, and walked, with his dog Cooper and later his wife Barbara. A Walk Across America and its sequel The Walk West together trace the whole crossing: south through Appalachia to New Orleans, then west across Texas, over the Rockies and on to the Oregon coast, reached in 1979. He later walked across China and elsewhere. The books are remembered above all for the strangers who took him in.

1. 1
   Alfred

   A disillusioned young graduate sets out on foot with his dog Cooper to find out what America really is.

2. 2
   The Smoky Mountains

   South down the Appalachians, taken in by a mountain hermit and by a Black family in North Carolina.

3. 3
   New Orleans

   Through the mills of the Deep South to New Orleans, where he meets and marries Barbara.

4. 4
   Texas

   West with Barbara across Louisiana and the vast, hospitable spaces of Texas.

5. 5
   The Rocky Mountains

   Over the Continental Divide and the Rockies of Colorado.

6. 6
   Florence

   And down at last to the Pacific at Florence, Oregon, five years and a continent from where he began.