"Walking is Man’s best medicine." (Hippocrates) |
The
presentation also included photos illustrating Phil’s account of his
amazing journey, on which he also met Pam, his new wife-to-be. New
Orleans at the time gave the impression of a war zone because of the
flooding following Hurricane Katrina. It was amusing to hear that Phil
also used a pushchair, which he had found and in the end pushed for 700
to 800 miles to transport his belongings. Admittedly, this did feel a
bit silly at times, and he was stopped several times by police alerted
by bewildered locals or tourists. Occasionally Phil met other people,
even other translators, who like him were walking through America,
albeit mostly for other such as religious reasons.
Phil Goddard |
Phil wrapped up his presentation, which had without doubt managed to capture the audience's attention, by quoting Hippocrates' aphorism “Walking is Man’s best medicine“ and mentioning some interesting statistical data concerning his walk. For example, he had been on the move for a duration of 11 months; he had walked for 3,091 miles overall and about 7 million steps; the number of dogs that had barked at him amounted to around 970; he had lost 15 pounds; the number of boots worn amounted to a total of 3; etc.
Check out Phil’s walk blog and the New Orleans blog.