Desideravo acquisire la semplicità, i sentimenti puri e le virtù della vita selvaggia, spogliarmi delle abitudini artificiali, dei pregiudizi e delle imperfezioni del mondo civilizzato; [...] e trovare, nella solitudine e nella grandiosità del selvaggio ovest, vedute più corrette della natura umana e dei veri interessi dell'uomo. La stagione delle nevi andava preferita, perché potessi sperimentare il piacere della sofferenza e la novità del pericolo.

Estwick Evans, A pedestrian tour, of four thousand miles, through the western states and territoires, during the winter and spring of 1818, p. 207 Citato in Krakauer, Jon. Nelle terre estreme. 25a ed. Milano: Corbaccio, 2013.

Have you ever been at work or in a meeting and had an overwhelming desire to escape, just get up and run away? This happened to John Ahern in the inconvenient setting of a Board meeting of one of the nation’s largest companies. He may have had it all: a high-flying job, big house, loving wife and two great kids, but it hit him that if this was success why did he sense he was failing as a husband and father?

He is walking from New York to Minneapolis, a distance of 1,446 miles. He expects to make it in 60 day. He is 75 years old and has covered 100.000 miles in long-distance walk in his lifetime. His greatest walk was in 1906, when he hiked clear across the American continent. Upon completion of his present walk Weston will lay the cornerstone of the new clubhouse of the Minneapolis Athletic club.

Man, wife and dog hike afoot from Seattle
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