Two weeks ago I was alerted to an anniversary. A fiftieth anniversary, as a matter of fact, for one Peter Jenkins and his walk across America.

Yeah, Peter Jenkins, author of A Walk Across America, began said walk on October 15, 1973. Started in upstate New York, actually, though in the book he insists on calling it “upper” New York. (That little detail bothered me the first time I read the story and it still does, but I digress.)

The first time I read A Walk Across America was in the early months of 2006, when I was making a similar journey myself. Well, not exactly, similar, as I wasn’t walking from place to place. But I did put away my college degree and live the tramp life for a few months a la Peter Jenkins. I too started in “upper” New York, made my first stop in Washington, D.C., then worked for a time in North Carolina. A year and a half of walking brought Jenkins to New Orleans, and that had been my ultimate destination as well, though I’m afraid my journey fell a little short.

Last week I started rereading Walk and am enjoying the reminiscing.

However many years it’s been.