Walk to the White House

Bricks ….

BJ Hill — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 04:47:08 +0000

… Built the 234 foot Phoenix Shot Tower.

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Bricks ….

BJ Hill — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 04:45:40 +0000

More than one million of them ….

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The Greatest City in America

BJ Hill — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 04:41:19 +0000

A park bench near the Phoenix Shot Tower. Getting closer to downtown Baltimore.

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Baltimore Skyline

BJ Hill — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 04:30:54 +0000

Approaching Baltimore from the north. It was Sunday afternoon and I was about 48 hours from finishing in Washington DC.

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They’re in the Band

BJ Hill — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 04:27:51 +0000

Matt and TK were driving to a gig when they saw the sign on my backpack and stopped to see what’s up.

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From Muppet Labs … Will Obama be re-elected?

BJ Hill — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 04:20:39 +0000

From Muppet Labs, Where the Future is Being Made Today. (Wait… isn’t that the corporate slogan of Google? Hahaha…)
Just a few blocks away from here I passed a large group of Baltimoreans standing in lines in an empty parking lot. A company or organization (the people I spoke with weren’t sure who it was exactly) was giving away free cell phones. While I stood with them, about 40-50 African Americans, I introduced myself and told them what I was doing. Of that entire group from this economically depressed northern Baltimore neighborhood, the only person who wanted to write a message to the president was a middle-aged white woman who remembered reading my story from 08. But since I left Boston, I met a surprising number of people who were reluctant or outright refused to write a message to the president. Also that day I met a gentleman who was bicycling up the East Coast. He had canvassed door to door for Obama in Florida in 2008, but when I gave him the book and pen to write his message to his man three years later, he held up his palm with an “Er, I prefer not.” I’m no political analyst, but the nu?ber of people I witnesses who feel like they want to distance themselves from Obama may not bode well for his re-election bid.

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Crack Kills

BJ Hill — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 03:38:48 +0000

Sometimes I get funny walking by myself.

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Baltimore!

BJ Hill — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 03:37:22 +0000

It seemed like I had been in Baltimore County forever, but on Sunday afternoon I finally reached the Baltimore City limits.

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Pastor Jenn

BJ Hill — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 03:36:02 +0000

As I walked through Baltimore, I stayed with my friend Jenn, who is a pastor at a Presbyterian Church. When I stayed with her and her family in 08, it was during the week, but on this walk I was there on a Saturday night, so I got to see her deliver service on Sunday morning. It was kind of cool to see someone I knew personally stand in front of a congregation, deliver the sermon, and be regarded as the spiritual leader of the community. Later she introduced me to her congregation and I collected a few more letters, and afterwsrds her husband, JT, drove me back to the Happy Day Diner in Rosedale, where I left off the previous night.

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WTF?

BJ Hill — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 03:24:13 +0000

Crosswalk painters have feelings, too.

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The Gnome isn’t home

BJ Hill — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 03:19:06 +0000

My gnome wanted to stay, until he saw the creepo gnome lying down and staring at him. We were outta there.

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The Gnome is Home

BJ Hill — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 03:15:45 +0000

My friend Kristy gave me a pocket garden gnome to carry with me on my travels. You may have noticed him in a few of these photos, he’s the gnome in the red hat. He lived a life of solitude in a side flap of backpack, until we came across this village of gnomes occupying a landscaping store in Central Maryland.

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Masjid Al-Falaah

BJ Hill — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 00:17:35 +0000

While I was hiking on Philadelphia Road in Abingdon, I passed a church group holding selling plates of food at a cookout. I was a might peckish after walking from Havre de Grace, so I stopped in to fill up my belly (and my book.) The church group was a Masjid (mosque) Al-Falaah. I chipped in for a hot meal and a can of Coke, introduced myself and explained I was going to meet President Obama. Everyone there was welcoming and I collected some pretty good messages. One man was a registered Republican who canvassed for Obama in ’08, another man operated a carpet company in New Jersey and offered me a place to stay next time I came through. The teenagers in the background, who were talking about applying to colleges, “spread their culture through funny videos” and invited President Obama to check them out (www.youtube.com/rwnlpwnl)

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The Pre-Declaration of Indepence

BJ Hill — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 23:49:32 +0000

I learned there was a tertiary road paralleling my road, so after Aberdeen I walked a little out of my way to reach it. Highway 7, Philadelphia Road, is a nice rural byway which offered an afternoon’s repieve from the four lane monotony of Highway 40. Along the way I passed these two markers, which notes the site of the signing of the first pre-Declaration of Independence. The plaque on the stone lists the members of the committee who signed their names, and the standing sign reads: “Bush Declaration – Harford Town – County seat of Harford County from its origin March, 1774, until March, 1783. Here the first Declaration of Independence ever adopted by an organized body of men duly elected by the people was proclaimed on March 22, 1775.”

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Dear Mr. President

BJ Hill — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 23:31:45 +0000

An Iraq War veteran writes his letter to President Obama.

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The Price of Gas, 2008 versus 2011

BJ Hill — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 23:21:24 +0000

When I collected messages in 2008, one of the most popular topics across the country was the price of gas. As prices approached $4/gallon, Americans from California to Alabama pled for the president to dom something to relieve the pressure on their pocketbooks. “It’s getting so bad I can’t afford to drive to work,” said one woman.
I saw prices peak in September of 08. I was walking through northern Alabama just weeks after Hurricane Ivan had disrupted the supply line. I saw cars waiting in long queues, gas stations impose gallon limits, and pumps run clean out. Then, it seemed almost overnight, folks stopped writing about gas. Words like “Bailout” and “TARP” were taking over the headlines, and people began to realize there was something big going on with the economy.
Anyways, the gas prices fell that autumn (like they usually do) and stayed relatively low for the next few summers. I snapped this photo of petrol prices in Maryland in November ’11. While gas prices were such a hot topic in ’08, I took exactly zero messages on this topic in ’11.

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Aberdeen, MD

BJ Hill — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 23:21:18 +0000

Aberdeen, MD, home of one of my heroes, “Cal Ripken, Jr. Cal Ripken played for the Baltimore Orioles for 21 years and never missed a single day. His 2,632-game attendance is a Major League record and eraned him the nickname “Iron Man.”
I also like this town because it reminds me of that Simpsons episode when Groundskeeper Willie wakes up, shouts “Go Aberdeen!” and falls back to sleep again.

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Golden Corral

BJ Hill — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 23:21:12 +0000

I knew I was heading in the right direction when I began seeing Golden Corrals. Mmmmmmm….

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TEST

BJ Hill — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 23:20:08 +0000

Sent from my T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide

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Havre de Grace

BJ Hill — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:53:28 +0000

The next morning we were up bright early and I was on my way. My destination was Joppatowne, 18 miles southwest. Seventy-two miles to the White House.

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Happy Thanksgiving

BJ Hill — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:48:53 +0000

Thursday night I reached the Hatem Memorial Bridge on Highway 40, which crosses the Susquehanna River between Perryville and Havre de Grace. I had tangled with this bridge in 08, when it was being reconstructed, and the law is quite clear: no pedestrians. It’s over a mile long, too long to make a break for it. In ’08 the friend I was staying with, Bo, offered to give me a lift over it. This time I was staying with the mother of a friend from AmeriCorps (she lives in HdG and he lives on Cape Cod). She picked me up in Perryville, drove me back to her house (where I had also stayed in ’08), and shared some of her daughter’s Thanksgiving leftovers. I called my family (who was celebrating the holiday in Philadelphia) and then dug in. Yum, so much better than the gas station sandwich.

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On GPS

BJ Hill — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:35:29 +0000

By the end of Thursday evening I had gotten of Highway 40 and took a side road to Perryville. (I should note that in 2008 I used my Tom Tom GPS to plot and check my course, in 2011 I was using almost exclusively Google Maps on my Droid… it was easier to activate the phone, which was always on, instead stopping, firing up the GPS, waiting for a satellite signal, inputting the destination, etc… though I did still carry the Tom Tom as a backup). Anyways, I’m sure the road was beautiful during the day, but it got a little lonely out there in the dark. There was some local Thanksgiving traffic whipping by the windy road, and fortunately I had my reflectors and light. I was glad when the road turned and I popped back on to Highway 40 right before the bridge. Speaking of lights, here’s a house with some neat-looking Christmas ornamentation.

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Happy Thanksgiving Pt. 2

BJ Hill — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:20:16 +0000

Most of the restaurants were closed on Thanksgiving, so I had to make do with a sandwich at a gas station. At least I got turkey.

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Happy Thanksgiving

BJ Hill — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:16:32 +0000

This was my Thanksgiving. Route 40 through Maryland, a four lane divided highway, isn’t the most scenic of roads. To get me through the day I listened to Jerry Seinfeld and Brian Regan on my mp3 player.

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Maryland

BJ Hill — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:12:44 +0000

About two hours after Donna dropped me off on Highway 40 (Pulaski Highway), I crossed into Maryland.

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Jeff and Donna

BJ Hill — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 19:07:18 +0000

That wet Tuesday afternoon I stopped by and collected messages from the team at Wise Power Systems in Wilmington – very cool guys. That night I stayed with Amie, my teammate from AmeriCorps. She always knows the way to my heart – for dinner she brought me to the local Chinese buffet.
Wednesday morning I was in dry clothes and on the road again. I stayed Wednesday night with Jeff and Donna. Their three children (and son-in-law) had just come back home from college for Thanksgiving, so I’m grateful they took me in in the midst of their mini-family reunion.

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Dumbest Sidewalk in the Country

BJ Hill — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:49:18 +0000

Why have a sidewalk that extends ten feet then leads back to the road? By now I felt like a wet rat stuck in a downpour and I was in no mood for civil engineering shenanigans.

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Don’t Panic…

BJ Hill — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:39:55 +0000

…The dog’s a very careful driver.

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On Joe Biden

BJ Hill — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 18:35:50 +0000

On my walk on Rt. 13 I passed the Darley House in Claymont, home of Felix Octavius Carr Darley, an American artist who illustrated stories and poems for Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Charles Dickens, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Frances Parkman, and James Fennimore Cooper.

While in Claymont I ate lunch at Boston Market, and began chatting with Aaron and his wife, two senior citizens from Wilmington. They pointed out the window at a large school across the street. “That’s where Joe Biden went to school,” he said, and pointed out another window at the opposite street, “And he grew up in that neighborhood over there.” If Joe Biden was home I could have asked him for a ride to the White House.

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Route 13

BJ Hill — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:45:03 +0000

Taking Route 13 towards Wilmington. As you can probably tell from the previous two picture, I lightened this photo. It really was a dark, dismal, gray day.

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Staying

BJ Hill — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:41:25 +0000

The Robinson House in Claymont, Delaware. Sitting at a major crossroad between Philadelphia and Baltimore, this tavern in northern Delaware became an important guesthouse during colonial times, even hosting George Washington (that guy slept everywhere). Speaking of people who sleep everywhere, I have to thank Maureen and Jim for putting me up as I walked through Chester on Monday evening, and Amie for putting me up as I walked through Delaware on Tuesday evening. I had stayed with Amie, my teammate from AmeriCorps year in ’01, during my walk in ’08, and it’s always fun to spend time with her. And I got in touch with Maureen and Jim through another cross country runner, Helene Neville. That was a huge help because I didn’t know anyone in that corner of Pennsylvania. And it turned out they have connections to my hometown – Jim’s daughters play on the lacrosse team at Annapolis and one of the schools they travel to is Holy Cross in Worcester.

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DELAWARE!

BJ Hill — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:24:12 +0000

Made it to The First State (which was actually my sixth state on this walk).

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“All-Out Warfare”

BJ Hill — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:10:51 +0000

Unfortunately, Chester had/has somewhat of a bad reputation, and the family with whom I was staying insisted on picking me up as soon as I reached the town line, instead of walking further that night. It was probably a good idea… as this frontpage story says, Chester saw a disturbing spike in gun violence that weekend. The small print in the corner reads “Police search for clues last night on 14th and Kerlin Streets after a man was shot in the face. It was the fourth shooting in Chester since Friday. Seven people have been wounded.”

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Chester, PA

BJ Hill — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:59:39 +0000

Coming through Chester, PA. This is actually the second Chester through which I’ve walked, the first being Chester, Illinois. When I passed through the Pennsylvania Chester in December 2008, I found Chester homes had the best Christmas light displays.

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Norwood, PA

BJ Hill — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:51:44 +0000

Norwood, PA, home of the Morton Morton House. Yes, the guy’s name was Morton Morton. But he was born in 1701 and after 14 other kids his parents ran out of ideas in the name game.

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Sharon Hill, PA

BJ Hill — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:42:51 +0000

Sharon Hill (no relation – haha), Pennsylvania. This is where blues singer Bessie Smith, who was the highest paid black entertainer in the 1920s and 30s is buried. She died in a car wreck in Mississippi in 1937. About 10,000 attended her funeral. Her first husband absconded with funds for her headstone, so she lay in an unmarked grave until 1970, when another famous blues woman named Janis Joplin helped pay for a proper marker. (Thanks Wikipedia).

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Darby, PA

BJ Hill — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:29:17 +0000

The electric trolley in Darby, PA. The gray clouds behind opened up and started drizzling by the end of the day.

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Meeting the Mayor

BJ Hill — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:18:01 +0000

Before I left the Fresh Start offices, Leslie, the director, had telephones the Mayor of Darby to tell her “There’s a guy here who’s going to meet the president.” She wanted to meet me, so Leslie gave me the address to her house and I walked on over. Mayor Helen Thomas poses and me with a few awkward-looking high school students (who were collared for the photo on the sidewalk as they were walking home – haha!).

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Fresh Start

BJ Hill — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:11:35 +0000

On my way through Darby I stopped in the Fresh Start Program, which gives teens homework help and provides after school activities. Here Leslie, the program director, writes her letter to President Obama. She even included a little prayer for me. This was Monday before Thanksgiving, and the turkeys on the table were to be distributed to local families.

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South Philadelphia

BJ Hill — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 19:06:15 +0000

After talking at my nieces’ school on Monday morning, I ate lunch and set out for Chester, PA. This was scrawled in the men’s room of a gas station in south philly. Ha!

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Lazy Sunday Afternoon

BJ Hill — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 15:03:31 +0000

I arrived at my cousin’s house in University City late Saturday night, and I had planned to take Sunday and Monday morning off. It was a good thing, too. My left ankle was still throbbing from the sprain a week before and I was taking stairs one at a time. I didn’t even want to think about limping the next 140 miles. Furio the cat had the right idea… just sit back, relax, and watch Sunday afternoon football.

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Philadelphia

BJ Hill — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:04:05 +0000

Some cool-looking architecture which I passed while walking into Philly.

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I’m big in the 3rd grade

BJ Hill — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 11:20:13 +0000

I have two nieces, 10 and 7, and Monday morning I went to their classrooms to give a small talk on my walk across country and getting to meet the president. I also allowed them, as a class, to nominate any issue they felt was important for President Obama to know, and then vote (by secret ballot) for two or three of those concerns to be included in the book. The fourth grade felt “students should be able to choose classes and not have to wear school uniforms,” while the second grade students felt “people should not be allowed to ride their motorcycles at night (and make a lot of noise while people are sleeping) and also people should be made to pick up their trash and not litter.” I’m happy to say Those notes went directly into the hands of Barack Obama.

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Best House Pizzaria

BJ Hill — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:54:14 +0000

Stopping for dinner and messages at Best House Pizzaria on South 43rd Street. The owners are from Haiti so we talked about my trip there with Habitat for Humanity in ’10. “Tell President Obama if he comes to Best House, we’ll give him a free pizza.” I forgot to ask if he gets a topping with that.

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LOVE

BJ Hill — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:44:58 +0000

Finally in Philadelphia! But the problem with cities is because the sprawl out so much, you can walk into the city boundary and still be hours and hours away from your destination. That was me huffing to get to Spruce Hill as it got later and darker and colder. When I saw this LOVE repro on the UPenn campus around 9:00, I knew I was close.

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City of Brotherly Love

BJ Hill — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:40:19 +0000

I gotta say, Philadelphia was a pretty friendly city. Lots of folks were open to chatting. Roseann was selling cool-looking hand-made knit hats and scarves on the sidewalk. When she learned about my walk she asked to take some photos with me. Then she ducked into the Natural Nails and got the owners to come out and meet me.

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Judy

BJ Hill — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:25:36 +0000

While walking into northeast Philadelphia, I met Judy, an unemployed woman who was holding an ad-hoc yard sale to try raise rent money for the month. She wrote a page and a half letter to President Obama. “Everything’s online nowadays,” she says. “How am I supposed to apply for jobs if I don’t have a computer?”

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Celeste and Latifa

BJ Hill — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:20:20 +0000

While I was walking near Penndel, college students Celeste and Latifa pulled their car over to see what I was about.

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Darlisa

BJ Hill — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:15:53 +0000

I wasn’t planning on dallying long in Trenton on Friday morning, but when I found my route took me past the Occupy Trenton encampment I stopped in collect a few messages for the president. Instead of a group of protesters, I found one woman – Darlisa – who was holding down the fort. We began talking, and I kind of felt bad because she wanted to go home, but she couldn’t leave the tents and equipment unattended, and she didn’t know when any other Occupiers were going to come back. I also felt bad because she told me she was shot at with a paint gun by a sedan which had been been creeping around the past few nights. She showed me the paint stain on her winter coat and her blankets. Anyways, Darlisa was nice, she offered me a package of muffins for breakfast as she wrote her letter and then I headed towards downtown.

—– Forwarded message —–
From: “highwaytohill@yahoo.com” @yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, Feb 21, 2012 3:41 am
Subject: Darlisa
To: “MobyPictures” Mobypicture.com>

The Keystone State

BJ Hill — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:08:02 +0000

Yay! Friday morning I walked into Morrisville, Pennsylvania, the fifth state of my walk. I’d planned to reach Philadelphia the next night and have a day off with my family on Sunday.

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