Big Walk

When Pina from windsoreats.com heard about Big Walk, she was adamant that we walk down Indian Road.

I had no interest in the street, especially. I had never been down Indian Road before. I knew that the Bridge Company was doing some questionable things on Indian Road, buying up houses in order to demolish them…building a second span from Windsor to Detroit. I also knew that the City of Windsor was trying to prevent this from happening.

The result is several blocks of homes, mostly abandoned (owned by the bridge folks), boarded-up, looking like we live in a hurricane delta, preparing for a storm-front. They will stay this way until the city budges, and they are knocked down for a new bridge.

Conversely, we walked down Victoria Avenue. This is a street we can be proud of, exhibit, and share, as the houses on this street are incredible relics of a more prosperous time in Windsor.

I must say though, both of these streets elicited strong feelings from many of the Big Walkers.

Enjoy some more video and audio discussion (particularly about the Indian Road fiasco).

More to come!

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One of the best things about that Big Walk was getting into spaces we don’t normally go.

In the video clip, Joan (retiree from Leamington and amazing walker) and I are storming through a park on the corner of Huron Church Road between University Avenue and Riverside Drive (before it becomes Sandwich Street) right beside the Ambassador Bridge to Detroit.

There’s an ocean of yellow foliage on the ground, heard heavily in the dragging footsteps of the group. We’re marching toward Assumption Church. It’s on the other side of the park(ette). I have seen this swath of grass before, but never got to be terrestrial in that block of land. And I was extremely “present” during the crossing of that park, which prompted me to take out my camera and film a bit of it.

Not enough is said about the feeling and sensory joy that can come from walking through a field of leaves. Some may think this is wishy-washy, but it’s so fulfilling.

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The other part of the walk that I enjoyed thoroughly was seeing parts of the city that are supposedly “dangerous”. Being in this neighbourhood near the University of Windsor, during the day, was wonderful. It was obviously devoid of any other human activity however, as it seemed we were the only ones out on our feet. As a whole, it seemed that during that whole day, we were the lone wolves using out two feet as a means of travel. In fact, I saw fewer bikes in use than I ever see. Perhaps it was our route that diverted us away from seeing other eco-travelers.

Another notable observation I wanted to share involves cars. While plotting out the course, I drove the route with my Mom. She was nice enough to donate the time and gas to drive the route while I made snap decisions to turn or u-turn, all in the hopes of helping my Big Walk go well. While we were driving, we were often closed in or stopped dead in our tracks from continuing onward. Why? Dead ends. You can’t drive the Ganatchio Trail where it begins on Wyandotte East and snakes behind homes, etc. You cannot get to College from Indian Road now that it’s closed off. On foot, this is all accessible. You can simply cross over a burm of grass, but in a car, you’re stuck, backtracking, wasting time and gas.

Walking through spaces that are designed to keep out motor vehicles has a special exclusivity feeling to it. Like I’m able to do something that MANY are not permitted to do. Loved that!

Here’s the video of the west-end neighbourhood that was picturesque, and not at all what I was expecting. Of course, I’m being sarcastic in the video.

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We walked on November 9th…I think.

That’s almost a month ago.

I can still feel the tweaks of that event in my bones. Muscles actually.

The group began on time, with a few stragglers. I expected this, as this event was conceived of and organized by the artists who regularly wake up at noon. To have people ready to move at 8pm was a stretch at BEST.

When we did get going, we had about 15 people, and that number adjusted when we were joined along the way by new faces. At times, we had approximately 25 people walking, talking, making new acquaintances, and exploring.

I didn’t realize that I would be cracking the whip as much as I did, corralling the walkers, infusing them with concern for our schedule. We kept a furious pace (it seemed) and it never wavered. The few breaks we got were greatly appreciated and NEEDED. However, every time we stopped, the joints would seize and the feet would pulsate.

The group was dynamic, helpful, eager, knowledgeable, and I was honoured to lead such a determined bunch.

People did drop out of the walk at different times due to previous engagements, parties, gigs, or due to soreness and fatigue. Each person can feel incredibly proud of the ground they covered, though, because they did something they hadn’t really done before. Ground level exploration and discussion. History and modernity in a mixed-media experience, changing from block to block.

My friend Dan Misener came from Toronto and got to walk for almost 8 hours before leaving for a party in Kingsville. I barely got to say a word to him. Not good. But this is the way these events climb up and bite you. You may think it’ll be a well-oiled machine, flowing perfectly with little intervention, but in reality, you are faced with group separation, spacing, time constraints, people’s needs for washrooms and food…it is not a social event for the group leader in the same way it is for the participants.

I will recount more of the Big Walk in coming posts, but this is something to say that we did it. It was a HUGE success, and I am thankful for everyone who made it happen (Big Table) from organizing, to participating, to allowing us into a building/business for a quick investigation or snack.

Enjoy a little video of the early part of the walk.

Again, I will update this blog with more posts along with an accompanying video or two.
So many great moments, and it would be endless (unreadable) to write in one post.

As you can see/hear in the video…I am already out of breath from walking about 3 blocks. The pace we kept for the entire darned thing! Jen Kimmerly gives us some history about a mob house, as she was frequent in doing, because she has spent SO much time walking in this city. She shared countless anecdotes and information bits about the things we were seeing. She was truly indispensable in this event.

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