Last weekend I got up early, grabbed my camera and headed down to a local canal-front trail to take some photographs. I was only planning on being gone for about forty-five minutes. However, when I got back to my car, I discovered I had somehow lost my keys. After searching around my car and peering in through the windows, I determined that I must have lost them along the trail. I walked back along the trail. This time, instead of looking for wildlife and interesting geometries, I was scanning the dirt along the trail.
A few images from my walk:
By the time I got back to my car (again) I had already walked two miles. I looked at my phone and realized it would be another three miles to walk home and get a spare key. I’ve never been one to sit around and bemoan my situation. So I started walking.
Now the route I took to get home was one I had driven hundreds of times. It’s made up of several major roads and a parkway. As I walked, I was amazed at what I was noticing. For one thing, I wasn’t sure if the entire route was walkable. When you take driving for granted you don’t notice how accessible your route is for other modes of transportation. It turns out, it was very walkable. There was even an interchange that had a small footbridge over it that I had never noticed.
When you walk, everything is slowed down. Instead of looking straight ahead while driving 45 mph, I had time to look down side streets and notice the businesses I never knew existed. I saw entrances to trails that couldn’t be seen from a car. There were new vantage points for taking interesting photographs. I even found a dirt lot with hand-cast concrete planters shaped around found items like wheelbarrows and grocery shopping carts.
I learned two lessons from my one hour, one mile turned three hour, five mile journey. First, don’t lose your keys. Second, to really notice your surroundings you have to slow down and engage those surroundings. Park the car and walk places you normally wouldn’t. You’ll be able to see things in a way a car just won’t allow.