Walking Across America: 12/31/18

Monday, December 31, 2018

Starting at Ground Zero

New England Conservatory of Music

Since Elden Kelly is responsible for inspiring my journey to guitar greatness, I thought it would only be fitting that I should begin this metaphorical journey at his alma mater, the New England Conservatory of Music at 290 Huntington Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts. I start by walking from there to US highway 20, where I will spend the rest of my journey, ending ultimately at Newport, Oregon, before heading back East.

My first major goal is to get to Sturbridge, Massachusetts, a walk of about 63 miles that will take me through such towns as Waltham, Weston, Marlborough, and Auburn. I hope to see a lot of interesting sights on the way.

NEC to Sturbridge

The first mile of my journey takes me to the Barnes & Noble@Boston University bookstore, located at 660 Beacon Street, where it merges with Commonwealth Ave, also known as US-20. This will make a fitting first stop, being a bookstore (has a bathroom & seats) and also part of BU, where my husband's grandfather went to college from 1922-25. Looks like a pleasant walk past a park! So, one mile equals one hour of practice. Better get with it!

From NEC to B&N

About this blog . . .

Update: I'm making a slight change to the way I'm reporting my "miles." Instead of logging hours practiced (and miles walked) daily, I'm recording my miles down US-20 on a weekly basis. This will give me more to talk about as I go along and will still reward me for my practice hours. My ideal weekly total is 14 hours/miles, but I will get as close as I can per week!

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I've started this blog to help myself stay motivated to practice guitar every day, one to three hours, or whatever I can manage. I figure that the more I practice, the closer I will get to my goal of guitar playing proficiency.

So, I've imagined my musical quest as a walk across America on US-20, going from Boston to Newport, Oregon--the longest road in America. It's a trek of about 3365 miles. Once I make it to that destination, I will turn around and come back home to Michigan, adding another 2307 miles. The total distance, therefore, will be about 5672 miles.

The way I've constructed this exercise, each mile I "walk" equals one hour of guitar practice, so the total number of hours, if I make it, will be 5672. That's more than halfway to completing what Malcolm Gladwell says is the 10,000 hours of practice needed to achieve excellence in any endeavor.

As a part of this game, I will be taking a virtual journey, with the help of the internet, stopping at various points along the way to look at and write in this blog about the sights and interesting details of the places I encounter on my "walk." That will give me incentive to continue, I believe, and will also be fun because I'll be learning something new.

So--off I go on my journey, starting at the famed New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. Come along with me!