I have walked a Million Miles ...

 I have been car-free for over 20 years. 

It was not on purpose. 

In the Summer of 2001, my Ford F-150 just didn't want to go. I got it fixed and said goodbye. 

A co-worker helped me start on public transit. I really haven't really looked back. 

Recently, I had a hairline fracture in my foot and had to reduce my walking. It made me think of how many miles I have traveled. 

At first it was just cost effective. A bus fare of $2 was way better than $15 for a full tank of gas. My commute in 2001 I was one mile to the light rail that took me to edge of metropolitan city where I would take a bus on the poorest side of an affluent neighborhood where I would travel a mere mile on a public transit bus to get to work. My "commute" was only 45 minutes. 

I would move a year later and spend the next three years walking ten miles a minimum 300 days a year. I would walk three miles to work and after work I would walk two more miles to school. After class, I would walk the whole five miles back home for the total of 10 miles. 

That was not so bad. I was young and I still was overweight and in California weather is mild and when it was bad there was a bus to take. 

I never figured out the math of making walking a mode of transportation until I started to calculate recently when transit systems are looking for increase fares. 

A pair of walking shoes was about $45 a pair and the average transit pass is $6. So, per year I estimated I spent $100 a month on transit on average. Today I spend an average of $400 a month. 

I changed thinking that maybe I was and environmentalist unfortunately, a bad one the cost of building a car versus a shoe. My literal carbon footprint is expensive just like a car and not even an electric one. 

In January 2005, my environmentalism, however frugal I was; suddenly stopped because I got hit by a car and had to spend the couple of years getting back to it. I was able to walk again and little over three years later I was able to walk 8 miles without pain. 

Time walked on still as I changed jobs, addresses and inherited a car as I would spend the next couple of years walking again and finally the car went away. 

By 2012, I was full time transit and walking one mile to a bus stop to take me 15 miles away where I would walk the final mile to work. I averaged just over 5 miles a day for 6 years. 

Oh, but I did get a car every once in a while ...specifically a ZIPCAR where I would travel up and down the State of California 

My three or five days of travel where I went places to walk. My environmentalism was waning to say the least. I spent easily $100 on shoes and still walked thousand of miles a year and took public transit. 

And still had to ask ...a million miles in twenty years ? Oh...that's that would be about right because insanely I joined a gym where ....I walked on a treadmill, it soon became clear...

The average person walks 1,100 miles a year where I can blast out 1,000 miles in month easily. In 15 years I calculated with all the events, commuting and general walking I did a minimum of One Million Miles BEFORE 2020.

I am going to restart the counter because Google Maps said I traveled that I finally traveled around the world. 

Your travel in 2021    1 time around the world

Total travel	Low-emission travel*
23,799 mi	20,987 mi

* Includes walking, cycling, public transport, and other typically low-emission options.