Fact #124443

Art Garfunkel : My walk across America started in the early 80's when, as a traveler, I'm the son of a traveling salesman ..... I took a freighter across the Pacific .... to Japan. It was the first time I had ever been there ..... As I pulled into the harbor, I hatched the notion, I will .... walk the country from coast to coast. It is not that big of a walk, not that big a challenge. I set off though these rice fields and I began to sort of wake up the notion of traveling ..... I use the horizon and the setting sun as my guide. I fished my way through rice fields and the whole thing worked rather well. You improvise your way. The more you are stuck for a place at night, the more you actually find some saving grace that is quite picturesque. So when that worked well, I came home and said, .... I'll walk the United States. Somewhere around '84, I left my New York apartment, cut across Central Park, and went past my alma mater Columbia University, across the George Washington Bridge and I was in New Jersey. Most of the time I was alone with my Sony Walkman and my notebook in my pocket. .... Over forty more excursions, about three a year, taking about twelve years, I crossed the entire United States."
(Sourced from the Across America Interview)