My novel is about six people who set out to walk from Los Angeles to Denver in 1984, which also happens to be the name of George Orwell’s dystopian novel. Is that an omen? I did that walk, myself; it took me 18 years. I should have walked faster. My characters have to do it in a few months as a promotion for the Zeus Shoe Company,
The main character is Roger, an accountant who leaves his job right in the middle of tax season. Not because he’s bored (harried is more like it) but because his wife has died and he needs a change of scene. His idea of humor is reciting sections of the tax code, and, although it’s difficult to explain, his dead wife appears to be keeping her eye on him.
The first member of the team Roger meets is Susan, an underdressed model who corrects people’s grammar. She also has an ex-boyfriend who may be stalking her. Ugh. Reggie is a womanizer with a part-time English accent. Jennifer is a struggling writer (aren’t me all?) who can produce a limerick at the drop of a walking stick. Bill is a triathlete who appears to be in the wrong place. Oh yes, and there’s another walker who will surprise the heck out of Roger.
Their support team consists of Earl, an alcoholic ex-mechanic for race cars who lives by the stopwatch, and his wife, Ethel, an overweight but very capable woman who can cook, medicate blisters and drive a bus. Two representatives of Zeus drop in on the walkers periodically, unannounced: Tom, the fearless photographer, and Mitzi, the marketing rep, who reminds Roger of his wife.
Do they have the drive to go the distance and complete the walk or will they die of heat stroke in the Mojave Desert? Can they finish the walk without killing each other? Will there be sexual tension? Need you ask?
During the writing of the book the characters took over the plot and ignored everything I wanted to say. Oh well, maybe I can write my next book the way I visualize it.
This message is to share the sad news that my friend for more than 30 years, Alan Cook, passed away in December of 2025. Please see the link below for his obituary:
https://obituaries.greenhillsla.com/alan-cook
Good speed, Al.
-Dan Lambert
I was in my sophomore year of college when John Kennedy declared a need for Americans to be better physically fit. He challenged everyone to do a 50 mile walk. One of our students at my university declared that there would be a group walk to the next city and back, totaling 50 miles.
I was working on my term paper when we saw people walking by our apartment. My roommate told me they were on a 10 mile walk on the Saturday before the big one next week. He said, "I think I'll walk with them."
I was interested, so I got up early, my term paper done the week before, and found out that my twin brother and my roommate had backed out, claiming they hadn't done their term papers.
Eighteen of us started. Men, women and at least one jock. He was a track star but had shin splints after about 3 miles when I passed him and caught up to a girl from New York who liked to "track it" (jog) every once in a while and I had to follow her to catch-up. I had my sandwich lunch from the support car for all of us. Had to stop for major business at a church outhouse but arrived at the endpoint where everybody was eating a big lunch in a restaurant and I had to wait a half hour for her before we started out again, returning.
Ten miles out we caught up with another guy and they both wanted to rest. My legs were tightening up and I couldn't rest, so I left them behind. Five miles out a guy from the local radio station stopped me and interviewed me by the roadside. I arrived after 11 hours walking at the finish a half hour before any of the others. Of the 18 that started, only 11 finished, mostly the women. Failures included new boots and casual shoe causing blisters and muscle cramps.
A walk like between LA and Denver would be a real adventure!
Ron