The Earth Expedition: Seven years, two feet, and one backpack

Imagine packing for the next seven years. That’s exactly what Daren Wendell is currently doing. On Saturday March 8, Wendell will embark on his seven year, foot-powered journey around the world, leaving at exactly 10:30 am from Dahlegona, GA.

Titled The Earth Expedition, Wendell will cross 3 continents, 17 time zones, and 14 countries; he’s calculated that it will probably come out to about 36 million steps. One of his main goals for his expedition is to raise awareness about the water crisis and AIDS pandemic hitting Africa by advocating for Blood Mission.

On The Earth Expedition’s website you can track Wendell’s adventure, which will, among other places, take him across the Bering Strait. On top of the physical exhaustion that a 7 year trip can entail, Wendell will be making some intellectual efforts as well; during his travels he plans on learning at least the basics of the 11 different languages of the countries he will be passing through. This is one committed man. If keeping up with Wendell by way of live GPS on his website isn’t enough, you can even offer up your couch for him to sleep on; if you live within 30 miles of his intended route that is.

You might be saying to yourself, “is this guy crazy?” Wendell’s own response to that question: “Define crazy.” Maybe that’s a good point, considering the fact that he is not the only one to attempt the whole world on foot. Personally, I think I am going to stick with casual weekend hikes and leave the heavy lifting up to the slightly more motivated like Wendell.