Jeff Johnson – The Long Walk
Tim and I thought we did it tough, but check out this guy, www.jeffswalk.com
Jeff Johnson's book on the Gulf2Gulf walk
Jeff Johnson (aged 66) walked the same route we cycled in 2009 and it took him 5 months to do the crossing.
I first spotted Jeff’s book in Normanton at the local shop and was inspired by his ‘get out there’ spirit and also for his motivation, to raise funds for Deaf Blind Association NSW Inc
Jeff mailed me yesterday from Gympie, it was lovely to receive a lengthly email from him explaining how he worked on the WA roads to save enough money to self publish the book, all to raise money for others. He seems pretty excited about his new project and I can’t wait to keep tabs!
His new project is still to raise funds for charity and is ‘boat centric’ this time – check out his site on www.jeffswalk.com
“There are several reasons for Jeff’s walk but one of the most important is to raise funds and awareness for the DeafBlind Association. He is making an enormous effort to walk this distance on his own WITHOUT a support backup vehicle of any kind. Everything he needs for the journey he carries on his back in a backpack. This includes, food, water, clothing, a small tent, thermal sleeping bag, the satellite phone, radio equipment, antenna and a battery big enough for reliable communications. He wears a solar charging panel around his neck to keep power up to the battery while he walks in the hot sun. At night, this time of year the temperatures can drop to around zero degrees Celsius and so warm bedding and clothing are essential and this is quite heavy to carry over a long distance. The weight of the backpack is about 28 Kg. His fresh water supply weighs 8 Kg alone. Every possible saving in weight has been made, for example, even the toothbrush is cut in half.”
