Peter Jenkins was raised in a northern middle-class suburban home in Connecticut. While attending Alfred University, he contracted an early marriage despite his sympathies for the new hippieyouth movement and its belief infree love. He graduated on 30 May 1973, feeling stifled by both his environment and his marriage. After separating from his wife, he cast about for an escape. He decided that despite his dislike of his native land, he would meet its citizens by walking from his college town of Alfred to the Gulf of Mexico before continuing across the United States. On 15 October 1973, he shouldered his pack, whistled up his dog Cooper, and began walking south. He planned to stop and work during his journey whenever he needed money. Jenkins' trip to the Gulf saw him lay over for the winter in Appalachia before he continued south. He worked at various laboring jobs, such as sawmill hand, as money was needed. As a hippie Damnyankee outsider, Jenkins sometimes met with suspicion and hostility. More often, he was greeted with hospitality from those from whom he least expected it. On occasion, initial hostility from others morphed into good will and friendship. Jenkins was invited to stay in the home of various good samaritans, including an Appalachian hermit and an African-American family. On occasion, he lived with these samaritans for considerable lengths of time; his stay with the African-American family lasted several months. At one of his stays, at The Farmhippie commune in Tennessee, Cooper was run over and killed by a truck. After burying Cooper, he sorrowfully continued his hike solo, headed for Alabama. Once there, he met Governor George Wallace; Wallace alerted state employees to keep a helpful lookout for Jenkins. Jenkins then attended a revival meeting in Mobile run by James Robison and embraced the Christian faith. Jenkins ended his trek in New Orleans, where he courted his new wife Barbara while they were living in a seminary. After some self-doubt as to her fitness to hike with him to the west coast, Barbara joined him in his journey.
Themes
A young man's process of coming of age and self-discovery are the themes of A Walk Across America. Realizing that his point of view is limited by his suburban rearing, Jenkins is determined to learn more about other American lifestyles. His route takes him into the American South, a region reputed for racial and social prejudice; because he is an outsider, this makes him apprehensive. However, he was befriended by, and befriended, a wide array of people living outside his cultural ken. His travels on his personal odyssey added to the tension, whether nearly dying of influenza in an Appalachian Trail shelter, being threatened by prejudiced lawmen or rednecks, or menaced by wide trucks on a narrow bridge. Jenkins concluded his book with his own personal summary: "I started out searching for myself and my country, and found both."
Publication details
Jenkins walked into the National Geographic Society's office in Washington early in his trip seeking support. The Society supplied him with a camera and lenses, and advised him of their interest in the book. He began writing an article for them when he got to New Orleans in 1975. Jenkins began writing A Walk Across America in Winter, 1976 while on a ranch in the Rocky Mountains; he completed the book in Ouray, Colorado in 1978. Published in 1979, A Walk Across America was into its sixth edition within a year, as it spent three months on the New York Times bestseller list. It was a selection of both the Newsweek Condensed Book Club and Reader's Digest Condensed Books. It was also an alternate selection of the Word Book Club and the Literary Guild. A Walk Across America has been printed in 30 editions, including an audio book and an ebook version.
