Can you walk any faster?

People who live in busy cities walk 10% faster than they did in 1990. Singapore has the fastest walkers, going 60 feet in 10.55 seconds (a little bit more than 4 miles an hour). New Yorkers ranked in at 8th place, taking 12 seconds to go the same distance.

I wonder if the average speed of hikers has also gone up? City dwellers don't have fancy poles and Vibram soles to help them along, but they also don't have to walk over mountains carrying a tent, a sleeping bag, and a week's worth of food.

We have lift off

Photo by mikewebkist

Okay! It took me about a month and a half longer that I anticipated but, as of 3 hours ago, TrailPhone.net is up and running. The web site and phone system are built. Now comes the real challenge: getting the word out to hikers, trail angels, and the outdoors community; and encouraging people to call in. I'm looking forward to TrailPhone.net getting filled with the stories, the personalities, and the magic of The Appalachian Trail. I'm looking forward to helping hikers share their journeys and communicate with one another. I'm looking forward to raising some awareness for environmental and conservation issues through the stories of the trail. And, I'm looking forward to being able to get a taste (or pungent whiff) of the trail, on days when I'm stuck in front of the computer.

Damn

I don't think this thing is going to be ready by tomorrow morning. Maybe tomorrow evening. There's not much left on my list: I need to make sure the password reset function plays friendly, secure some back end stuff, figure out what stats package I'm going to use, delete all the stupid (actually, hilarious) fake hiker accounts and audio entries, and then... rock rock.

Ok, seriously

Yesterday, I finished up work on the phone system. Today I'm putting the final touches on the website. TrailPhone.net is seriously just about ready to launch. I'm guessing it will go live tomorrow.