Full Name Peter Jenkins Occupation Writer, Travel writer | Name Peter Jenkins Role Travel author | |
 | ||
Born August 7, 1951 (age 72) ( 1951-08-07 ) Education Alfred University, Greenwich High School Books Across China, Along the Edge of America, Looking for Alaska, The Untamed Coast: Pi, The Walk West | ||
Across america with peter jenkins
Peter Jenkins (born July 8, 1951) is an American travel author. He is known for walking from New York to Oregon while writing two books that describe his experiences over the nearly six years that he spent walking. He is a graduate of Alfred University, with a BFA in Sculpture/Ceramics (1973), as well as an honorary doctorate (2003).
Contents
Jenkins began his walk across America in Alfred, New York, in October 1973. He was accompanied by his dog, Cooper, a half Alaskan malamute that died in a car accident at The Farm (Tennessee). Upon reaching the end of his southward trek in New Orleans, Louisiana, Jenkins found a new companion, Barbara Jo Pennell, who would soon become his second wife and accompany him on his walk west. He finished the journey in Florence, Oregon, in January 1979. His bestselling book of the 1970s describing the experience, A Walk Across America, was one of the first books to popularize adventure travel or travel as a way of life, although Richard Halliburton had greater success in the 1920s and 1930s.
National Geographic magazine's interest in his journey was piqued when Jenkins, accompanied by Cooper, visited the magazine's headquarters during their trek through Washington, D.C. Jenkins' walking adventure was subsequently highlighted in two separate issues of the magazine, with the articles titled "Walk Across America" appearing in April 1977 and "Walk Across America: Part II" in August 1979. Jenkins currently resides in Spring Hill, Tennessee. In 2012, Jenkins returned home from a 2-year drive across America in a '57 Chevy station wagon.
Works
