The day after Christmas I posted that one of my 2007 To-Dos was to finally end my lifetime delay of traversing on foot the length of Sunset Boulevard from Union Station downtown all the way to its end at Pacific Coast Highway.
Well she’s definitely happening, although the date has changed. Originally I’d slated it for February 4, but that was before I knew the march to the sea would be conflicting with an event known as The Super Bowl and as such I’ve bumped it back to the following Saturday, February 10 with breakfast at nearby Philippe’s at 6 a.m. and the departure scheduled for 7 a.m.
This will be an unpaced journey. By that I mean I’m not attempting to do it either in a specific timeframe or at the 4-mph pace I plan/hope to attempt/maintain during the L.A. Marathon in March. At the same time this isn’t going to be a tangent-rich trek. In other words, beyond three or four scheduled breaks (for lunch/snacks) my goal is to reach the beach, not to deviate into any excessive explorations along the way. As such, given the 8.5 hours it took Franklin Avenue’s Mike and Maria and crew to go the 16 mile distance from one end of Wilshire Boulevard to the other last November I’m estimating this could very well take upwards of 12 hours or even more to cross the finish line and get celebaratory drinks at Gladstones.
Bottom line, this will be as much an ordeal as it will be a unique opportunity to get up close and personal with one of this city’s greatest thoroughfares.
A charting of the course can be viewed here, and I’ve put a call out on Blogging.la to anyone who’d be crazy enough to care to join me. In the meantime under the assumption that I’ll be joined by someone/anyone (for all or even just part of the trek) I’m going to be logisticating in terms of potential coffee/lunch/rest breaks. Transportation back to civilization will be either at each individual’s chosing or you can make the return trip to civilization with me via the No. 2 MTA bus which runs the length of Sunset Boulevard.
So if having said all that you are still interested in joining me (and my wife who’s thinking about walking the first three miles back to Silver Lake), post a comment with your email address or just email me directly at wildbell@gmail.com.
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