Ben made it to about 10 miles away from Punxsutawney, in the hinterlands of Pennsylvania. If he had been doing his steps more diligently, he could have made it there for the Groundhog Day festival. This celebration, although it has pagan roots, is not my type of thing. Julie, on the other hand, has experienced it for real after taking a road trip there in the middle of the night in the late 90s with a cohort of friends. I think it is time to move past the use of living groundhogs unless someone can convince me they enjoy the spectacle. Nevertheless, the Groundhog Day film is beyond reproach. Wikipedia says the film has philosophic undertones. If I didn’t try to get into philosophy with the naming of Calvin and Hobbes, I’m not gong to try to be smart today. However, I reserve the right to return to both topics. Meanwhile, John and Julie landed near the Smallwander towns of Medina and Put-in-Bay, OH.

Julie and I passed into Ohio this week. Amazingly, our respective walking totals landed us both in the Smallwander town of Chagrin Falls. The town is the home of Bill Watterson, creator of the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, my all-time favorite. If Julie and I were actually passing though, and if everything was open, we would probably check out the Chagrin Valley Little Theatre, which is one of the country’s oldest community theatres. Meanwhile, Ben is still ambling through Pennsylvania, landing in State College, which is the home of the flagship campus for Penn State University.

Our walking party did not reach our goal of Medina, OH, this week. Nevertheless, Julie was quite pleased to have passed into Girard tonight, just over the Pennsylvania line. Girard was named after Stephen Girard, an 18th-century banking tycoon from Philadelphia. He owned land in the neighboring township of Springfield. After his death, his will established a boarding school in Philadelphia for orphans, Girard College. I’ve heard about this school my whole life because my Uncle Nevio was placed there after my grandfather died. Even though my grandmother was still living, she was not able to take care of him and the school somehow granted him admission. Officials from the town of Girard had lobbied to Girard’s foundation to site the school there, but they went with Philadelphia. Meanwhile, I landed in Hamburg, NY, and Ben is in Miflinburg, PA.

COVID disrupted our traveling plans during 2020. My friend Julie was distressed when she realized she had not seen her nieces and nephew in Moab, UT, in a year. So, she decided to take matters into her own hands and take a virtual walk there. For every mile she walks in her neighborhood or along her favorite trails near Albany, NY, she tabs 10 miles toward her goal. I caught wind of this project and decided it would be a good trip for Smallwander to tag along on. I asked her if we could stop in on Smallwander towns along the route and report on what we ‘see’. I’ll try to map it as we go once a week or so.

We’ve picked up a couple other travelers along the way who were looking for a little post-New Years exercise project, Ben and Renee. Ben helped us set up our spreadsheet to auto-tab our distances. Renee is still deciding if she wants to enter her numbers into the chart, but we’ll let her backfill them later.

Since the first of the year, our virtual mile totals are Julie, 336, John (me), 160, Ben, 133, Renee, unknown (but she has been walking). That puts Julie in Westfield, NY, me at about 20 miles outside of Geneva, NY, and Ben settling down in Danville, PA. I would like to set up a rendezvous where we can intersect and have a Zoom meeting at the end of this week in Medina, OH. I’m going to see if I can pick a place where we can ‘gather’, and maybe have a toast. Maybe I can score someone who can ‘host’ us. Let’s see how this works!

South Korea has established a cultural tourism program that invites visitors to stay at Buddhist temples throughout the country. The program was launched in 2002 in response to a shortage of beds during the 2002 World Cup, which was co-hosted by South Korea and Japan. Known as the Korea Temple Stay program, it is a partnership between the Jogye Buddhist Order and the Korea Tourism Organisation.

The program showcases a representative aspect of Korean culture – the 1700-year-old Korean tradition of Buddhism. By staying at a temple, visitors spend time doing what the monks and nuns do, which is “to find your true self.” They get up very early and meditate through much of the day. The types of meditation include sitting, walking, and chanting meditation. They also practice ceremonial services, hold formal monastic meals, and conduct tea ceremonies. More recently, the program has organized itself around themes, which include health, consolation, and relaxation.

The Temple Stay program has been expanding year by year. In 2013, over 186,000 people have stayed in the 120 participating temples. Sixteen of the temples are open to foreign nationals. Over 110,000 foreigners have participated from 2002 and 2011.

Other regions could take advantage of a rising interest in meditation by offering a systematic way for tourists to book stays at spiritual places. For example, perhaps individual state tourism agencies could establish websites similar to the Korea Tourism Organisation’s Temple Stay site to provide direct access to spiritual retreat centers of different faiths and practices. In the United States, it would be more about the diversity of offerings across religions and secular health centers verses South Korea’s mission to present a specific practice to represent their cultural heritage.