Seven Days, 79.9 Miles, Walkin'

Ben Montgomery:

The sun beat hot and the humidity hung like plastic wrap. The blisters on my heels and toes had grown so fat it felt like I was stepping on cherries. I'd been on the road, on foot, for 11 hours, walking from Tampa to St. Petersburg and back, to … to what? I had no idea.

The project I had pitched to my editor seemed simple enough: For one week I'd shun my car and walk everywhere — to work, to the grocery store, to the park with the kids. I'd set off on a quest for answers.

Is it possible to live a normal life on foot in a car-centric place where so few walk? Can the walker survive — thrive even — in the second most dangerous place for pedestrians in the nation? Are there…