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By Brianna Kudisch | Contributor
Sixteen hours and 43 minutes.
That's the length of time it took seniors Kasey Leander and Darius Farmer to walk the 39.36 miles from Taylor University to the eastern border of Ohio during Fall Break.
The idea originated from the typical college desire to do something not-so-typical.
"We wanted to do something adventurous," Farmer said.
They knew they wanted their journey to involve walking, so they decided to walk in a straight line to the nearest state-Ohio.
Their peers' reactions to their plan ranged from overwhelming support to blatant discouragement.
"Taylor students (reactions were) extreme," Farmer said. "It was like 'Wow, that's awesome, that's so cool!' and then like 'You guys are idiots-that's so dumb."
To carry out their plan, the duo tracked the number of miles and the route they would take through the website "MapMyRun." Between the two of them, they carried trail mix, water, a jacket, a compass, maps and a cucumber in their backpacks.
Leander and Farmer left Taylor at 4:05 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 16, and crossed the Ohio state border at 8:45 p.m. They took five shortcuts, including crossing a small river that was believed to have formerly been a road. They took any opportunity they could to go off the road.
The biggest obstacles weren't solely in the terrain. They battled blisters, as well as a lack of light at the beginning and end of the trip.
"Blisters were the biggest thing," Leander said. "We could've walked for the rest of the night."
He added that a lack of daylight was another contributing factor. They raced against the setting sun and made the most of the 12 hours of sunlight.
The two kept themselves entertained by talking, making jokes, praying, listening to music and the Gospel of Luke, and filming their adventure.
"I was surprised by how not-bored we were," said Leander. "I wasn't bored at all."
In total, they took two 20-minute breaks, along with a few five-minute breaks. They walked through two Indiana towns-Portland and Hartford City.
The rest of the landscape consisted of scattered farms and churches. At the end of the journey, they were picked up border by Wil Story, a graduate assistant for Taylor Student Organization.
The pain from walking many miles was an unforeseen difficulty on the journey.
"(It was) excrutiating pain . . . we like, hobbled across (the Ohio border)," said Leander.
"My feet still hurt," added Farmer.
Despite the aches, pains and fading sunlight, both Leander and Farmer agree that they would complete a similar journey again.
"I feel like this is going to be something I'm going to do for the rest of my life-it was awesome," said Farmer.
The pair never doubted they would achieve their goal. Neither of them were going to stop until they made it; the only possible issue was how many hours it would take.
Leander feels that the trip was well worth the endeavor, but thinks some improvements could be made to ease the journey.
"I feel pretty confident about my walking abilities," said Leander. "I think more rest stops would be nice."
