The Walk Back Is Part of the Plan

I want to take a train out and walk home. That is the basic plan for my perfect Saturday. I can pack a small backpack with the relevant items, a paper map of the neighborhood in question, and have plenty of time to stop along the way without feeling as though I am failing to reach my destination.

My girlfriend, Alison, is a landscape architect. I am the production manager for a local sign shop. She notices plants. I notice whether a stranger can find the path. Between the two of us we can find interest in a very short stretch of land.

The walk begins in our home neighborhood of Logan Square. I check the schedule of the transit that we will be taking and plan our departure accordingly. I have never owned a car, so checking the schedule is ordinary preparation for me.

My ideal day would be cool and dry with perhaps a slight breeze to keep things interesting but not to be endured. I would be dressed for a long walk rather than for a photo of someone taking a long walk. My shoes would be familiar to me. The small pack would contain water, the paper map of the neighborhood and a few things that I would want to carry home with me.

I have my transit card where I can reach it. The paper map is marked enough to give the day a shape without turning it into instructions I must obey. We will cross neighborhoods and make our way home. I leave room for a shorter return if that is what the afternoon asks for.

Before going, I look over the route with Alison. This is a walk together, and the map should reflect that simple fact.

The train ride is part of the outing as well. I enjoy sitting with my pack against my legs and looking out the window as the city passes by. It is interesting to see the city from a different perspective than normal. A trip away from home creates the pleasant task of returning under my own power, with transit still available if we choose it.

I grew up in Milwaukee and moved to Chicago in 2012. As a child, I spent a year riding buses with my mother after my father lost his job and we sold the car. I liked discovering the city that way.

I put the map away before the first crossing of the street. I would like to keep my eyes on the street in front of me. In 2014 I was clipped by a turning driver in a crosswalk and ended up with a broken wrist. So I am very cautious at intersections now.

We cross and start walking. The first block gives me several things I could comment on. I choose one. This is better than listing out everything that we can see for the rest of the morning. Strong opinions are good but being able to recognize when someone has heard enough of our strong opinions is even better.

A well placed sign makes me happy. I spend my working days thinking about whether words can be read and understood. Outside of work, I like to see that care put to use. I don’t even need to know who made a sign in order to appreciate it.

Then Alison pauses to look at a plant. I try to do more than wait for her. I look too. I don’t have to become knowledgeable about all things in an instant. There’s lots of value in noticing things through the attention of others and giving them plenty of space to finish looking at what they’re looking at.

We pass by many buildings on our walk. Some of them are more interesting than others. I enjoy looking at the details of buildings when I am walking. A doorway, some letters on a building, even the shape of the top floor of a building can be of interest to me. I am not trying to inspect a property for possible purchase. I am simply enjoying the streets of a city.

The map comes out when we need it. I like making a small mark and seeing the portion we have walked take shape on paper. There is no need to check it at every corner. A tool should help me be here, not keep asking me to look away from the place I brought it to understand.

At a crossing I catch myself preparing a speech about design. I can save it for the notebook. Alison knows what I think about design anyway. The morning deserves attention beyond my complaints.

We take a moment to rest and to have something to drink. I notice whether the stop feels comfortable without claiming the observation carries any authority. I am a geography degree holder and I have many opinions on many things, but I am not a planner.

Lunch is simple. I want food I can eat slowly and enough time afterward to sit without the map calling us onward. A walk across neighborhoods should include being in a neighborhood for a bit.

We do not need an invented conversation to make the meal feel shared. The simple comfort of her presence, and of watching her look at things that I’ve missed is more than enough for me. We met on a neighborhood walking tour in 2023, and walking has always been a part of our relationship.

After lunch we can look at the return route and see how we feel about it. I have done Saturday routes of 8 to 15 miles in the past, but there is a range to my habits and I don’t want to be locked into anything today. The walk can be complete without reaching the far end of the route.

I am tempted to judge other ways of getting around too quickly. My sister lives in the suburbs, and I know I can become smug at her house. Out here, though, I try to remember that just because I’m enjoying my mode of transportation doesn’t mean that everyone else should be doing things my way.

As the afternoon light shifts, our pace slows down. We move more slowly now, not from defeat but from having spent a good morning outside. I can adjust my pack and drink some more water to keep on our path for the rest of the day.

As we near home, familiar ground can be seen in small pieces. I can put the map away for longer stretches of time. It is nice to be back on streets that I am familiar with after having been elsewhere for a while. The walk can join those places together in my mind without having to list off every single turn that we took to get there.

We arrive home with plenty of energy to put things away and think about dinner. This is the kind of outing that would be ruined by me needing to recover from something I insisted was fun for the rest of the day. The pack is light, the couch is calling.

Later I will look at the marks on the map of the route we took today. There may be a stretch I want to walk again. There may be a place Alison wants to revisit. I leave both possibilities open. Planning another outing can be a shared pleasure too, provided I do not begin it before she has taken her shoes off.

I would like to write about the city as an outdoor space in this column. To treat a day of walking around the city as proper outdoor activity. To recognize that a walk around the city requires attention, preparation, and curiosity, and can be used to meet the needs of someone who is looking for a satisfying distance to cover, or a short route to take.

I refill the bottle and put the transit card back where I expect it. I like to complete these small tasks before sitting down. This will be useful for the next outing as well. I don’t need to write a long speech on the usefulness of these items.

The evening comes to a close without the need for us to embellish our route today. We took the train out, we walked, we had lunch, we sat down to rest, and then we made our way back home. I saw things I would have missed in a hurry. Alison saw more. There’s plenty of room on the paper map for another Saturday of walking, but today’s outing is complete and I’m glad we had the chance to do it.