At first, Lee and Gary Jorgensen didn’t intend to walk in every state in America, but once they started walking they just couldn’t stop. No, this isn’t a Forrest Gump story; it took more than four years to complete the task, but the Woodbury couple has walked in every state.
The Jorgensens started walking when they lived in Lincoln, Nebraska. After Gary retired in the early 1990s, they took up walking as a way to occupy their time. Beginning in 1993, the couple estimates they went on about 20 to 30 walks around Nebraska before starting their travels.
The couple completes the walks through an organization called the American Volkssport Association (AVA). There are Volkssport walks all over the world, but the AVA focuses on walks in the United States. Cities around the country have pre-determined trails, most of which are 10 kilometers (6.2 miles). There is a designated starting point where walkers pick up a map—often it will be at a hotel or convenience store. The walkers then follow the map to explore the city they are in and mark down various checkpoints along the way to prove they walked the whole thing. “It’s been a wonderful experience because it takes you through parks, cemeteries, college campuses, military academies … all over,” Lee says.
Some of the walks are in larger cities (state capitals, for example), but many are in small towns. Some of the Jorgensens’ favorite walks are in small towns nobody has heard of because they get to see things they never would have imagined.
Lee also takes part in bowling tournaments around the country, and that’s how the couple first started traveling. Having bowled since high school, Lee joined a bowling team for social connections because Gary had to travel a lot for work when they first moved to Nebraska in 1966. When the couple moved to Minnesota for the first time in 1970 (they would later move back to Nebraska before settling in Woodbury for good in 1994), Lee joined the bowling team she still plays with today.
Every year, she and her teammates play in a national tournament. One year the tournament took them to Salt Lake City. One year it was in Baton Rouge. Then Buffalo, New York. Then Florida. Gary would tag along for the bowling trips, and the couple would complete walks along the way. “We didn’t start off by wanting to walk the 50 states,” Gary says. “We did about 25 walks in Nebraska, and then once we took a long trip we’d use the walks as a way to stop and stretch our legs. Once we got down to having a few states left we thought, ‘Golly, why not do them all?’”
They knocked off most of the states on their bowling trips, and finally had it whittled down to Alaska and Hawaii. With no bowling tournaments left, they planned special trips so they could say they walked all 50 states, and now have a plaque hanging in their home to prove it.
The couple stopped doing Volkssport walks in 2005, but they completed a total of 249 walks over the years. Even without the official walks, you’re still likely to find the couple walking around their Woodbury neighborhood in the summer or Bielenberg Sports Center in the winter. “For anyone who loves walking, I highly recommend looking into Volkssport, because it’s a lot of fun,” Lee says.
Are you interested in doing Volkssport walks? Visit the website for more information.
