Ken Llgunas Talk

Today I got the experience of getting to hear your friend Ken Llgunas talk about his journey walk across America. First he gave us a little brief history about himself discussing his graduation from Yale and the daunting task of paying off his student debt. Apparently to make things cheaper he lived in a van as he attended grand school and was able to get a book deal signed off of this. But he then directs back to where he got the idea to do the walk across the major pipeline that took him months. In my mind this is insane. He was living in Antartica or somewhere very cold as a young man washing dishes with one of his close friends talking as they usually do. This was a low point in his life and as said in his speech low points are where the best ideas are made. His friend stated they should walk across America following a major pipeline along the way to study the various opinions, climate, and more. Mr. Llgunas decided it was possible and he was going to do it. Unfortunately a couple of days before the trip he broke his pinkie toe but this did not affect or push back his schedule. Also his friend had promised to go with him but was soon reminded he was banned from Canada due to some trouble with the law in his younger years. So this was going to be a solo journey. He prepared by doing as much research and studying how to hike, what needs to be packed, and how it should be approached. He decided to have his friend ship food supplies to near by mail centers along his journey. He packed as light as possible bringing money, an iPad, and a tarp as his shelter. I would not be doing that as I get sick way to easy. He mapped out his journey and was set to follow the pipeline across America.The pipeline runs what is called crude kind of a lumpy substance mixed with a lot of things but oil can be extracted from it.  At first he hopped on a small plane to take an arial look at the area to find where he needed to begin during this he saw a number of damaging things done to the environment. A crude plant where there was a man made lake that could be harmful to animals if they drank. Yellow pyramids made of what I want to say sulfate ( I do not remember the materials exactly) which were really cool . The only reason they where there is the simple fact there was no where else to store it. After he caught his grounds he went through a series of different lands. From temporal forrest where bears, beavers, and a bunch of animals could be found. Clear praises where roaming cows where eating grass. He was very much frightened by them at first but learned they were just giant scary cats. During his journey he was able to talk with a lot of people asking owners of the land he walked through how they felt about the pipeline. Some where okay with it being compensated at a great rate others felt like they were bullied into accepting it was going to be built. He even inspired one guy to join his journey but only lasted two days and turned around and went home. This walk did not come with out challenge. He experienced agonizing pain from exaushatan, major damage to his feet, the weather, and shinsplints. I have major respect for him has he completed this walk and was able to make a story out of it. He says he felt like it was his purpose at that time he was exactly where he needed to be and this is what motivated him to keep going.