To travel by foot for me took on a whole new definition about 10 years ago. That is when Doris, my wife, took me to a walking-club meeting. You heard it right, a “walking-club” meeting.

Now I was very much aware of running clubs, but I had never heard of a walking club. So, being curious, I went with her to the Dogwood Trailblazers Walking Club’s monthly meeting in Joplin. It turned out that this was just one of 230 American Volkssport Association (AVA) Clubs throughout the United States. I was not one of those people who needed a lot more exercise, having run and jogged since 1980. But walking, what could you do with walking, but walk?

My first impression as we entered the room was that since I was the only male in attendance, my wife was getting me into a “little old lady’s knitting circle” or something close to it. (Note: More men soon appeared on the membership roll.) Well, fortunate for me, I did not bolt from the room in horror but stuck it out. Listening to them plan future walking events and hearing reports about where club members had walked and how much they enjoyed their walks caught my attention. How could walking be this interesting?

After the meeting we decided to do some of the club’s local walks and found ourselves in parts of Joplin we had never been. We did all of the club’s local walks over the next few months and found ourselves scratching our heads as to where were the other walks that we had heard them describe.

That is when we discovered the AVA Starting Point, a catalog with almost 1,800 nationwide walks. We found new walks in Kansas City and St. Louis that we could drive just a little farther to reach. Because we were frequently driving to California to see our son and family, we decided to add AVA walks and soon found ourselves adjusting our routes to “gerrymander” more AVA walks into our trips.

We found AVA walkers to be a robust group, with many regularly doing a 10K walk, but many others doing two and sometimes three on a given day. We soon discovered that age did not have much to do with it. The average Volkssporter is a “baby boomer” in his or her mid-50s. But it is also common to find two or three generations at AVA events. At our recent event at Roaring River State Park in Cassville, the Dogwood Trailblazers helped celebrate the 85th birthday for a Tulsa walker who walked that day with his sons, daughters and grandchildren. He then gave us notice that in five years he would be 90 and expected to return to again hike Roaring River. None of us in attendance doubted his intentions.

Volkssporting is a personal fitness sport and recreation program offering non-competitive walks, hikes, cycling and swims. You choose your time to start within the start/finish “window” and participate in the sport at your own pace. Over 50,000 Americans participate in AVA events.

Our national slogan states that we walk for “Fun, Fitness and Friendship.” If I have any regrets in my life, it would be that I did not discover AVA and our walking clubs as soon as I could have. This is a great sport and allows time to talk with one another. That is something that we as Americans don’t do enough of anymore.

By now, Doris and I have become accustomed to the startled looks when folks ask, “You drive to walk?” Yes, we do. It is perfectly natural to us with now over 7,500 kilometers in our distance book and 650 events in 10 years. But, we are pikers when we look over the number of events and distances that some of our fellow walkers have done.

So, in the beginning I asked “what can you do with walking, but walk?” I know now AVA walkers walk, but in a different way. There was a time when I did not feel a need to keep track of the miles I ran. But doing it the AVA way, keeping track can encourage you to walk regularly. We find when you mix all of this with good walking friends and fellowship, you have the ingredients for good constructive lifetime fitness routines which make for a fuller and happier life. We invite you to come and walk with us. We do it a different way, and yes, have fun doing it.

See you on the trail!



Glen Conyers is the South Central Regional director of the American Volkssport Association. He lives in Joplin.