provided complete coverage with the halls of congress from the house and senate floors to congressional hearings, party briefings, and committee meetings. c-span gives you a front row seat to how issues are debated and decided. with no commentary, no interruptions, and completely unfiltered. c-span, your unfiltered view of government. announcer: washington journal continues. host: neil king stepped out of the front door of his home not far from where we are in capitol hill to go for a long walk. and in about six days he traveled 330 miles and ended up in new york city. he has a book that he wrote about this called “american ramble” and what he learned

" why did you do it? i wanted to go out right after covid, and what we saw in 2020 and experience of full spring and -- the founding swath of america, washington and new york city. i met a lot of people on the way and caught up with people about our history and the stories the landscape told. host: we can show you what the route looked like it was a roundabout path we washington dc, maryland, pennsylvania into new jersey and into new york.

the book is called american ramble, of walk of memory and renewal. it came out this spring. what was the memory? what was the renewal? guest: it was about my memory and my renewal. i had a cancer bout and we all have personal struggles and it was about overcoming some of that but it was investigating our national memories who it is that we build statues for and who it is that we recognize. some of the heroes that we have forgotten and overlooked and the prospect of there being a national renewal at a time of a lot of challenges. i really wanted to go out and mix it up with people that could give me hint about those things. host: you're walking in the wake of the january 6 attack on the capital. amid a contentious 2022 election season. how much did those two issues, with people you met on the walk? guest: a fair bit.

i met a great guy named ted outside of his driveway he said what are you doing? are you coming from? i said maryland i just came from my house from the i am on a walk to new york. he looked at me he was an african-american in new york and i said this is a walk of renewal and healing. and he said you're going to try to get the nation in tune. and i said that is not putting -- that is putting a lot of pressure on me. but i was not out to quiz people on political things i was there to be interested in what interested them even if i was only with them for 15-20 minutes to immerse myself in their world and that was a voluble exercise. host: a ride last week in usa today has a larger write up on the book itself. the headline i walked from d.c. to new york city and i found my

faith in america restored along the way written in the july 4 week. what restored your faith in america? guest: a lot of it is we sit around looking at our screens with what were things are being delivered in twitter, facebook, or whatever tv channel you watch. but there is a different story that unfurls out in the landscape. there is a stream of basic rooted goodness out there. i am not saying one is versus the other, or that everybody is delusional watching tv, but i think it is really good to keep in touch with the simpler things and the more rounded -- grounded things. in my case, this was a month long walk where i just immersed myself in that storyline. i guess that you cannot help but

people being refreshed when you do that. host: neil king here to talk about his book “american rambl”" . you can call in, if you are in the central time zone, (202) 748-80, and if you are in the mountain pacific time zones you can call (202) 748-8000. guest: i had appointments to meet people along the way and i had my lodging planned out. it is different then what one might think of with ramble. it is directional with wondering, but that being said

there was a lot of serendipity. i had a lot of free hours every day where things just happen. i fished, crossed rivers by canoe or kayak, i met with various people that came up along the way. in some ways, that was kind of the ramble aspect to it. host: have you always been a big walker? guest: i have this is the biggest walk i have taken. it was not so much be impressed by this physical exercise of walking between these two places it was much more of an intellectual or spiritual endeavor. there's the appalachian trail and a lot of other big huge long hikes that people take. i would not put that in this category per se. it is more of an immersion and extraordinary fascinating stretch of territory between my house and new york city that i have crossed a billion times.

you may well have too. people raise up and down i-95 but i wanted to see the real world which is hidden and that is what i found. host: what was hidden? guest: i walked across into lancaster county where a lot of the amish and mennonite individuals live. i met school kids in the back of the school playing softball. it was an amazing sight. i went in there into the playground and watch them play softball. they came and we had a great discussion with them and their teacher. they invited me inside of their school house and they saying a couple of hymns about the afterlife. it was just an amazing stretch of an hour or so. i have been in touch with them. i have spent a number of other days to go out and meet with them. that is very much a hidden world i wondered into. host: we been showing our

viewers pictures and video you took along the way. and they him singing there and you watching it. the phone lines if you enjoy the conversation, in eastern or central time zone, it is (202) 748-8000 or (202) 748-8001 if you are in the pacific or mountain regions. t on twitter says that this would be a jaundiced view of the country. resentment or envy or bitterness. as they looked at politicians with the john decide. -- jaundice eye. did it give you that view? guest: no it did not. when you are out walking small roads and through the countryside, you are meeting people rooted in a different world than what i would call a jaundiced one. it is people who

are very much involved in their endeavors. i met with the family for instance in pennsylvania in lancaster county who lived in the same house on the same form for 10 generations. the guys great, great, great, great grandfather had bought the place in the 1760's before we were even a country. this is not a family i would remotely describe as jaundiced. i met a lot of people who are very immersed in remembering our past and resurrecting in a way -- our memories and the things that had begun to wash away. that is also a very worthwhile endeavor. host: this is connie on the lines from florida. you are on the line with neil king. caller: yes, good morning. i saw a lot about your book on different media, npr and etc..

i watched the cvs -- cbs morning interview with you. and i wanted to ask the way the reporter set it up there was quite an epiphany once you hit the new jersey turnpike. you call at the center of commerce of the capitalist world or something. and i wanted to know more information about what the motions of that -- emotions you felt in that more natural and human parts of your trip versus seeing the new jersey turnpike. guest: that is such a great question. the whole, my main purpose of walking out the door is putting aside distractions and paying attention to the particulars of every moment if i could. and to really watch one particular spring unfold as i walked north. and in doing that, it brought about so many of these moments

of unexpected joy and really super simple things. that little clip that you mention, i came into this town right along the jersey turnpike, i was going to hike up this river to go under the jersey turnpike. the people they are said he would not be able to do that there is no way a walker can go there. they lent me a kayak and i kayaked up through this quite ancient brook between warehouses for amazon and all the rest, -- and 12 lanes of jersey turnpike. it was a great blending of natural beauty, that docks, geese, turtles and all of that. these things have been there for thousands and tens of thousands of years. a different human world. that was part of what i found that these things are interconnected. there's a lot of wondrous things just off of the stuff we had built that might not be so

appealing. that might be part of the hidden world i was talking about. host: amelia is next from maryland. good morning. you are on with neil king. caller: good morning mr. king. it is nice hearing you speak about the wonders and beautiful places across our country. i always get this tinge of kind of like -- i don't know, it just bothers me all of the things that are going on in our country and the thing is there's going to be beauty in nature and beauty in every country as we ramble across it. but for those of us that are progressive and want to see the country, just be in a better place. it is hard for us to feel that joy and get that connection with nature when we see that, blind, we are constantly destroying our him -- that, one, we are constantly destroying our

economy. -- and i want to see what your views are on that. did you talk to any people along the way or was there a connection with nature but tuned in a little bit late so i did not hear all of what you said. guest: i really appreciate that question. i am not trying to argue that all of the stuff that is legitimately worrisome is not out there, i also have a lot of concerns that you just expressed. i guess part of my message is one way to defray that and create a certain sort of space for emotional peace at times, it is not just a nature thing, some of it is going out into the social world and putting your trust in people that you don't necessarily know. expanding your own circles of where you might belong. i spent a lot of -- i was walking by maryland long roads

and slow lanes. this is not per se a nature walk, it was much more of a human social walk. so i was walking through towns, past houses, speaking to people as i went. during that span of time, i was on the road for a little less than a month. i made 10 or 15 legitimate friends way outside of my normal sphere of friends own. people with very -- friend zone. people with very different beliefs and i have stayed in touch with those people. for me it was an act of expanding my citizenship and building more of a sense of trust in the aspects of our country that can be eroded if you are immersed in the news that you are talking about. again, i am not saying it is not a legitimate concern. host: speaking of the news you have a background in reporting. where did you work? guest: i worked at the wall

street journal for basically 20 years. i covered things all over the world and to presidential campaigns here in the united states. i wrote a lot about the u.s. economy and it's good and bad sides. a lot of inequality issues with global economics -- and i was there at the wall street journal until i left in the beginning of 2017. host: did you find being a reporter the man on the street help you become the man on the street? guest: yes. -- profoundly so. i think a lot of people could do a walk exactly like this any gender, race, and i could go on. -- on to some length about that aspect. but also being a reporter and having traveled around the world is much as i have existing kind of natural and a little easier. host: eddie from tucson, arizona

wants to know that not being on twitter for 20 days help with this restoration in faith of america. guest: i did. i went on twitter and i have a whole thread that people can look up under my twitter feed. it is all 76 or so tweets on the way that were my little excursion along the way. a lot of people at the time found quite magical because we were just coming out of the first winter of covid. very few people were kind of out and about and on the road. i walked out my door right after i got my second vaccine. the world for that brief spell was opening up again. i did not completely disengage in that way, but on the other hand i was not walking down the road or following things are twitter -- on twitter or following the news and i found that relieving. host: jerry in austin, massachusetts. you are on with neil king. caller: yes i am a disabled

combat veteran over 30 years service active duty. i came in when i was 17. i have heart hearing, hearing aids, cannot see that well and i cannot understand what this great man is trying to say. his voice is garbled, the call ends are garbled, i do not have a computer to talk to c-span. host: i tell you what something you can do is perhaps by this book “american ramble” or check it out at the library. you will have several hundred pages of the explanation of his journey that neil king took. you can read that and he will give you a sense of this block of memory and renewal that would be my suggestion for you. waynesburg, pennsylvania. good morning. caller: hello i just wanted to disagree a little bit with the woman who called a couple calls

ago. i also have a progressive point of view, and yes, it can be very discouraging to see the many problems such as racism and how we are not much responding to crime. but at this moment, i am next to a nice stream with my dog in rural pennsylvania. and like your guest said, it is so good for the sole to get out and effort --soul to get out and appreciate nature. and i think we have to decouple from all of the negative news sometimes. i do not blame the media like so many people do, but what is on in the news is not always what is happening in our everyday lives. host: do you listen to c-span radio when you go on your walks? caller: often i do, yes.

on the radio app i do. i have listened to c-span ever since you guys were born in the 70's or something. host: 79. neil king, go ahead. guest: i am in full agreement with what he is saying. i am not being pollyanna-ish by saying the real world is only world you will see when you look alongside a stream, but i think there is a counter narrative at a different story where you go out and immerse yourself in a long stretch of the american landscape. pretty much i would argue that most of the country, you will find a lot of trusting people, giving people, you know i have found some people that were less that way and i write about that in the book. i also write about some of the concerns, environmental

concerns that i have an darker aspects of our national history which i think a lot of us need to be attuned to. i explore all events of this is not just that i go out and grin in the sunlight sort of book. it kind of explores the full picture. host: what happens along roadways in life. i want you to expand on this paragraph you wrote in your wall street journal write up on the trip. you wrote there have been 400 or so generations of humans since the dawn of civilized nation but just 10 have -- past the age of steam have displayed our life which is why it taps into our earlier selves. you begin to understand why the prophets were all walkers, and the encounters with the single stranger so often happened along the roadways. host: you know at -- guest: you know i think that is such an invaluable thing to wait out. our lives were upended either

railroads when they came about in the 1830's. we have become so attuned to speed. going everywhere by car. as i point out in the book and thought about on the walk, walking is about 20 times slower than driving. hundreds of times more tactically meaningful and really spiritually uplifting over time. particularly as you add one day to the next. a lot of the encounters that i had with people along the way did have this sort of parable style quality. almost an illuminated quality about the people sharing morsels of wisdom that really altered my thoughts as i went. suggesting friends of theirs that i should meet a week down the road. and you do begin, i did not still -- say that i started feeling like a prophet, but you start to understand why so many of the early holy books were written about walks like that

essentially. those personal encounters along the roadway can be so meaningful. host: a couple quick fire questions for you in twitter. james, did you stay in hotels? guest: no i did not. i have a garbled voice because i got lyme disease because i was bitten i a tick. and so i stayed in airbnb's, hotels and that sort of thing. host: did you get lyme disease on this walk? guest: no it is in the previous events. host: another question what kind of footwear did you use? guest: i get a lot of footwear questions. i used lone peak shoes. they are great and faithful. i just have one pair. host: the guest sounds like he has two ears and one mouth and knows how to use them accordingly.

own lines if you want to join in and chat with neil king. (202) 748-8000 if you are in eastern or central time zones. (202) 748-8001 four mountain or pacific time zones. he is with us for the next 30 minutes or so. we have our next caller. go ahead. caller: good morning how are you doing guys? host: good morning we are doing good. you are on with neil king. caller: you had a lot of colors this morning. let me ask you, did you find a difference in your travels between red states and blue states and places where you had nice, regular people in them where you had a bunch of piss drinkers. guest: [laughter]

it is interesting. when you go out in those states there is no such thing as those. when you walk through this box, you are in mainly red areas because once you get out of the country those areas tend by and large go on that side of the spectrum most of my walk really did take place if you want to use those distinctions in so-called red america . but the distinction to me -- was important of who settled first in those areas. the german-american areas, amish mennonite, areas settled by quakers, presbyterians outside of philadelphia. it is just really amazing as you go at a slow, three-mile in our pace.

you can see those differences in the way the houses are designed or the villages are designed or the way people interact with you. those early imprints still stick. it is fascinating to look at up close. host: renee walks -- rights he walked a small area of america. do you plan to walk other areas of the nation? guest: i do. i am working on a book concept now that would take me to the lead up of the two 50th birthday of the country. -- 250th birthday of our country and i would like to call it our land which do shorter but deeper dives into wider sections of it. i am really open to the interesting portals and entryways to this part of a country in doing that. host: over this past weekend, there were recommendations for walks, rambles you can take on your own. what were some of those?

guest: get is fascinating. i am now in new jersey not far -- we built on the east coast so many canals during the 18 and 20's and 30's. and many of them have pathways along there. the delaware -- the cnl path, it goes from washington all the way to pittsburgh. and they are -- and elsewhere in the world there are so many amazing trails. i really do urge anybody that feels physically fit enough to at least once in your life build a trip, even if it is only three or four days around a walk in someplace that is amenable to that. there is something that is life altering about seeing the world at that pace and interacting with the people at that pace. it is so markedly different than the way we normally travel now. host: william in virginia good morning you are on with neil

king. caller: good morning. thank you for c-span and thank you for your -- thank you mr. king, i just wanted to say real quickly, i will try to be quick. this is one of the first times c-span is nonpolitical mostly. that is awesome because those mornings c-span gives me quite riled up. but beyond that, i want to just say -- point out that i am blessed in a situation where i can walk to the store in 10 minutes or i can jump in the car and drive to the store in five minutes. or i can walk two minutes to the bus and wait two minutes for the bus and be back in 20 minutes. so i just wanted to extrapolate on -- i actually personally wanted to ask mr. king how do you get to the grocery store?

that is all. thank you. guest: thank you very much i live in a very pedestrian area in washington dc near the capital. i could live my entire life on foot. i could walk to a multitude of different kinds of grocery stores. i can walk to c-span and walked to the library of congress, the smithsonian museums. that is slightly a different pitcher than most people in america face, but the ability to walk to the store is a really great one to have. in terms of this, i will note on the political front, i went out to get a sense of america where we are now. i did not on the other hand go out to quiz people about politics. i met people from all different political insulation -- persuasions including so-called trump people who are incredibly generous to me. and other people whose politics i did not know who were a little ungenerous. so it comes in all stripes.

and most importantly, i found what difference it makes to just literally stand on the same patch of ground with somebody of whatever political persuasion and you find other aspects of that day and moment of your life to have in common even if you might be separated by the way you see the world politically. host: living here on capitol hill, how often do you make the stroll down the nation's front yard to the national mall? guest: multiple times a week. i live 1.1 miles from the capital. i walk up the mall all the time or run up it for that matter. it is one of the blessings of living in washington. it has so many of these great, you know, i can take a mile run to the washington monument and go see the lincoln memorial and all of those things. guest: how often do you try to stop and chat with those like

you did on this 330 mile ramble? guest: less often than i did on this block. but when you're out on foot, cars contain us and section us off. now that i have written the book and i am out driving back and forth between washington and new york doing all kinds of book events i did a big one last night in princeton, i am astonished by how the driving leaves no residual memories behind. while the walk i can talk about for days on end with all the people i met. it is just a different type of time walking time versus driving time. it has a different richness about it. host: last call, stephen from brooklyn, good morning you are on with neil king. caller: hello, how are you? host: go ahead. caller: i find this fascinating.

i hitchhiked the course of united states three times from the east coast to the west coast, i did it three times. the very last time i did it, i had three dollars in my pocket. that was it. i had to get from san francisco to new york. i got picked up by two girls who were going to connecticut. we had the time of our lives. when they dropped me off in manhattan, they gave me five dollars. so you know i have seen and done it. it is a fascinating journey. it is a fascinating journey. there is nothing like it. so when i hear mr. king talking about walking, i am thinking, well, you know maybe i was cheating a little bit because i had my thumb in the air, but it was the early 70's. it was a different time. then when -- adolph the third it up a hitchhiker and was murdered by the hitchhiker everything

changed. all the laws in all the 50 states changed. i am not sure if it is still legal or not, but you're supposed to be on the on ramp when you go to the washington bridge you cannot be on the roadway. i do not know if that is still the law or how effective that is. but yeah, it was a great time and it was a different time. i was in my teens. i'm going to be 70 now. i still remember those days like yesterday. like it just happened. i had the time of my life and it was a lot of fun. host: thank you for the call in brooklyn. neil king, it hitchhiking versus hiking. guest: i really appreciate what he just said. i am a big fan of brooklyn to buy the way. i write about that in the book, the demise of hitchhiking. i also hitchhiked across the country. there was a time where we would put our trust in the stranger and they would put their trust

in pulling over to pick you up. i have a lot of amazing experiences like he was recounting. it really is a shame that that kind of thing has gone by the wayside. we farmed out the hospitality industry to an industrial sector called the hospitality industry. and we have kind of stopped providing it to strangers ourselves in a way and it is an.