Stamford By Foot

I took Statistics in college and really enjoyed the course.  After taking Algebra and Calculus. It was nice to take a math class that I understood and had a practical use for it. I especially enjoyed learning about mean, median and mode and standard deviations.

You are probably wondering what this has to do with walking around Stamford. The other day when I was walking, I found a wheat penny on my travels.  I usually pick up all change that I see on my walks. Mainly pennies. Sometimes dimes and quarters. So, onto the wheat penny.  I also found one the week before. So, the question is what is the probability of finding not one but two wheat pennies?

The US Mint stopped stamping wheat pennies in the 1950’s. According to my internet research there are over 200 billion pennies in circulation, and they feel one of every 350 pennies is a wheat penny.

I average picking up ten pennies a week. It is amazing where I find them.  A fair number of pennies I find around parking meters but the rest all over my walks.  I often wonder do people like to throw coins away.

One out of 350 are the odds.  I pick up ten a week. I should be finding one wheat penny every 35 weeks I have been actively picking pennies for almost two years. Finding two wheat pennies in that time fits the average.

I mention this because as I walk around Stamford and other areas I see and experience a lot of unique things. Seeing a Coyote. Bumping into Governor Lamont in Westport. If you walk enough you will probably see many unique things

This last weekend January 29^th and 30^th was a tough wintry weekend for walking.  Saturday was snow until mid-afternoon. Eight inches in Stamford. We were lucky Long Island had over twenty inches of snow.  We also had strong winds and bitter cold temperatures.

This was a perfect weekend to stay in the house in front of a roaring fire. My wife and I did Saturday night.  We had cheese fondue in front of our fireplace.  It was nice and cozy.

However, I did walk both days.  Seven miles on Saturday and ten miles on Sunday. One of the challenges to walking is staying warm.  As they say use layers. And it worked for me. Long-Johns, sweaters, two pairs of socks and a heavy winter coat did the trick for me. I never felt that cold. Also, I find wearing the facemask helps to keep the face warm.

Walking after a snowstorm is always a challenge.  Sidewalks are usually a trap.  You are walking along, and the next part of the sidewalk has not been cleared. The good news is that Stamford has been promoting bike lanes.  They are usually cleared, and I feel safe walking on them.

Another issue is black ice.  You are walking and suddenly there is a patch of ice.  The black ice will get worse as the week progresses.  The snow melts during the day and refreezes as ice at night.

As usual I always see strange sights.  There was an off-road four by four turning around in a parking lot and they flipped the vehicle.  The driver was not hurt.  How it happened is a mystery to me.

One final thoughtlessness.  I am walking down Franklin Street by UCONN and a person turns into Franklin and stops to let out a student.  Of course, a garbage truck had pulled in behind them and was blocking the main road.  Why couldn’t they have pulled further in or to the side.  People seem to have a mental block and very rarely think about the other travelers.

Trains and Walks are a great combination for me.  Stamford has many great walks and I enjoy walking throughout Stamford. However, there are times I want to try new walks, and this is where trains come in. Last summer when I walked along the Connecticut Coast, I realized many things.  One: there are lots of great walks throughout Connecticut. Secondly, it is possible to start the day trip by train then walk and take the train home. One day I took the train to Old Saybrook and walked to New London 24 miles in total and still made it home the same evening. The nicest part of the trip was sitting at the dockside restaurant and having a drink while waiting for the train back home.

The Stamford Train Station is our starting point.  It is not the most elegant station. However, it is functional.  You can take a train as far St Johns Vermont or Norfolk Virginia without changing trains.

Come join me as I discover all the great places that the Stamford Trains will take us to.

Our First Stop New Canaan Connecticut known as “the next station to heaven”

The other day I went to the La Rouge Chocolate store in Westport, CT. I had the most delicious hot chocolate there. It had to be at least 600 calories or more.

I wasn’t too concerned about the number of calories.  I had taken the train to Westport and walked to the store. The round-trip walk was 80 minutes and according to experts, every hour of walking burns 200 calories.

This is one of the benefits of walking many miles every day. You don’t have to watch every calorie you eat.  When I started walking at least eight miles a day during the lock-down. I lost five lbs bringing my weight to under 170lbs.

Now that I am averaging ten miles a day, I can have one of those delicious sins without gaining weight.

Plus, my doctor tells me I am in great physical shape from the walking.

Time to go walking. Talk to you later.

Wintertime arrives for me when we have cold weather and snow on the ground. Last week was cold and Friday morning we had snow that is lasting.

I was able to walk yesterday after the snow. High Ridge Road has a bike lane, and I was using that where the sidewalks were not cleared.  The good news is most of the sidewalks where I walked were cleared.

Yesterday and today Saturday January 8^th I was able to walk over nine miles each day.  I did walk in the Stamford Mall for part of those miles. If you walk from one end to the other four times in the Mall you will have walked almost a mile.

Next week will be the challenge.  They are forecasting two days where the temperature won’t get out of the teens. I have made contingencies for those two days.  I do expect to walk at least nine miles each day.

I will let you know how I make out next week

You might have noticed I haven’t posted lately.  That’s because my wife and I celebrated Christmas in Switzerland with my oldest daughter who lives there.

Switzerland is a great place to visit.  It is expensive. Gasoline is over $7.00 a gallon. Traveling by train is very nice and expensive.

One of my concerns was would I be able to walk a lot in Switzerland. The answer is yes, I was able to average nine miles a day for the two weeks I was there.

It was unnerving to walk there. When pedestrians cross the road at crosswalks, they just cross without looking and the cars stop. I could not get use to just crossing without looking.

I was in Liechtenstein for a few days.  This picture is the view of the Rhine River and the Swiss Alps

While I was walking along the river. A person on a dogsled drove by.

I will be working on lots of new topics for the new year

This morning’s walk was down High Ridge Road to Downtown Stamford. At Oaklawn and High Ridge Road there is a delayed light on the North bound traffic. As I crossed Oaklawn a car started off going north. They had been watching the other traffic light and never realized they ran the red light.

Then on Bedford Street a mini motorcycle was driving on the sidewalk. Between bikes, electric scooters, and now mini motorcycles it is getting hard to walk safely on the sidewalks.

This afternoon I traveled to Greenwich by train. I had a new pair of shoes, and I did not want to walk too much in them. I walked from the train station to the top of Greenwich Avenue and back again.

The train ride back to Stamford allowed me to see who was faster, trucks or trains. I spotted two trucks on I-95 at Cos Cob. There was a lot of traffic on I-95. Usually, the trucks would win as the train still had two stops to make and goes slowly into the Stamford Station. As I left the train station, I saw both trucks. So, it was a draw.

It was surprising that I-95 was that busy on a Monday. By the way. The train station parking lots are still very empty these days.

Today I had two goals. I needed to buy another pair of walking shoes. At ten miles a day I am lucky to get three months out of a pair of shoes.

I found a nice pair of walking shoes at Johnson & Murphy. Unfortunately, they did not have my size. However, they offered to have the correct size mailed to me. I took up their offer and I should have the shoes early next week. I then went to the train station and bought my round-trip ticket to New Canaan.

My second goal was to walk from Downtown New Canaan to Darien by taking Route 124.

After lunch my wife drove me to the Springdale Train Station, and I took the train to New Canaan. The train took ten minutes to arrive in New Canaan.

The nice thing about the station is that it is right in the town. Walking 100 feet you are on Elm Street with lots of shops and restaurants.

I did not linger as I wanted to get to Darien before it got dark. I walked by Mead Memorial Park. You should visit it if you are in New Canaan. It is less than a five-minute walk from the train station

 On my walk I crossed over the Merritt Parkway and traffic was moving slowly not bad considering it was the day before Thanksgiving.

Arriving at the Darien Train Station at 3:30 I saw that my train the 3:42 was going to be 15 minutes late. I ran over to the bus stop and caught the bus to Stamford.

So, the train ticket I bought was never used. The conductor on the ride to New Canaan was not able to get to me to punch the ticket.

Altogether I walked twelve miles today. Tomorrow being Thanksgiving I will be hard pressed to walk six miles.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving.