Being that our goal is to relate the environment to the people in the book of our choice, I figured that there's no better example than a man who walked through our undeveloped state in 1867. The person I'm referring to is John Muir, and his book is titled A Thousand-Mile Walk to the Gulf. He was a person of the land, with nothing besides a couple dollars, the clothes on his back, and his notebook to write in. So, I asked myself what John Muir would think if he went on the same trip now a days. Could he have the same experiences now that he had with the environment then? Due to the over development and commercialization of our state, and country for that matter, I don't think John Muir would ever be able to have the same connection with nature and the environment as he once did.
             John Muir's early years were all but exciting, but need to be known to fully understand the kind of person he really was. He was not just a writer but also a naturalist, an explorer, and an environmental preservationist. Muir was born in Scotland in 1838 and shortly after, relocated with his family in Wisconsin. He worked hard on a farm for many years and then went to the University of Wisconsin for three years. Then one day, while working for a carriage-wheel factory in Indiana, John was blinded in an accident. According to an essay written by Michael Branch this blinding was the turning point in his life. Praying for hope, John told God that if he would restore his sight, then he would devote the rest of his life to the study and protection of the natural world. God must have been listening because John did regain his sight, and that's what jumpstarted his idea for the thousand-mile walk. Two months later he began his trip from Jeffersonville, Indiana, headed for Florida.
             After clearing several other states along the way, his Florida adventure began, as did my reading. I couldn't help wondering what it must ha...