Skip Potts is homeless and unemployed. In the past he’s been an English teacher in Prague, a high-rise window washer and a lingerie salesman. For the next month or so, he’ll be walking across the Lone Star State in his quest to traverse the entire country in the name of improving education. He’s created a registered charity called People for Educational Equality (www.pfee.org) and through this organization is attempting to raise money and awareness for his cause. 
Skip, you began walking in September, starting in Boston. How long do you anticipate it’s going to take to complete this feat and what is your measure of success?
I started on September 1st, so I’ve already been going for about five and a half months. I haven’t been moving as fast as I could, but moving into the Southwest I expect to speed up a lot, because there’s not as much to stop for. I think I’ll finish in about three months which will make a grand total of eight and a half months. For measure of success, that is difficult to say. You always start a big project with great ambitions and slowly reality chisels them back to something reasonable. What I’ve learned to do is focus much more on my journey and I know that I am helping people. Ideally I’d be able to pick up some press and raise a bunch of money, help fund some programs that are desperately in need. There are some schools that need something as simple as paper in programs meant to teach kids to write, which is just insane. I know I’ll do more than this, but at the end of it all if ultimately all I do is get some parents to go home and spend some more time with their kids doing homework, then that would be something. It’s not about making a tidal wave, it’s about making ripples.
How do you pass the time when you are walking? With your name being “Skip,” was there not the temptation to skip across the country?
I sing a lot. Also, at times, it becomes almost like meditation. The time passes surprisingly quickly when you just look at all the beauty. If I had decided to skip, I’d be in a ton of pain right now.
What made you decide to take up education as the cause for this walk?
I think for most people that do something like this, the walk comes before the cause. I wanted to walk and I wanted to help people. For me, educating my mind has been something that has allowed me to do anything I want to do in life. Maybe I haven’t been successful as defined by many people, I’m not a rich man nor famous, but for everything I’ve wanted - I’ve been successful at those things, traveling and learning and living adventures. My education is what made that possible. I want to give other people that same opportunity. It’s tragic that you can go to one high school in America where a senior is trying to choose whether to take a fourth year of Mandarin Chinese or Greek, while a few miles away there is a high school where they don’t have overhead projectors because they don’t have money for it. This dichotomy in the education system between rich and poor areas should not happen in a country that has advanced as far as ours.
Which states have presented the greatest challenge to traverse thus far?
There haven’t been any great challenges. Louisiana has a LOT of bridges and it doesn’t have a lot of sidewalks or shoulders. I think that should be a new Olympic sport - sprinting across bridges. Bridge Sprinting! It’s tough when there’s heavy traffic and you are pushing a heavy cart.
There were only two days when I had a real problem with dogs, right at the bottom of Virginia. The dogs are very aggressive in the Southern part of Virginia for some reason. There might be six Dobermans in front of a house in the middle of nowhere who decide that I look like lunch.
At the very least you didn’t have to walk in front of Michael Vick’s house before he was caught.
That’s a good point. I’ve found how unique entire states are. I didn’t expect entire states to have distinct personalities especially in the same region, like Connecticut vs. Rhode Island or Alabama vs. Missippippi. Alabamans are the nicest group of people I’ve met in my entire life. They are incredibly nice, genuine and generous. Passing through Alabama was an experience that changed my life.
Hopefully Texas will also change your life. And hopefully when you get to the more barren Western part of the state, it won’t end it! So how many miles a day do you walk? How many pairs of shoes have you gone through and where do you sleep at night?
The furthest I’ve walked in a day is 54 miles. The average day is usually 30 miles. I’m currently on my fourth pair of shoes. I just changed shoes when I reached Texas and was saving that pair for Texas because it’s a BIG state. The first pair I used was three years old when I started. I had used these shoes to run a couple of marathons and went through survival training with them. When I made it to New York it started raining. Those shoes were wet and stinky. I arrived at a bakery, so I set them outside in the sun to dry. I ran around the corner to the bank and someone stole them. After this happened I had to go to a dollar store to buy some slippers and I ended up having to walk eight miles in those to get to Manhattan to get new shoes. That wasn’t the best walk I ever had. For sleeping, I do couch surfing. There is a website by the same name that allows strangers to connect with each other when traveling. The guy I’m staying with tonight, I’ve never met before. I just emailed him and said “Can I stay with you, I have lot’s of references” and he said yes. If that doesn’t work, I camp out. I have camping supplies that I push in my cart, which is actually a baby jogger for twins.
Being on the road for such a long time, you’ve most likely seen both the best and the worst in people. Are there any stories from either side of the spectrum that you’d care to share?
I actually haven’t seen the worst in people. One of the things that is changed my life is the fact that I’ve only seen the best in people after five and a half months of traveling. Everyone I’ve met, if nothing else, has been at least cordial. Part of that is because of what I’m doing this for. This attracts the best people and even if they aren’t the best, I see the best parts of them. I never really believed how much good there was out there until I did this.
One of my favorite stories is about a guy in New Jersey who saw me walking. In this country, we think there is a big difference between the Right and the Left in politics. I happen to be on the Left. It started when he stopped and gave me five bucks and I naturally gave him my card. A couple hours later, he called me and asked me where I was sleeping that night. He caught up with me about three hours later. At the beginning of this journey all I had was a wool blanket. After some conversation - sometimes about politics, he gave me a tent, a military sleeping bag, a camping stove, ear muffs, and food. After all of this, he looked up at the sky and said “I don’t know what else I can give this guy, God.” I’m not really from a religious background, but I was struck by how kind this man was despite any political difference he and I had. It was great to see someone I didn’t know, who was so different from me be so giving. That experience really affected me profoundly. It made me more open to people in general. Before that, I wasn’t really a “people person.”
Apart from walking across the country, what advice would you give anyone who would like to improve the education system?
If they are parents they can emphasize the importance of education to their kids. That is one of the best things my parents did for me. If anyone has the time to volunteer, there are many schools that could use help with after school programs and tutoring. Donating paper and other supplies to poorer schools that don’t have them is another way. Sadly, the message kids get from society in poor schools is that for them education doesn’t matter. Anything we can do to change that message to let them know that education is the thing that can change their lives is the best way to help.
What is the first thing you plan on doing once you finish your walk?
When I finish the walk, I’m still homeless and unemployed, so I don’t have a lot of options. I do look forward to traveling at high speed! I wouldn’t mind getting a really nice bicycle. Also, I have friends all over the world in countries like Honduras and Argentina, so it would be nice to visit them.
Maybe there is a much smaller country you can walk across for another cause?
We suggest Lichtenstein.
Photos: www.pfee.org
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