A Parallel Planets piece by Michelle Rae
Parallel Planets presents Owen Martel
in The Earth Beneath His Feet
Story and Interview by Michelle Rae
Mentioned: traveling on foot, crossing borders, transportation and communication technologies
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We are, each of us, familiar with the feeling of freedom, mixed with excitement, born out of being on the road, with our daily routines getting farther and farther behind and the large expanse of land waiting patiently ahead, without limitations. We have, each of us, felt it at one point or another in our lives. It’s an amazing and unforgettable sensation, not being confined by responsibilities and repetitive tasks and realizing just how massive our world is, making our own individual lives of paperwork and groceries and senseless gossip, no matter how comfortable, seem inconsequential.
It is, therefore, easily fathomable that many, from different parts of the world, have taken leave of their comfortable city lives, along with it their good jobs and their warm beds, and taken on the challenge of being on the road, despite the unpredictability that lies ahead, with nothing but the heavy packs on their backs. Most, like Alastair Humphreys and Rob Lutter, are travelling solo by bike, camping out on the sides of the road, braving whatever intense weather that come their way while some are traveling with their cats or dogs, relying on the kindness of friends and strangers for a cozy couch and a warm meal.
A bold and very dedicated few are relying on the toughness of their shoes and the resilience of their legs, making makeshift wagons and traversing the hard lands through countrysides, farms, and deserts in their own two feet. Videographer and long-distance-walker Owen Martel, who grew up in Hawaii but has lived in many parts of the world, is one of those few. And man, does he have quite the portfolio.
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| photo by Owen Martel |
Martel was living in Seattle, WA a few years back, dealing with an abusive boss in a low-end job and living in one shitty place after another, lonelier and more miserable than he'd ever been. So decided to get himself out of that situation, change his life, and take on an ambitious undertaking.
In preparation, he hiked through the Olympic Mountains by himself, meeting his share of dangerous animals along the way no doubt, to see if his knee injury has healed enough to endure what he was about to do. He also spent his last few months in Seattle making and eating nothing but hardtack, cabbage, and oatmeal to save enough money for it. When he was finally ready, he left his gray city life behind, flew to Turkey, and then started his journey on foot from Istanbul to Edinburgh to, in the words of Herman Melville whose book Moby Dick served as an inspiration to Martel during his journey, “drive off the spleen and regulate the circulation.”
To us regular folks, that endeavor might prove too intense for anybody to survive. But Martel, albeit with eye injuries and swelling feet, did and quite impressively too, meeting and making friends with a number of curious and/or concerned characters from different cultures, using his “phrase cards” largely to communicate, and experiencing many famous landmarks like the Hagia Sofia in his own way.
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| photo by Owen Martel |
This was a couple of years ago.
Today, Martel is back on US soil but he isn’t staying put. Today, he is traveling from the American Northwest to the good ol’ Southwest, traversing all and any types of terrain – from mountains to plains and deserts – like a pro on, you guessed it, foot, encountering everything from wild moose to game hunters. And this time he isn’t just doing it to reboot his system or get some fresh air. This time, he has a mission – to explore, experience, and document America’s transportation and communication development at the local level.
To know more about Owen Martel and his Walk the West project, read on to his interview below.
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Parallel Planets: Tell something about Owen Martel as a long-distance walker-slash-videographer and before you became that person.
Owen Martel: "I got into long walks and video production separately, and it’s only been in the past couple of years that I’ve made a point of bringing the two activities together. Even though video tools are becoming more and more portable, they’re still a major addition to a backpacking load. When I walked across Europe, I found that my video gear gave me a way to deal with situations on an aesthetic level even when, on a physical level, I was having a difficult time – but on the other hand, carrying such fragile equipment often made difficult times even more stressful. When you’re being chased by a herd of stampeding livestock, clinging to a mountainside, or dealing with a fitfth or sixth consecutive hour of torrential rain, keeping a bundle of electronics safe is a pretty bizarre thing to have on your mind."
Parallel Planets: You walked your way from Istanbul to Edinburgh by yourself and all your equipment on your back. When/How did you decide to take on this (some people would call crazy) undertaking?
Owen Martel: "It was a last-resort idea that I’d kept in the back of my mind for a few years, but I decided to go for it only a few months before I got on the plane to Turkey. I was living in Seattle at the time, and lonely enough that I didn’t know what else to do – it was crazy, and it stayed crazy until, just by sticking with it, it turned into daily life. It took until somewhere in Bulgaria to turn that corner."
Parallel Planets: Right now, you are making your way from Seattle to El Paso on foot. Tell us more about this project.
Owen Martel: "After walking across Europe, I wanted to see what a desert would be like. I’m interested in how transportation and communication technologies affect our sense of place, and because it’s such a dry, rugged environment, the American West is a region where these technologies have had a particularly impressive impact. The West is almost synonymous with the open road, and it’s not just the “open” that’s the key in that phrase – it’s also the road, and, these days, the fiber optic cable that’s buried next to it.
Six hundred years ago in this part of the world, if you wanted to visit someone, or get a package somewhere, or deliver a message, you pretty much had to walk. Then horses came into the picture, and wheeled vehicles, and the telegraph – fast forward, and you’ve got quite a range of options, getting faster and more complicated all the time. To learn more about how different ways of getting around are shaping people’s lives, I’m talking with people who help to keep things like airports, telephone systems, trains, and television stations running; and in the video that will ultimately come out of all this traveling, I’ll combine these interviews with my own experiences crossing the West in the oldest and simplest way: on foot. I’ll have a sketch of Western transit from the ground up."
Parallel Planets: What influenced/inspired you to leave modern comforts behind and trek the hard land on foot?
Owen Martel: "Whenever I travel by car for any distance, I either fall asleep or feel sick, or both. I’m a disaster waiting to happen on a bicycle. Pogo sticks squeak. I wouldn’t say, though, that I’ve left modern comforts behind, particularly on this trip. I wear modern shoes and modern clothes; the cart I’m using to haul my gear uses modern wheels with modern bearings; I have access along the way to supermarkets, convenience stores, and electronic point-of-sale systems; and for the majority of the trip, I’ve traveled along well-maintained, thoroughly modern roads. I regularly have access to the Internet – I can have a face-to-face conversation from the side of the road with someone thousands of miles away, which is extremely modern and extremely strange."
Parallel Planets: What’s the hardest situation you’ve ever been in during your travels? What dangers have you come across?
Owen Martel: "The offhand criminalization of being out and about on foot is a pain. You’re walking down a highway in the dark, with barbed wire on either side for mile after mile, and signs warning that trespassers will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law – or possibly shot – that’s a pain. It’s impersonal and unnecessary: it’s pretty hard to be a troublemaker if you’re asleep. It’s a pain to be pulled over by police simply because you’re walking, or harassed by someone driving past.
On a larger scale, it’s also a very strange feeling to be legally required to leave a country that you’ve walked thousands of miles to reach, and where you’d like to belong. Citizenship is hard. Borders are hard. Emotionally, it’s hard not to be in touch with people. Just because you can send and receive emails now and then doesn’t mean you can continue to play a meaningful part in people’s lives, and just because you meet an extraordinary person in passing doesn’t mean a friendship will last and grow. This isn’t unique to walking across a country or a continent, but it comes up so often traveling this way, and with such sharpness, that it is distinctive. You can feel the world scraping around you at a different speed. The most dangerous thing on the road is a driver in a hurry, and drivers tend to hurry by default."
Parallel Planets: What defines your artistic style? What are your “trademarks”?
Owen Martel: "I’m deliberate with words and liberal with punctuation. Lots of weather, little fashion sense."
Parallel Planets: What is your mantra in life?
Owen Martel: "Joy."
Parallel Planets: Aside from long-distance walking and making videos, do you have any other creative pursuits? Tell me more about them.
Owen Martel: "I got into all this trouble through books, and language is still the root of my creative interests. I also enjoy coming up with songs, and while this has been slow going for the last few years, I do have some recordings posted at SoundCloud. It would be great to find people to dream up music with.
I’m also trying to work out a novel in my head while I’m walking, but things like mastiffs and semis keep getting in the way. On the video front, I recently made a video for a band in London called Arc, which has just been released at their site, and I also make videos for sustainable transportation nonprofits."
Parallel Planets: Mention three of your favorite things.
Owen Martel: "A high, soaring note. Belonging. The color of night on an open hillside."
Parallel Planets: Okay, if there aren’t any limitations – you have all the equipment, time, and money you’ll need – what would your dream long-distance walk be? Where would you start, walk across, and end?
Owen Martel: "I’d walk across every continent, from one coast to another. I’d be sure to include Buenos Aires and Kailas. Cairo would be interesting. Australia and Antarctica would be tough."
Parallel Planets: What other project(s) are you currently working on?
Owen Martel: "I’m hoping to find a place I can call home."
More from Owen Martel
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