Finished walking every street, Pedestrians in Peoria duo will now tackle the trails

PEORIA – Jennifer Jacobsen-Wood and Mary Sue Hosbrough have proven that it’s not necessary to leave Peoria to have an adventure.

The pair, founders of the Pedestrians in Peoria Facebook page, coined the term “micro adventure” for the memorable moments experienced while walking all 1,639 Peoria streets – a total of 1,247.4 miles over 23 months.

“People think that an adventure has to be something big that you plan for, that you need money and skills for, but a micro adventure is just like an everyday, in-your-neighborhood thing that you like to do,” said Jacobsen-Wood.

A surprise or two along the way

Their adventures included rescuing an injured opossum and being rushed by a pit bull – a frightening moment both women enjoy laughing about today. They found interesting objects, for which they coined another term: trail treasure. A discarded pack of Swisher Sweets prompted Jacobsen-Wood to try her first cigar, and Hosbrough was particularly adventurous when it came to found food items.

“We found this deserted drink in the parking lot of the Dunkin’ Donuts at The Shoppes at Grand Prairie, completely full, and Mary Sue just drains the whole thing,” said Jacobsen-Wood.

Their walks also led to chance meetings with neighbors and the opportunities to visit a few taverns.

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“When we met people, we really loved that, whenever anybody would stop and talk to us, and there were times we stopped to have drinks at a local bar. That was fun,” said Jacobsen-Wood.

The pair saw places they had never seen before, even though they both have lived their entire lives in central Illinois. Most walks provided a surprise or two.

“That was one of the most fun things about it. We would look at an area and think to ourselves, ‘This is going to be pretty boring, there’s not going to be anything to write about,’ but almost every time we went out there were fun things that happened or surprising things that we would see or end up doing,” said Hosbrough.

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Community engagement

After they returned home, the adventure continued through the comments and musings of people reading their Facebook page.

“Jennifer did all the research and the writing of our Facebook posts, and that was a big part of it,” said Hosbrough. “The walking was one part of it, but then the writing and interacting with people was another part.”

People related bits of history and memories about the neighborhoods the Pedestrians walked.

“They said just simple things like, ‘Oh, that’s the church my parents got married in in 1972.’ The fact that it was meaningful to people was meaningful to us, and was a chance to learn from other people,” said Jacobsen-Wood.

A desire for something new

The pair, lifelong friends who both grew up in Sunnyland and met in grade school, began their exploration in 2019 with the goal of walking every street in Peoria. After walking together for several years, they wanted to see something new.

They used the website CityStrides to keep track of their progress and map routes, but it wasn’t always easy to find a good route. Some neighborhood streets in Peoria wind around, and a lot of major streets aren’t pedestrian friendly. The Pedestrians walked mostly on the weekend in the early hours of the day when traffic is light. Major thoroughfares required a little more thought.

“War Memorial was one of our favorite walks. We started in the middle of the night partially because of wanting to go when there was less traffic. We started at the far west end of War Memorial (at Trigger Road) and timed it so we would arrive at the bridge at sunrise," said Hosbrough.

Walking is the ideal way to really get to see a community, say the two.

“When you are in a car, you don’t see a lot, you pass by things so quickly," said Jacobsen-Wood. “And you don’t really have time to interact with people. When you are out walking, people will sometimes stop and talk to you.”

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Inspiring others to walk

On the day of their 170th and final walk, the Pedestrians topped off the adventure by hosting a program at the Peoria Public Library. They were delighted when 40 people showed up, and a few had even been inspired to start their own walking programs.

“Afterwards, there was a man who came up to us. He said he’d been following us on our project, and it inspired him to start to walk,” said Jacobsen-Wood. “He’d already done 30% of the streets in Peoria, which is a lot, and he’s 81 years old. So I just thought that was really cool. It’s something that anyone could do, anyone who can walk.”

Next on the agenda: trails

Even though this particular project is now complete, the Pedestrians have plans for more walking adventures in the future. This time, they are focusing on trails and walking paths throughout the area. They are looking forward to discovering places few people know about, and have already found one hidden gem.

"So, you know where Forest Park Nature Center is? A little bit down the road there's another park called Forest Park Riverfront. It's down this little gravel road called Sankoty Drive. ... There's a path that takes you through some woods and down to the river, and we never even knew that that exists," said Hosbrough. "And a lot of times there are just all kinds of little parks that we would see when we were walking the neighborhoods. We're still looking forward to discovering some of these, and I'm guessing that our readers will know some that we don't know, too."

Unlike the last project, this one won’t be bound by the borders of Peoria and will likely highlight fun things to do as well, said Jacobsen-Wood.

"When you sometimes hear people say there is nothing to do in Peoria — there is so much to do, all the time, like every weekend.”

Leslie Renken can be reached at 309-370-5087 or lrenken@pjstar.com. Follow her on Facebook.com/leslie.renken.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Two Peoria women walk every street in the city – then move to trails