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Julia Wildwood, the 56-year-old grandmother who left Berkeley in late September to walk to Washington D.C., is now in Flagstaff, Arizona. 

Fed up with high rents and the sluggish job market, and facing the prospect of homelessness after the financial failure of her Berkeley baking business Looney Moon Cookies, the social activist decided she wanted out.  

“Those who know me know that writing and organizing for peace and justice has been my calling for some 33 years,” Wildwood said. “Those with a similar calling can relate to the difficulty of balancing such purpose with making a living.” 

Wildwood's solution to the dilemma was, simply, to walk. She left Berkeley Sept. 30 with nothing more than a backpack, a hat, sunglasses and two walking sticks. 

“Call it a protest. What it will accomplish, I don't know,” she said. 

With five weeks of the trek under her belt, Wildwood said she has had many adventures, including a spat with an armed security guard over a broken ATM machine. However, she says she’s “met mostly caring people along the way.” 

Wildwood expects to reach Washington, D.C. by June, 2003. 

– Melissa McRobbie