Tuesday, July 18, 2023

tee designs (full-size PNG upload)

I've been working, for the past few days, on redoing all of my tee designs, and I'm now done with everything but the design for this year's trek: Kevin's Walk 7, 2023. (Which reminds me: I still need to create the blog for that walk!) Along with redoing my old designs, I uploaded the 2017 tee-shirt design to Teespring (here; scroll down to see everything), and I updated the 2022 design, from last year, to correct a flaw on the back of the shirt that had been pointed out to me by a Korean lady I'd met while I was waiting for a cab on Jeju Island.

Below, then, is a parade of tee designs, front and back, from 2017 to 2022. You'll recall that I went to the US and France in 2018, so I didn't do a trans-Korea walk that year. Also: if you're wondering where Kevin's Walk 1 is, it was just called Kevin's Walk when I did it in 2008, and it was my first time ever distance walking. That walk was supposed to be across the entire United States as I explored the question of religious diversity in America. I got injured about 150 miles into what ended up being about 600 miles of walking (still the longest distance I've ever walked) and went back home to convalesce; while I was home, my mom was diagnosed with brain cancer in April of 2009, and religious questions became a lot less meaningful for me. You never totally recover from the death of your one and only mom, but it is possible to heal and to live life again, so that's what I did, sort of. Mom died in January of 2010; she'd been gone seven years when I discovered distance walking in Korea, and 2017's walk was a life-changing event. Since then, the rest is history. Enjoy the following images; look carefully for the subtle and not-so-subtle differences between and among them.

These are full-sized uploads (yet another way to make sure my images are stored somewhere so I don't lose them again). Click on each image to enlarge somewhat, then right-click on that image and select "open image in new tab" to see the image at full size, 3300 pixels wide).

Kevin's Walk 2, 2017 (Four Rivers), front and back:

Look at the walk's dates. This was the only walk done in the spring.

Kevin's Walk 3, 2019 (Four Rivers), front and back:


Kevin's Walk 4, 2020 (Four Rivers), front and back:


Kevin's Walk 5, 2021 (east coast), front and back (first walk after my stroke):

On the original design, I used a straight-line tool to connect the dots between cities. This time, I used a map as reference and free-handed the connecting line to make the image more organic.

Kevin's Walk 6, 2022 (Jeju + Andong), front and back:


I don't yet know whether I'll be able to take a full month off for my walk this year. If I can't, I have a three-week alternative already planned and ready to execute: the entire Nakdong River from Andong Dam down to Busan. I haven't measured the distance yet, but time-wise, this walk would take almost exactly three weeks, and I wouldn't begrudge being unable to walk an extra week. I have, technically, walked this entire span before, just not all at one go. Along the Four Rivers walk, I pick up the Nakdong River trail at Sangju City, and when I did the walk to Andong last year, I started in Sangju and walked four days east to the Andong Dam. The Nakdong River is a gorgeous walk for its entire length, and there are even a few brutal hills along the way. My wish would be for the gods of bike paths to complete a path alongside Andong Lake and all the way to whatever the source of the Nakdong River is. That would make for an amazing walk, but right now, there are no viable bike paths bordering the entirety of Andong Lake. Sad. Stay tuned for more information on this year's trek.



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