Hinton James was a wussy.

It took Hinton James untold days and weeks to walk to Chapel Hill from his home, becoming the legendary first student at UNC.
It took me only about eight hours.
Admittedly, James lived 150 miles away in Wilmington, not 33 miles distant in Wake Forest, but by those numbers his renowned trek should still have taken only around 38 hours.
Wussy. And he showed up late for classes, too.
Still, to this day the dorm farthest from campus bears his name.
I lived right next door for two of my four years at UNC. During that time I spent a lot of time walking to campus and driving to Chapel Hill from Wake Forest. After graduation I rode my bike there.
A little bit later I walked. And I ran some along the way.
I started out using online maps to plan my route. I bet Hinton James didn’t do that. Slacker. I then drove the route in both directions multiple times, noting turns and landmarks on a cassette recorder.
Yet again my expedition planning skills are clearly superior to James’.
So I made my map, complete with mileages between roads, churches… and gas stations.
Now if James had been bright, he would have known about the Great American Gas Station. Need some food? Need something to drink? Need a phone, a toilet, a slushy? They’ve got everything a road weary walker might want.
So I set out, calling my dad on a cell phone (James is dumb) every hour, wearing my cycling jersey (James is evil) and running shoes (James eats puppies).
(Actually I have great respect for James and all people who walk insane distances, like Lewis and Clark, the Apostle Paul….)
Now the last mile or so to campus you’re going up the hill that gives the town its name. So I had to run it on in and do the “Rocky” thing, charging up steps to the Pit, a central area of campus.
So with my water pack on my back and “33 miles” written on my leg in black magic marker I finished a long day. I ran into some college buddies. Relating my tale, they hardly batted an eye.
I guess they’re used to me by now.