DUNDEE, Ore. — In this week's Let's Get Out There, we head to Dundee, Oregon, to meet Ed Lazzara, a man who embodies the Let's Get Out There spirit like few others. Known as the "Earth Walker" to his friends, see what has earned him the nickname.
According to an old Chinese proverb, a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. When it comes to walking the walk, no one does it quite like Ed Lazzara.
“The only thing that my mind is occupied with is the route that I'm going to take,” he said.
Lazzara lives in West Salem, where his walking habit began in 2020. The habit has gone from a love to a passion after four years of pounding pavement. When we were all cooped up, thanks to the pandemic, Lazzara became curious when he saw what he called a “mysterious street” near his son’s school.
“So I drove home, which wasn't that far. I parked the car and then I walked to that street and walked up and down the street,” he said. “Well, it was a bit of a disappointment. It wasn't exactly what I was hoping for. But still, it was fun to get out.”
When he got home, he got out a map and marked the streets he had just walked.
“I thought, 'I think tomorrow, I'll go and walk some different streets,' and I started doing this on a regular basis," he recalled. "I had come up with this master map that I started marking, and every day, I walked a couple of hours and marked a few more streets ... slowly but surely, I began to conquer my town by getting to really know it like I had never done before.”
After a few months, Lazzara had walked every public street in West Salem. With momentum on his side, he decided it was time to cross the bridge over the Willamette River to walk all the streets within Salem city limits, walking two to three hours at a time, several days a week.
“It took me about a year and a half to walk all the streets of Salem,” Lazzara said. “It was quite an endeavor, but then again, the momentum didn't die — it kept going. I had to keep going. So I decided, 'Well, Keizer is right next door, and I just will walk those streets.'”
After Keizer, it was Turner, Aumsville, Independence, Dallas and more. It just kept expanding. Ed smiled when he said just wasn’t able to stop.
He met us in the small town of Dundee, just south of Newberg. “It's my addiction, right? So here I am in Dundee, my 32nd town that I have walked,” he said.
Lazzara travels light when he walks. An old back injury prevents him from carrying a backpack. His phone, wallet, keys, handkerchief, pen and map make up his kit of essentials. He’ll squeeze walks into his schedule as work and the weather forecast allow — a 20% chance of rain is usually his threshold.
“That means probably a light drizzle. I can handle that — you know, I’ve got my hood. I'm all ready. It's Oregon, right?” Lazzara declared, with a smile.
Lazzara said his walking helped him keep a positive attitude throughout 2020. Almost four years later, he’s logged over 2,900 miles. He diligently marks his maps as he goes, keeping them organized in binders. His first walk in Dundee was his 338th overall.
“I just walk because the towns are there. I want to see them, and it's my chance to get to know my state, where I live,” he said. “Get a chance to breathe fresh air and get some exercise.”
Next up on Lazzara's list is McMinnville. By now, he can estimate based on his walking pace it will take him about 20 walks to complete. Dundee will take him about three more.
As for walking the streets of Portland someday? Lazzara doesn’t think that’s a feasible feat for him.
“If you count the population of all the towns that I've walked in, it's about 350,000 people. The equivalent of Portland, just the city limits, has 675,000 people — so almost a little bit less than double that,” he said. “So if it's taken me four-and-a-half years to walk this much, we're talking like, nine years just to walk the city limits of Portland, and that's a little bit overwhelming.”
Lazzara hopes to motivate others to find ways to get out and do what they love, or simply find out what that is.
“Do what inspires you. If it inspires you to walk down to the block and go around the block and come home, great,” he said. “Get out there. This Earth is beautiful. It's a gift to us. Take advantage of it. It's wonderful to just be alive on this planet, so enjoy it.”
Let's Get Out there airs once a week on KGW's 4 p.m. newscast and The Good Stuff, which airs Monday-Thursday at 7 p.m. We're including viewer photos for this series. You can text your photos to 503-226-5088 or post them on the KGW Facebook page.