In an attempt to show that New Yorkers are the friendliest people on Earth, Mark attempted to travel from the southern tip of Manhattan to the northern tip -- 13 and a half miles -- only by having strangers carry him.
Mark's approximate route, on humanback
On December 18, Mark and his crew started at 7:30 a.m., outside the entrance to the Staten Island Ferry, where they quickly discovered it would be one of the coldest days on record (17 degrees Fahrenheit, with a windchill of -40,000 degrees). The idea was to travel up Broadway, hitching a ride with friendly New Yorkers, and finish near the Broadway Bridge -- 220 blocks total.
Turns out, New Yorkers are not quite as friendly as Mark had hoped -- even during the holiday season. The first day, he made it 92 blocks, spending hours at a time in the frigid wind, with nary a piggyback in sight. He had no problems getting through Times Square (thanks to friendly tourists) and was occasionally able to get help by volunteers who saw his Twitter feed. Still, you have to admire someone so committed to the stunt that he didn't cheat and just walk the rest of the way, as most other people threatened with hypothermia and frostbite would have.
He's only 130 pounds: some of the many ways people carried Mark across the city
Instead, he and his crew went home and started again the next morning. Alas, their luck was no better the next day, as the first big snowstorm of the year was scheduled to roll in. Mark got stranded somewhere around 126th Street for several hours, as flurries gradually gave way to icy rain and sleet. Still, he pressed on, eventually making it to 140th Street before a blizzard forced him to call it a day.
While not quite proving that New Yorkers are the friendliest people in the world (220 blocks), he did at least prove that they're 64% friendly (140 blocks). And he got one funny video out of his experience -- check it out above, or by following Mark at markmalkoff.com.
If a pretty boy like him tried that here in the ozarks he would get carried off into the woods to the haunting melody of Deuling Banjo's. Not quite the piggyback ride he was expecting there.
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