A Phoenix influencer walked from downtown to Buc-ee's. His videos reveal our lack of walkability

MARK BRODIE: You might know our next guest this morning from a very viral video he made recently —documenting his 18-mile walk to the new Buc-ee's all the way from downtown Phoenix.

JAMIE TRUFIN: Is Buc-ee's walkable from downtown Phoenix? Well, we're going to find out.

Starting here from Central and Van Buren in downtown Phoenix, we're going to be taking Van Buren all the way down to the new Buc-ee's in Goodyear.

Look at my outfit. I'm wearing all like UV material because it is very sunny today. Walk to IKEA was a little bit more enjoyable.

Welcome to Buc-ee's, I love you. Now I got to go pet a beaver or something. I guess it's too hot to touch the beaver.

MARK BRODIE: That’s Jamie Trufin — Trufin Sees Transit on social media — where he asks, is it walkable? And then finds out.

Trufin has walked from downtown Phoenix, where he lives, not just to Buc-ee’s but to IKEA in Tempe.

He walks to work everyday, and, when we asked him to come to our studios for an interview — he walked here!

JAMIE TRUFIN: Today I'm going to be walking to KJZZ's studio for an interview. They'd like to interview me about my walking journey in Phoenix. They did let me know that the parking structure is open, so that shouldn't be a problem, which it isn't, because I'm going to be walking there.

MARK BRODIE: Trufin is not just doing this for social media views. He’s a true advocate for walkability in Phoenix as well as a board member for the Urban Phoenix Project and the Downtown Phoenix Farmer’s Market.

And, he uses his social media to shed a light on transit in Phoenix and the region and just how unwalkable Phoenix can be.

So, when he walked to our studios recently, The Show asked him about his goals here and where he plans to walk next.

Full conversation

LAUREN GILGER: OK, so we have to start with the fact that you walked here, Jamie, from downtown Phoenix. We should say we are kind of on the border between Phoenix and Tempe here by the Broadway Curve. There's a lot of freeways surrounding this building at Rio Salado College.

I mean, are you OK? You need some water?

JAMIE TRUFIN: So, for the most part, I got a lot of water on the way here. I brought my big boy water bottle, and then I drink a lot of these Sparkling Ice drinks that I like to admit that I'm addicted to.

LAUREN GILGER: OK. But it's hot out there. How many miles is that walk?

JAMIE TRUFIN: I think it was roughly on my Strava, like over 9 miles.

LAUREN GILGER: Right. So, it takes me, I don't know, 20, 25 minutes to drive in from central Phoenix. How long does this take you?

JAMIE TRUFIN: About 3 hours and 10 minutes.

LAUREN GILGER: 3 hours and 10 minutes, what a difference!

OK, so that right there, I think gets us into the conversation about the walkability of this city, which you walk around all the time, and you do on your social media. You just kind of hit it big recently with this video of you walking all the way from downtown Phoenix, where you live, to Buc-ee's, this big, you know, exciting new gas station, which is how far away?

JAMIE TRUFIN: So, according to Google, it says about like 18 miles. With all my stops, it was more about 20 miles with everything in between when I was tracking it.

LAUREN GILGER: 20 miles you walked. OK, and just straight down Van Buren basically west.

JAMIE TRUFIN: Yes, just all the way.

LAUREN GILGER: Why'd you decide to walk to Buc-ee's?

JAMIE TRUFIN: So, on my Strava heat map, I haven't had much of the west side of Phoenix. So, I was trying to get more of my Strava heat map completed and —

LAUREN GILGER: Tell us what that is. What are you doing on Strava? And Strava, we should say, is this app where you can mark, you know, and track runs and walks and things like that, and share them with folks.

JAMIE TRUFIN: Yeah, so I really enjoy walking and exploring new places. I hate backtracking or going like round trips. When I go hiking, I don't want to take the same way back. I want to take a different way to get out of the mountain.

LAUREN GILGER: OK.

JAMIE TRUFIN: Same thing with walking. So, I like to discover and find new places just by walking. And so, I use Strava, the heat map, which can tell you where you've been already when you use the service.

So, I've been building up my own personal heat map to figure out where I haven't been. And I haven't seen a lot of the west side. So, I wanted to explore it and then challenge myself to see if I could go to Buc-ee's.

LAUREN GILGER: OK, so you made it to Buc-ee's. What did you see along the way? What was this walk like?

JAMIE TRUFIN: You know, I was actually surprised, I will say, for how unwalkable Phoenix is, the entire way all the way to Buc-ee's essentially had a sidewalk, except for one portion that was like some farmland once you hit the Tolleson side.

LAUREN GILGER: I'm surprised by that, too. How hot was it, though? My goodness!

JAMIE TRUFIN: That day was a high of 105. For summertime, actually wasn't too bad.

LAUREN GILGER: I mean, it could be worse.

JAMIE TRUFIN: Yeah, when it gets really hot, I have to bring like a little portable mister system, but I had my UV umbrella. I drink plenty of water the day before, and I was prepared to do this walk.

LAUREN GILGER: So, talk about that, like how do you do these incredibly long walks around the city in the middle of the summer, the hottest city in the country, right — and it's getting hotter — and not die?

JAMIE TRUFIN: So, first off, I don't recommend anyone trying to do these like crazy walks.

So, part of it is you have to get acclimatized to the heat, which means if you haven't been outside out of your AC car or AC house going back and forth, you're not going to be able to do any of these extreme walks or be outside for long because your body has to adapt to the heat, and it takes about two weeks to just kind of put yourself out in the heat a little bit and get used to it.

But when you do acclimatize, you actually require more water. So, you're sweating a little bit more efficiently. So, I drink tons of water the day before, the day of, and as I'm doing it. And not just water, I do electrolytes.

I have a UV umbrella, and it kind of depends, like this walk, I had my UV sleeves because even though I had my umbrella, the reflection of everything was still burning me. So, I have UV leggings and UV long sleeves to protect me, and I'll water myself down on my sleeves during hotter days. That day wasn't too bad, but when it starts getting 110, I have to pour water on my sleeves.

LAUREN GILGER: Man, oh man, I can't imagine. So, OK, so that's like a big, extreme walk. But you don't have a car in this very car-centric city on purpose. You're an urbanist, a walkability kind of advocate, right? I mean, what does this walking look like around Phoenix on normal day-to-day basis when you're not walking, you know, to Buc-ee's?

JAMIE TRUFIN: So, my daily, I daily about 12 miles a day of walking. So, I start off my morning when I go to work, I walk about 2-ish miles to work, and then 2 miles back. So, it's about a 40-minute walk each way to and from work, which for me is a lot of peace time, so I get to enjoy listening to an audiobook, some music, and just enjoy being outside.

LAUREN GILGER: So, I got to ask, because I think people will be wondering, do you change clothes when you get there?

JAMIE TRUFIN: Yeah, I so for my work, I actually start really early. So, even during the summer, like I'm not breaking sweat going to work. Coming back, I definitely do, but I'm going straight home usually.

But I kind of have everything planned out, like here, you can smell me. I don't smell bad at all.

LAUREN GILGER: No, you smell fine, that's amazing! I'm amazed.

JAMIE TRUFIN: So, I do have like wipes I bring sometimes for like longer walks like this so I don't smell, and then I do have a change of clothes that I usually bring because I have like a black, long UV sleeve that I wear, and then I switch into a, I'm wearing my neighborhood shirt right now.

LAUREN GILGER: Right, right. OK, so let's talk about walkability in Phoenix. Like this is, as I said, a very notoriously car-centric city. Most people are going to drive or take public transit here, even though public transit we know can be a challenge to take here as well. What are your biggest observations from trying to just walk in Phoenix?

JAMIE TRUFIN: And I don't think this is exclusive to Phoenix, but it's just like out of nowhere, you'll just get missing sidewalks. And you'll be surprised, like in some areas you're like, when I walked to Buc-ee's, that entire way was, except for like one portion of it, had sidewalks all the way.

But then you walk through Central City, like midtown and downtown, and then you're like, why are these neighborhoods that are so close to downtown just not connected? And you kind of look into the history of why some of these neighborhoods don't have that infrastructure, just south of us, in some of the barrios, they purposely did not have any sidewalks. And it hurts to kind of see because there were these tight-knit communities and they don't have sidewalks to bring people together.

LAUREN GILGER: Interesting. So, challenges kind of in the, just the way the city's built. What about like trying to cross major thoroughfares or go under freeways as you probably just did coming coming here to KJZZ?

JAMIE TRUFIN: The one right here, it had — I actually, so I recorded my journey here and I made a point that it was insane that there was two lanes, like you can take a right on red, but the thing is there wasn't even a light. There was a light to get to this crossing, but then there was just a yield sign and you have to cross in front of oncoming traffic taking a right.

LAUREN GILGER: I know exactly which turn you're talking about, yes.

JAMIE TRUFIN: And I was like, how is there not a light here? Like, it's already bad enough, but like the just like surprise that there aren't like built-in infrastructure, and it's not a surprise to me that like Arizona has over a 1,000 deaths in traffic incidents a year.

LAUREN GILGER: Pedestrian deaths in traffic incidents, yeah.

And I want to talk about the like the the policy changes that you think would help, right? I know you've been involved in that, you've been involved with Vision Zero in Phoenix in the past, like what do you think needs to change fundamentally here to make it at least more friendly to people who want to walk, even if it's not, you know, walking only like you do?

JAMIE TRUFIN: Yeah, you know, and I think what's tough about something like that is that we have kind of built this environment where we treat our surface roads where our communities are, our neighbors where we meet people, we treat those streets like highways. And our highways, we obviously our highways, I don't think that's the issue of how those are designed, but we apply that same idea into how we apply our local roads.

So, for arterials, for example, I know Streets Department typically has this clear zone policy where you can't have like trees, right? But part of walkability is you need trees and shade to cool off the street. So, we're cutting off these trees and the visibility because we're treating it like it's a highway so we can have more visibility for drivers, not pedestrians.

LAUREN GILGER: Yeah, so these kind of fundamental ways that we approach this this idea. What's the thing that drives you crazy the most when you're trying to walk around Phoenix?

JAMIE TRUFIN: Nobody yields. And what drives me crazy is people are in a in a metal box that is AC-ed. And maybe I'm just really nice as a driver, but like I've I just yield to people. If I see someone crossing, but people will try to race you when you're using a crosswalk. I do the finger wave, I like I try to wave to drivers to like let them know, and, you know, I'm pretty reasonable with walking, but like I have the legal right to be in a crosswalk. I believe the state law is any crosswalk is a legal crosswalk, unmarked or marked.

MARK BRODIE: That's Jamie Trufin, the social media influencer who famously walked to Buc-ee's. We'll have more of his conversation with my co-host, Lauren Gilger, after the break. You are listening to The Show.

Good morning, it's The Show on KJZZ 91.5, I'm Mark Brodie. And now let's return to our conversation with urbanist Jamie Trufin. He's known on social media as Trufin Sees Transit, and he walked three hours to our studios recently to talk to my co-host, Lauren Gilger, about walkability, transit, and why he chooses to be car-free in a hot city.

LAUREN GILGER: OK, so let's back up for a moment, Jamie, and talk about what led you here, because this is not out of nowhere. You you were hit by a wrong-way driver on the I-17, right? And severely injured, you had to relearn how to walk when you were in college, right?

JAMIE TRUFIN: Yes, I needed someone to stay at my I was working as a shift supervisor at a pizza place, and the bus stopped running I think around like 11:00. And I had a car. It wasn't me that the issue was, it was my coworker, I needed him to help close.

And he was like, "Hey, if I close, I need a ride home because the buses don't run." And I'm like, "OK, I don't mind I don't mind giving someone a ride home." I take him home, drop him off, and then I get back on I don't remember this part, but I get on back onto the highway and I just wake up in like a two-day coma or something. I don't remember.

LAUREN GILGER: Wow.

JAMIE TRUFIN: Yeah, my family was like making little pizza signs in front of me, but yeah, I broke my femur, pelvis, and shoulder all at one time.

LAUREN GILGER: My goodness. What was that recovery process like?

JAMIE TRUFIN: I was in like a hospital for like a month, which I thought the food Everyone is complaining that the food isn't good in the hospital. I thought it was great.

LAUREN GILGER: OK.

JAMIE TRUFIN: But apparently like I was cracking jokes while I was unconscious to the firefighters and medics. I don't remember.

LAUREN GILGER: I don't know, I mean talking to you right now, I can I can guess that that would be true. You would do that.

I mean, so you had to be in a wheelchair for some time, relearn how to walk. I mean, what did that do, that incident, what did that do to the way you think about driving?

JAMIE TRUFIN: You come at a better perspective of accessibility and just like understanding like universal design, which is a principle in planning where it's like you create designs that benefit not just yourself, but it benefits everybody else.

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LAUREN GILGER: So, also a story we have to talk about from your past, although before any of that that traumatic stuff happened, right? In high school, you became kind of famous here in the Valley for being the watermelon man on Camelback Mountain. Tell us about this.

JAMIE TRUFIN: Yeah, so I was hiking one time and I found a watermelon in a cave, and I was like, "Oh, I wanted to start a tradition." I found this watermelon, we brought it to the top, and we did like this photo op with like my cousin and a family friend.

LAUREN GILGER: Sure.

JAMIE TRUFIN: And so I was like, "What if we did this like every Wednesday and like we made this like a fun, you know, activity?" So then I started doing it, and then somehow I got involved with being barefoot while doing it. Don't recommend doing that.

LAUREN GILGER: Yes, you were barefoot.

JAMIE TRUFIN: And, you know, I was young, it was probably not the smartest decision, but I did it for an entire year of my life, and I brought props, and it was a fun way of like community building. And I probably didn't at that time really understand what like building community and having neighbors and friends and all this stuff that I do have now today, but I think that's kind of what led me into my direction now.

LAUREN GILGER: Right. So, that's interesting, right? You're you're making community on the top of Camelback Mountain by literally hiking up with a watermelon and sharing it with everyone.

I mean, when you when you don't drive now, when you walk, when you take the bus or the light rail or whatever it may be, I mean, do you find community in that?

JAMIE TRUFIN: Oh yeah, I run into people all the time on the bus. I was doing a trip to Ajo on the bus, and I ran into I think his his tag is LA Guy in Phoenix, and, you know, he knows me and I know him, so like we ran into each other on the bus, and then —

LAUREN GILGER: He's another social media influencer guy?

JAMIE TRUFIN: Yeah, but like we didn't plan that, it just happened. A lot of my interactions with my community isn't planned, it's just, it just happens.

LAUREN GILGER: Yeah, but it's because you're you're out there in the world and willing to be in a place where you're going to be around other people and not kind of in your metal box like you described it, right?

JAMIE TRUFIN: And I think that's probably why I'm not a very angry person.

LAUREN GILGER: OK, so where are you walking next?

JAMIE TRUFIN: So I just walked the other day to PV Mall for the IKEA. I did one video where I walked all the way to the IKEA in Tempe and then everyone was like, "You should do the one in Paradise Valley." Fun fact, it's closed on Tuesdays, so I walked 20 miles and it was closed.

But as far as my next walk, once the weather's a little bit cooler on this one, I want to do a I want to walk all four ASU campuses from one to another. And then I still have my ASU ID, so I want to take the shuttle back.

LAUREN GILGER: Nice, you might want the shuttle back at that point.

JAMIE TRUFIN: It's not my craziest walk. I did a 20 — I didn't record any of this, but I did a 24-hour walk.

LAUREN GILGER: Where?

JAMIE TRUFIN: So I started downtown, I went through Piestewa Peak, Scottsdale, I took the canal to Scottsdale, there's Crosscut Canal. I went to Tempe, then followed that all the way to Mesa, and then looped all the way to Gilbert, Chandler, and then followed the canal back to Tempe, and then to ... It was 57 miles of walking in one day.

LAUREN GILGER: My goodness. Did you eat along the way?

JAMIE TRUFIN: Oh yeah, yeah. It was a lot of walking. I think that that's the most walking I've done was 57.

LAUREN GILGER: What shoes do you wear?

JAMIE TRUFIN: I wear Skechers, so I found this type of Skechers that I really like. I'm a pretty simple person and I don't really like buy crazy stuff, but I just bought the same shoes in different styles, and that's kind of what I wear.

They they do melt the bottoms like pretty often because it's so hot, so I the grip on the shoes aren't the best because not because of the shoes, but just because they literally melt off.

LAUREN GILGER: Yeah. So, OK, you've got your heat map, you know where you've walked and where you haven't, but I'm sure you've covered a lot of the Valley at this point. Where are your favorite places to walk?

JAMIE TRUFIN: So, while Phoenix is well known for being just unwalkable, I think we don't we don't give enough credit and frankly we don't build enough towards them, is our canal system. We have so many canals that you can kind of like sneak through Phoenix without a car if you really wanted to, especially like if you have an e-bike or just a regular bicycle, you can really get around Phoenix without a car using the canal system.

And they have been just getting better and better. I think there is some gaps, especially towards like the west side, but I used to take the canal, I'd bike up Third Avenue, take the canal over to 15th Ave and Indian School to go to the Shamrock Foodservice when I'd do bulk food shopping over there.

LAUREN GILGER: Well, it sounds like a a great adventure and more to come. Jamie Trufin, an urbanist, Urban Phoenix Project board member, he's also on the board of the Phoenix Farmers Market, and online influencer advocating for urban issues and walkability and more. Jamie, thank you so much for coming on The Show, I really appreciate it.

JAMIE TRUFIN: Thank you for having me, appreciate it.