PRINCETON — As we rush in our vehicles from place to place, there’s much we can miss. Proving that sometimes it’s better to move slowly, a recent visitor to Princeton has not only learned something about herself, but also about those living in the Midwest.

Margaret Wright, 23, a lifelong resident of New Jersey, as well as a recent graduate of Princeton University, is on a solitary trek across the United States as part of her Martin A. Dale ‘53 Fellowship grant project.

“Before I started, I was scared and couldn’t imagine what it would be like. I had no idea of what to expect,” Wright said when asked how the actual journey has compared to what she’d anticipated.

Wright, who majored in English and also focused on creative writing and poetry, was awarded a $35,000 grant. She’s spending the year after her graduation, according to the fellowship, on “an independent project of extraordinary merit that will widen the recipient’s experience of the world and significantly enhance the recipient’s growth and intellectual development.”

She’ll be conducting interviews with those she meets along the way and will be using them to create “listening poems,” or poems composed entirely of words and phrases spoken during the interview.

While in Princeton, she was the guest of Steve and Laurie Bonucci. Wright was put in contact with them through a friend of the Bonuccis who uses the website warmshowers.org, a site that helps bicyclists on long journeys to find safe places to sleep, bathe and eat.

She began her journey on Aug. 6 and expects to end it sometime in June in a park north of San Francisco. With cold weather well on its way, Wright said she’ll be rerouting her path south of the Rockies to avoid a path no one would wish to walk in the winter.

“Not knowing what to expect has turned out to be the most enjoyable part. Every day and every town is different, but I’ve learned people have an incredible capacity for generosity,” Wright said.

Wright said she covers roughly 20 miles a day on foot, but admitted she has taken the occasional short bus or car ride. After accepting the invitation to spend an extra night with the Bonuccis to celebrate Halloween, Wright was given a ride to Annawan, her next destination.

From there, Wright planned to walk to Geneseo and then on to the Quad Cities, where her father will be joining her for a leg of the journey.

She pushes her belongings in a jogging stroller and has had to occasionally ask strangers for permission to pitch her tent in their yards.

“Overall, I’ve gotten good responses, but with varying levels of wariness. It’s another example of how generous people are. Even after I tell people my trip is well funded, they still want to feed me and give me money to help me along,” she said.

“Some people make a journey like this with very little, so I feel lucky to have this opportunity,” she added.

Wright typically tries to interview one person from each town she visits and said although our country is currently deeply divided, many things are the same no matter where you’re from or what you believe.

Whether people are from a small town or a big city, Wright has learned everyone enjoys talking about their families and children, as well as their faith, hopes, dreams and fears.

“It’s been wonderful to hear so many people, from all walks of life, speak so lovingly about their families and children and how they work to support and provide opportunities for them,” she said.

Her travels have also changed her idea of what a small town is, saying that while she’d always thought the town she was from was small, she’s now seen the difference.

“Standing in a small-town store and seeing how everyone who walked through the door was greeted by name and could begin talking with everyone else in the store was really nice. I’d never experienced anything like that before,” she said.

Wright was asked for her impressions of the Illinois Valley.

“When I got here, it had just turned cold. It’s been so beautiful with all of the leaves falling and the exposed trees. One thing I’ve noticed since entering what you’d call the ‘Corn Belt’ is how generous everyone is here, even more so than the other places I’ve been. Everyone wants to give me things to help,” she said.

Steve Bonucci also treated her to her first ride in a combine.

“That was fun, it’s so powerful. It’s impressive someone designed a machine that does that and does it all so precisely,” Wright said.

She said she’s undecided as to what her future will bring once she completes her journey and poetry project, but added she has a general path charted.

“It will hopefully be something at the intersection of writing and poetry. I’d also like to be involved with the issues of the country and possibly teaching, as well,” she said.

Though Wright’s future is unknown, it’s comforting to know that before she walked off into the western horizon, she found the strangers of Princeton and the Illinois Valley to be friendly, generous and family-oriented.