The Great Quest
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The Great Quest is also the name of a book by Charles Hawes.
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[edit] History
The great quest is a tradition at Ohio Northern University, founded by three friends - Jack Weeman, Ian Williams and Andrew Boyer. The Quest is rumored to have started due to a lack of transportation and a need to leave Ada. Since the Great Quest's ambiguous beginning there have been many new Questers to partake in this day long 'quest'. In 2007 the Northern Review, Ohio Northern's student newspaper, officially recorded a total of five questers. It is an annual day long pilgrimage that takes place the second weekend in January. Typically, it involves walking anywhere from 20 to 25 miles in a single day. Groups depart early in the morning and normally return late at night. The normal route is from Ada to Lima, and through Lima to the local movie theater. By road these cities are about 17 miles apart but it is not uncommon for groups to extend this distance by walking across railroad tracks and through fields. Although somewhat legally controversial, the practice of crossing private property is almost always done without permission.
[edit] Current Day
The first time the great quest was officially recognized took place in January of 2007 when the Northern Review newspaper wrote an article about a group's experience that January. The group was the second to take pictures of their journey. Although the tradition of the great quest is not officially recognized by the University, it continues to grow in popularity each year. The current journey leads questers into the town of Lima, some 17 miles away, and through the city to a movie theater where the participants meet friends to watch a journey-ending film. At the completion of the film they are driven back to Ada where they originally departed.
[edit] Activities
Most that have completed a great quest claim that the experience was very rewarding. There are several things that questers do while they walk. Most of the quest is spent discussing rarities in nature. If there is something in their path, it is expected that the group will stop and remark about why the object was there. It is also a tradition that most members of the group wear the worst shoes that can be found in order to get a feeling of hardship while questing and a feeling of accomplishment when the quest ends. It is also common to fashion one's own shoes while questing.
The Great Quest could also be considered an experiment in photography. Until recently, no one had ever taken a camera, but in 2006 a group photographed all important and exotic aspects of the journey. Examples of objects that were photographed include other questers, street markers, railroad objects, and interesting natural phenomena. There are rumors of a video depicting the events of the 2007 Quest being pieced together.
Recently, discussions of new activities were considered, such as the possibility of playing friendly games of Ultimate and other sports. These ideas were ultimately rejected in fear that the great quest may become nothing more than a day long sport outing.
