About Joy

She Taught. She Rode. She Wrote. And She’s Still Going.

Born in Michigan and raised in Indiana, Joy M. Walker knew by third grade that she wanted to be a teacher and an author. She also dreamed of riding her bicycle across the country. Joy moved to Georgia and enjoyed 30 years of teaching elementary physical education. After earning her doctorate in education in 2009, she fulfilled another lifelong dream by riding her bike across the country in 2010. When she retired in 2018, she set out on a new adventure: riding her bike in all fifty states and writing about the journey. Her first book, Finding Joy in the West, was published in 2025 and is the first in a planned trilogy. She is currently working on the sequel, Finding Joy in the East, while completing the final trips that will bring her fifty-state quest—and the series—to the finish line. Along the way, Joy has written for Calhoun Magazine and shared nearly 100 stories on her blog.