<span class="headline-detail"> Walking across America to lend a voice
<span class="subhead-detail">
<span class="byline-detail">BY JACOB PROBUS
<span class="timestamp-detail">(Updated: Tuesday, September 30, 2008 9:46 AM CDT)
<span class="story-detail">Two-thousand-nine-hundred miles, seven pairs of shoes, twelve states, two books, approximately 2,000 messages, and many blisters - that sums up B.J. Hill’s journey so far. He’s got 1,200 miles to go…and promises to keep.
Hill -- a teacher of English as a second language -- is trekking across America on foot, collecting messages for the next president from everyday folks along the way. He plans to hand deliver them when his journey is over - with help from one of his congressional representatives back home in Massachusetts.
This walking man has no support crew following him. He only has what he carries on his back -- a pack loaded with: a tent, sleeping bag, an extra t-shirt, cell phone/PDA, food, and personal hygiene accessories.
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This monumental trip began in San Francisco - on the Golden Gate Bridge - in March of this year.
“It’s a pretty famous landmark,” Hill says of his choice of the starting point. “If you go on my website you can see, literally, like the line of the Golden Gate Bridge and like my feet right on it.”
Hill’s long, laborious journey will end back home in Boston. He had originally planned to make it home by November 1, but that goal is unreachable at this point. The estimate now is sometime around Christmas.
The reason he decided to fly to San Francisco and walk home - instead of vice versa: “I can walk right into my house, sit down on the couch, and be done,” he says.
The trip is being funded by Hill’s savings, and small donations. He’s had a lot of food, small amounts of money, and couches donated. He sleeps about half the time in his tent, the rest on friendly couches. He uses a site called couchsurfers.com to find hospitable homes.
When he was walking through Cullman, a car passed by, the driver turned around, went to the store and bought a bottle of water, then brought it back the weary traveler. One day he was offered and given lunch -- three times.
“How cool is that,” Hill says. “Things like that really make
my day.”
Hill passed through Gadsden this past week. On Tuesday he got into town - that evening he was at the Gadsden Public Library taking down messages and meeting folks. The city donated one of the newly renovated cabins at Noccalula Falls Campground for that night.
<span class="story-detail">While sitting at the library one lady’s message to the president was in the form of a question, “Why can’t a husband and wife both draw social security?” But she didn’t want to write it, only voice it loudly.
“That’s my favorite part of the day, getting yelled at,” Hill said. “It’s frustrating, because some people have really good stories, but then you’re like, ‘do you want to write it down? And they’re like, “No”.”
Wednesday he hung around town, visited the Gadsden Museum of Art and Nelson’s Dime Store. On Friday he spoke to fourth graders at Hokes Bluff Elementary, they wrote a collective message in his notebook. Then he met with Eighth Graders at Hokes Bluff Middle who were reading “A Walk Across America” by Peter Jenkins - a book Hill read as a child, and one that obviously made a lasting impact.
By Saturday night Hill had made the Georgia line - following the Chief Ladiga Trail from Piedmont to the border. Hill said he would probably follow the trail all the way to Atlanta.
Reading the messages is the thing that keeps him going, Hill says. If he were just doing this walk for “the fun of it”, he says, “I would have quit before Nevada.”
“Reading those messages is a real inspiration during the day,” Hill adds. “A lot of people when they see me walking are like, “Are you crazy or something?” You know, not a lot, but some people.”
Speaking of crazy, the craziest thing that’s happened to Hill so far: he was connected with the half-brother he didn’t know he had. When his story hit the news wire he received an email. In it a man described a father with the same name as Hill. His description matched what little Hill new of his own dad. It turns out they were both born in Savanna, grew up on the same street blocks apart, and worked in the same building in Boston.
The mission really started in 2006, when Hill walked across his home state collecting messages for their new governor elect. The messages were hand delivered and are now stored in the Massachusetts Gubernatorial Archives. Hill hopes his presidential messages might be stored in the same manner, preserved as a part of American History.
It was by chance a young Hill found “The Walker’s Journal” by John Dingham at a yard-sale for fifty cents. He read it obsessively -- along with several other books about seeing the country on foot. Dingham was a Worchester Telegram and Gazette reporter who told the story of Robert Sweetgall, a man who walked all 50 states in 12 months, calling in weekly to the Telegram and Gazette with updates.
“It really is a great way to see the country, you know, it really is a great way to promote your cause, be it to raise money for cancer, raise money for soldiers, 9/11 workers, what have you,” he says. “Remember, up until just about a hundred years ago, everyone was walking
When this momentous task is complete, Hill plans to return to teaching. This time he wants to teach History. That is if he can beat his wanderlust and stay still - before his two major walks he traveled and taught English in Japan, Afghanistan, and China.
Hill has a website and blog - www.walkamerica2008.blogspot.com - which he updates from the road using his cell phone/PDA. You can keep up with his journey, make a donation, and read about his experiences here. He ‘twitters’ at the top of the page - a short message about where he is and what he’s doing at the moment.
You can email him at [email protected], or give him a call/send him a text message at 857-222-7332. Hill welcomes the contact.
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