On the morning of March 4th, 2012, as I was sizing up the morning and preparing to return to the road across rural Cajun country (Franklin, Louisiana at this point), suddenly I spotted a clean-cut young man walking by on the sidewalk next to the Main Street home where I’d spent the previous night. He was carrying a large backpack, sign and flag attached. (This felt familiar!) I stopped this most polite 23-year-old in his path, and came to learn that he too is walking across America– in the opposite direction! With the premise that everyone has an interesting story to tell, Andrew is recording stories from people of all walks of life as he walks. Wise man—walking opens worlds unlike any other form of travel.
Andrew & I ended up spending the rest of the day together, getting to know each other and spending time with our awesome hosts before continuing on our separate paths the next morning. Local TV news covered the story of the two of us crossing paths, a story which ended up being picked up by hundreds of newspapers across the country.
As Andrew began in Pennsylvania and I began out West, we’ve called many of our former hosts up across the miles, and he and I have therefore ended up staying with many of the same families as we’ve proceeded in our opposite directions. The pool of friends that Andrew & I share just keeps growing! I took about 3.5 minutes to quickly interview Andrew before we proceeded in our separate directions (video).
Andrew Forsthoefel is an incredible guy with a heart of gold, and I truly look forward to catching up with him again in person someday. This coming week, I’ll likely stay with a man who hosted him in Tuskegee, Alabama.
Curiously, the two cross-country walkers met on March 4th. How appropriate as both before and since meeting, he and I have continued to “march forth!”
(Andrew’s website: www.walkingtolisten.com)