From the Pacific to the Atlantic: One man's 3,000 mile walk across America
Motivated by a sense of adventure, Ben Davis, 30, just made a five-month, cross-country trip from Los Angeles to Boston – all by foot.
He finished the trip on July 23, and ever since then has been doing a victory lap around the internet, which was such a big part of his experience. He has shared videos, pictures and stories of the huge, impressive trek.
"I was doing it because it was there. To see if I could," Davis said in a Reddit AMA this week. "Humans have an innate desire to explore and adventure and that's what I was tapping into more than anything."
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Davis, who catalogued his journey on Instagram, told Mashable his favorite part of it all was the people he met.
"Every single day I was meeting people who just wanted to help in one way or another, strangers and Instagram followers alike," Davis said.
Davis' fanbase grew over the five months he was on the road – he currently has about 25,000 Instagram followers – and his Reddit AMA shed some more light on his motivation.
"After I started thinking about it, I got worried that one day I'd regret it if I didn't do it," he wrote on Reddit. "The idea of watching the country evolve ever slowly as I moved eastward at three miles per hour, that excited me."
Davis allotted a budget of $5,500 for his trip, but around the time he had walked 2,400 miles, he realized his funds were running low.
He built up such a supportive fanbase through journaling his walk on Instagram that many of his followers met up with him along the way to help him by offering him a bed to crash on or a meal.
One of the highlights of Davis' whole experience was his 30th birthday, and he shared the touching story of it with Mashable.
I turned 30 on a small farm in Western Missouri. An old farmer and her husband found me walking through their small town. They had seen me on the local news the day before and got me an ice cream cone. We talked a bit and they invited me to stay with them. They asked me how old I was that night and I replied, "29, but tomorrow I'll be 30." They were pretty excited about that and, when I woke up the next morning, they had made birthday pancakes and sent me off into the day with a birthday card with a $10-bill inside. Pam and John--salt of the earth folks.
It seems like Davis loved every minute of the journey.
"I never had a moment where I wanted to quit, and I consider myself lucky in that regard," Davis wrote on Reddit. "I don't know, life was so good out on the road. So simple."
Davis told Mashable that every night of his walk, he worked on writing his book, Ever Eastward. He is currently putting the finishing touches on the book, which will be released this October and is available for preorder. Ever Eastward will be almost all content that his followers have not yet heard.
Davis lives in Little Rock, Arkansas, and before his trip, he did technical writing and marketing. And even though he just walked over 3,000 miles, he has no plans to kick up his feet or take a break – his plans are to seriously work on weight loss over the next six months.
"I've always had a disordered relationship with food and I'm going to be focused on getting down to a healthy weight," he told Mashable. "Luckily I'm in pretty good shape as far as conditioning is concerned, I just need to work hard on the food side."
It's pretty clear Ben Davis has the endurance to accomplish anything he sets his mind to.
Sophie was a Viral Content Intern for the Watercooler channel. More writing and other stuff by Sophie can be found at www.sophiehirsh.com.
