MUKILTEO, Washington (STPNS) -- Jesse Whitecrow was in Mukilteo on Monday, but just for a break.

He had stopped at Whidbey Coffee before boarding the ferry for Clinton.

Jesse is walking across America. It sounds simple, kind of like watching Forrest Gump just take off and come back a few years later, but this nearly 8,000-mile journey wasn?t attempted on a whim.

?I decided as a little kid I wanted to do this,? Whitecrow said. ?I was from a dysfunctional family, and I wanted to travel across America and meet nicer people.?



The 44-year-old former college professor and paratrooper was entering middle age when he finally decided he was going to start his walk and got busy saving money for the journey.

?That involved going to work in construction,? Whitecrow said. ?Teaching at a college didn?t pay that much.?

Whitecrow, who is from Massachusetts, started his walk three years ago in Arcadia National Park in Maine. He went south, eventually ending up in New Orleans, then north and west through Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Oregon and finally Washington.

He said he?s eaten in a few restaurants along the way, but not many; it costs too much.

?I just make a lot of simple foods,? Whitecrow said. ?And I sleep in the woods almost every night.?

Whitecrow admits to feeling a little sadness that his journey is nearly over, but he still has big plans for the future.

?I?ve made a lot of friends over the last three years,? Whitecrow said. ?Many of them still write to me.

?A number of them are going to travel out west and walk the last few miles with me.?

Whitecrow took the ferry to Clinton, and then planned to walk to the Keystone ferry terminal to ride to Port Townsend, where he will walk west to finish his journey at Cape Flattery.

He has a bookful of memories of the trip, both good and bad, which he is going to write after he finishes his walk.

He said the Navajo, Amish and Cajun people all stand out in his mind as special.

Jonesboro, Tennessee, also sticks out.

?Jonesboro calls itself the storytelling capital of the U.S.,? Whitecrow said. ?I wasn?t in town one hour before they had me on the local radio station telling my story to everyone in town.?

Flaming Gorge Dam in Utah was also big.

?I was the first one to walk across the dam at Flaming Gorge since 9-1-1, when they stopped allowing that,? Whitecrow said. ?They gave me a police escort across the dam.?

Whitecrow has plenty of stories about animals he met up with, both friendly and otherwise.

?I?ve been confronted by almost every animal there is, I think,? Whitecrow said. ?Man is easily the most dangerous.?

While he was camping near Tucumcari, New Mexico, someone armed with a rifle shot at Whitecrow 13 times. He had not had any contact with anyone nearby, and has no idea what the shooter?s motive was.

His favorite state during his travels was Virginia.

?They have so much diversity,? Whitecrow said. ?There are a lot of different people there, the Appalachian people, college people, but almost everyone there is into bluegrass. It?s a way of life. Any excuse to play and someone is getting a mandolin out of a case.?

Whitecrow has a website where you can keep abreast of his journey. Go to whitecrowwalking.com for more information.