BOWIE, Md. -
He has forty pounds on his back and a sense of adventure in his heart. He's a kid, just out of high school, and he is walking across the United States. Since he's a dude, he calls this walk - Dudetrek.
FOX 5's Beth Parker caught up with him as he passes through his home state of Maryland.
With one change of clothes, a map on his belt, and the magic of music, a Maryland kid is hitting the road. His name is Jonah Boyer. He's 18 years old and he's hiking the American Discovery Trail.
The journey is 5,000 miles from Delaware to San Francisco.
The reason: "I wanted to do something. I wanted to have an adventurous moment in my life."
Jonah is from Eldersburg in Carroll County. He graduated from high school in June and decided to postpone college.
"My mom, her first instinct was, you're crazy. You're going to college," says Jonah.
Mom has come around a bit. And Dudetrek, as Jonah calls it, started a week ago. He gets a lot of questions.
"What are you doing? Who are you? What is Dudetrek. Why do you smell so bad?," laughs Jonah.
A shower can be hard to come by. All this walking is hard on the feet too. He's a runner though, so he was already in pretty good shape. Jonah says the best part of the journey so far is the people he's met along the way.
"The biggest surprise is how enthusiastic and helpful pretty much everyone is," he says.
He's had some strangers pick up the dinner tab.
"The moment that I start to feel down, someone's always there to pick me back up," says Jonah.
He walks 20 miles a day and wants to be in San Francisco next June. He says it's "tons of fun" and this dude will have a story to tell.
LINK: http://dudetrek.com/
