Walking Across America

By Carolyn Powell

Walter Epperson is walking across America. He plans to log over 3,000 miles, bridging the continental divide, mastering mountain passes, and crossing mighty rivers. What he doesn’t plan on is packing a bag. His is a journey of shoe leather powered by imagination.

Walter has already seen a fair bit of our 50 states. He was born and raised on a Brown County farm in the southern part of Minnesota 75 years ago. Walter served his country as a member of the United States Air Force, and raised four daughters and one son with his late wife Ruth. Walter and Ruth were married 51 years and knew the joys of family life and the sorrow of losing one daughter while stationed in Hawaii. During his Air Force career, Walter and his family lived in the Stanwood, Washington, area. His children liked it so much they settled here. Home for Walter today is the Josephine Sunset Home in Stanwood.

Three years ago Walter started a walking routine. He was mostly interested in the health benefits of exercise. Walter starts each day with a stroll to breakfast, aided by his walker. Then, once or twice day, he walks a route with his Restorative Aid, good friend, and chief cheerleader Melba Steele. One day he got to thinking about how much distance he was covering. Hmmm. An idea was born, and a team was formed.

To begin their cross country adventure Walter and Melba measured his daily route and hung up a large map of the U.S. on Walter’s door. They stocked up on colored pins to mark their miles on the map.

After each walk Walter logs the date, time, and distance. Their loop is 1800 feet, and on many days Walter logs over a mile. Every two weeks they go to the map and push in another pin. So far, they have followed Interstate 90 all the way across Washington, the Idaho panhandle, and into Billings, Montana.

It was just last November that Walter crossed the Washington Idaho border. Since then he has trekked across most of Montana’s 500 rugged miles, leaving I-90 to head north on I-94 to Hathaway, Montana, in Custer County. For their next leg they will follow U. S. Route 12 into North Dakota. Walter jokes he doesn’t want to stay long in North Dakota (due to the weather). He probably can’t resist a visit to Mount Rushmore to check on the progress - the last time he did, there were only three Presidents!

What’s next? That’s part of the fun. Walter and Melba plot their route as they go. Should they swing south to take in sights like the Alamo, Graceland, and the Outer Banks? Or keep to the north and visit Walt’s old stomping grounds in Minnesota?

Walter has been blessed with a busy life. When his PD led him to retire from the Air Force, he and Melba moved to Arizona, where he worked as a security guard for the legendary Asarco copper mine. After losing Ruth, and having an adverse reaction to some of his PD medication, he headed north and settled in at the Josephine Sunset Home to be near his family.

Walter’s life today weaves together his life-long love of nature, artistic talents, and inherent discipline. In addition to his walking he enjoys wood working. Walter elegantly carves gallery-quality animals. His small (and tidy) workshop overlooks a courtyard and a bird feeder he tends to. During my visit Walter showed me his current project, a block of wood beginning to take shape as a delicate hummingbird.

At Josephine Sunset Home they have a saying: "the Spirit is Ageless." Walter’s spirit truly is ageless, an encouragement to young and old alike.