Posted by: Roarmeister
Walked across the country - just because... - 01/03/19 01:38 AM
It was mid-February when Zayell Johnston splashed water from the Pacific Ocean on his face in Victoria and set off on a long and often torturous nine-month trek across Canada.
The Yorkton, Sask., man, 27, would earn the nickname Gump from friends and strangers — in honour of the fictional movie hero Forrest Gump — as he logged 11.5 million steps on his Fitbit, trudging through snow, hail and rain in his push to fulfil a personal goal.
That's right. He walked 9,000 kilometres across Canada last year just because he wanted to. "I'm just a normal, everyday dude," Johnston said. "I had a goal, and I set out to do it."
Most people who walk, run or bike across Canada do so to raise money for charity or awareness of an issue. But for Johnston, it was a personal journey. He recorded videos along the way and gave the trip the title "Just out for a walk." Over the next seven months, he soldiered through physical exhaustion and loneliness as he averaged 50 kilometres a day.
Johnston said he made only two tiny "cheats" when he felt he had no choice but to accept a ride. One was near the B.C.- Alberta border when a forest ranger told him they were doing avalanche control with explosives. The ranger forbade Johnston to walk through the area, but offered him a 10-minute ride through the blast zone. The second ride was from a stranger outside Winnipeg. "I was walking through torrential downpours and hail for about 10 minutes," when a truck pulled over, its driver insistent on giving Johnston a ride to an underpass two kilometres away, where he could hide out from the rain.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatche...cause-1.4963593
The Yorkton, Sask., man, 27, would earn the nickname Gump from friends and strangers — in honour of the fictional movie hero Forrest Gump — as he logged 11.5 million steps on his Fitbit, trudging through snow, hail and rain in his push to fulfil a personal goal.
That's right. He walked 9,000 kilometres across Canada last year just because he wanted to. "I'm just a normal, everyday dude," Johnston said. "I had a goal, and I set out to do it."
Most people who walk, run or bike across Canada do so to raise money for charity or awareness of an issue. But for Johnston, it was a personal journey. He recorded videos along the way and gave the trip the title "Just out for a walk." Over the next seven months, he soldiered through physical exhaustion and loneliness as he averaged 50 kilometres a day.
Johnston said he made only two tiny "cheats" when he felt he had no choice but to accept a ride. One was near the B.C.- Alberta border when a forest ranger told him they were doing avalanche control with explosives. The ranger forbade Johnston to walk through the area, but offered him a 10-minute ride through the blast zone. The second ride was from a stranger outside Winnipeg. "I was walking through torrential downpours and hail for about 10 minutes," when a truck pulled over, its driver insistent on giving Johnston a ride to an underpass two kilometres away, where he could hide out from the rain.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatche...cause-1.4963593