CV: Attended St. Andrew’s high school in Middletown, Delaware. Graduated from Middlebury College in 2011 with an environmental-studies degree. In September, after losing a job on a lobster boat, Forsthoefel started walking west from Philadelphia with a 50-pound backpack, a mandolin, an Olympus LS-10 audio recorder, and a sign that said WALKING TO LISTEN. He recorded interviews with people he met on the road: a woman in Alabama whose Marine-vet husband had died from complications related to an IED attack in Iraq; a cop near the Grand Canyon who 鈥減ulled over鈥 Forsthoefel for pushing a baby stroller containing his pack over a windy pass. Forsthoefel completed his journey in Half Moon Bay, California, 11 months after setting out, and seven months later, aired a popular show on the project.
Up Next: A book about his trek. Forsthoefel is pulling espresso shots in Woods Hole by day and writing by night.
15: States he walked across.
On Letting 鈥檈r Rip: 鈥淭aking unusual and maybe risky paths opens up opportunities. It鈥檚 the quickest way to go from living in a bubble to learning something new. That鈥檚 what the walk was about.鈥澛