There's not many people who think walking 2,600 miles across the country with 55 pounds of equipment strapped to your back sounds like a good way to spend a summer, but to one Ball State University student, it sounded like the perfect opportunity to have an adventure.
Journalism graduate student Jason Glassburn hasn't strayed far from East Central Indiana for most of his 26 years. He decided more than a year ago that he wanted to hike across the United States.
"I'm not sure what the original catalyst was," he said. "I knew that I was going to be entering the 'real world' soon, and I wanted to do something adventurous before I had to be tied down."
Apart from achieving a personal goal, Glassburn is also raising money for charity during his expedition.
He is using the publicity from his walk to benefit Free the Slaves, a not-for-profit organization that raises awareness about the current practice of slavery and human trafficking around the globe.
Glassburn said he got involved with Free the Slaves when a coworker at the Writing Center on campus founded the Ball State chapter of Free the Slaves and got him interested in the organization.
"Originally I was just going to do a walk just for the walk, but then I decided to choose a charity, so I chose Free the Slaves," he said.
So far, Glassburn has completed about 600 miles of his cross-country trek that began in Annapolis, Md. on May 16 and is projected to finish in San Diego sometime in November.
"I wasn't as prepared as I should have been," Glassburn said of his first night in Annapolis. "I really just winged it. I had never even set up my tent until that first night."
Glassburn also said he made the mistake of putting his $1,200 digital camera in a pocket of his backpack that wasn't waterproof.
"I didn't get to use it except my first day and then I got caught in a torrential downpour," he said.
With eight weeks of experience on the road and plenty of lessons learned, Glassburn has picked up some techniques as well as a routine.
While walking 20 miles a day down highways, he listens to audio books on his MP3 player and reads paperbacks when he stops to rest.
"Honestly, the main thing I do to keep me occupied is counting the miles," he added.
Glassburn said the most difficult part of the journey has been the monotony.
"I think the hardest part is the day-to-day grind of walking to something that is still a few months away. It's not going to be until November that I can actually stop."
Meanwhile, the best part has been the people, Glassburn said.
"I've met a lot of very, very interesting people," he said.
Some of the most interesting so far were in a small, run-down motel in the Appalachians, run by an elderly husband and wife.
"They had three really foggy channels, and promised me they were getting cable the next day," Glassburn said, chuckling. "As soon as I got there I wanted to wash my clothes, and so the wife took me back to this little muddy water hole behind the motel and just poured some detergent in."
After the Appalachian Mountains, Glassburn trekked through Pennsylvania and Ohio to get to his hometown in Tipton for a small reunion with family and friends and a Fourth of July celebration thrown in his honor.
After spending a few weeks in the Muncie area with family, Glassburn began his walk to Springfield, Ill., the next big stop on his trip.
From there, Glassburn plans to go to Kansas City, Mo., before traveling south to Flagstaff, Ariz., to avoid the brunt of the Rocky Mountains.
"It's going to be a different feeling now," Glassburn said of the next leg of his trip. "Until now, I've been walking towards home, and now I'm walking away from it. I don't know if that will make me feel like I have more freedom or less."
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