Don Vermilyea is walking across the U.S.

W.Va. man treks across America

On February 2, 2002, West Virginia resident Don Vermilyea began a journey in Tucson, Arizona that has taken him to 30-some states in the nation. He made his way to Alleghany County last Wednesday, where he visited two Church of the Brethren congregations, Mt. Carmel and New Haven. As of last Thursday, the journey had brought Vermilyea more than 19,100 miles.

Vermilyea, who is affiliated with the Church of the Brethren, stated he began meandering across the country because, "Some person, and I'm a Christian person, needs to walk around as a homeless person, meaning not as a rich person, as helpless. Until somebody takes care of me, I'm a homeless guy drifting around America. It's kind of what Jesus did when He went on His three-year ministry; He was a homeless guy till somebody took Him in."

Vermilyea, a former organic farmer, stated he took a Greyhound bus from West Virginia to Tucson, Ariz. to begin his trek in a warmer environment.

"We all have our calling and most of us either act like ostriches and put our heads in the sand and don't want to deal with it," Vermilyea said.

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