DENVER (KDVR) Two 20-year-olds are doing their best “Forrest Gump” impression and then some by walking across the United States. They recently found their way to Colorado, according to social media posts documenting their adventure.
The duo includes Philip Grele and Drew Diaz, who are performing the feat as the LIVIN Project. The young men are walking across the U.S. in partnership with nonprofit Convoy of Hope, which works in humanitarian aid.
”Whether it’s feeding children, empowering women, training farmers, responding to disasters, or serving a community in need, the goal is to bring help and hope where they are needed most. Convoy of Hope has a wide network of volunteers and partners helping us make the world a better place,” according to the LIVIN Project’s website.
The pair began their journey on March 1 with plenty of training and prepping and expect to finish the trek in about half a year. The men, California natives, decided to travel to the East Coast and begin in Delaware, so the return trip would lead them back to their homes.
At the beginning of April, all the prepping would come into play as the men officially began their walk from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, a nearly 4,000-mile-long journey.
Just over the halfway mark, 2,083 miles in, the men made their way into Colorado.
“Colorado, I thought there was supposed to be mountains here. This just looks like Kansas,” they said in a social media post as they traversed the eastern plains.
Three people seemed to have joined the walk temporarily, before the core crew met a family who allowed them to spend the night in their shed.
On Day 2, they ran into the fickle Colorado weather, which featured a heatwave and high winds.
A woman named Brooklynn met the men and gave them new shoes for the journey, and they finished the day in First View after making stops to watch the UFC fights on their phones.
Their most recent post was Day 3, when they made their way through Kit Carson in more wind and heat. The day ended with them watching Game 7 of the NBA Finals, pulling for the Oklahoma City Thunder to win, before more people offered them a place to stay and a hot meal.
If they continue to follow the route they are on, eventually the duo will hit Castle Rock before they embark on their trip across the Rocky Mountains.
As of June 24, they have raised $17,416 of their $50,000 goal. Grele and Diaz expect to return home to San Francisco at some point in October.
For more information and to follow their journey, visit the LIVIN project Linktree page.
