Dan Lyons Walks Across America

Dan Lyons, for the American Cancer Society as a part of Relay For Life, walked out of Sacramento, Calif. on March 15, and kept walking until he walked into Monticello on Tuesday, July 18, some 3,100 miles later and 55 pounds lighter.

Mr. Lyons said he decided to do the walk after being diagnosed with cancer and being told he only had 18 months to live.

“They asked me if I would do a coast-to-coast walk for Relay For Life, and since I wasn’t doing anything else I decided to give it a shot. I left on March 15, and it has been an amazing walk ever since.”

Mr. Lyons does not solicit donations, but donations can be made to the ACS in his honor.
He usually hits the road around 5:30 a.m., and walks until around noon or early afternoon seven days a week. He stays away from big cities and freeways, and has traveled the entire journey through rural America.

“While walking I do a lot of thinking, praying and singing. I get to see the country, smell everything, and feel the pulse of everything. The small towns of America are what it’s all about. “I first discovered sweet tea somewhere in Arkansas. I had never heard of it before.”

“People stop and offer me a ride quite often. A gentleman stopped when I was between Monticello and Jackson, thought I was down and out, and offered me his lunch money. A lot of people stop me when they see the sign on my backpack, especially the ones who have been affected by cancer.”
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You would think that a person who had walked 3,100 miles would have had some problems with dogs. But Mr. Lyons said with a laugh, “Dogs don’t bother me because I’m meaner than they are, but I really think it’s my singing. It’s so bad it scares all the dogs away.”

“I did have an encounter with a bear in New Mexico. I was sleeping in a campground when I was awakened about four o’clock in the morning as he was attempting to get some jerky out of my back pack. I got a real early start that day.”

He said his backpack weighs only about 25 pounds, but it gets heavy towards the end of each day’s walk.

Mr. Lyons doesn’t favor any particular brand of shoes. He has gone through six pairs so far and was about ready to trade the ones he had on for a new pair he had in his back pack. Wal-Mart is the only sponsor he has.

“They furnish my shoes and just about anything else I need to wear,” he said.

Other than Wal-Mart, he has no other sponsors and finances the trip on his own, except for the generosities of people along the way. In Monticello, the Tillman House furnished his lunch and the Rev. Phillip Dennis of Monticello Presbyterian Church arranged for his stay at the Monticello Motel.

Mr. Lyons was to travel on to Eatonton on Wednesday, on to Sparta today, and will stay in Warrenton on Friday night. He will complete the 3,400 mile coast-to-coast walk between August 15 and September 1, when he arrives in Charleston, S.C. At this time, he hopes to be featured on NBC’s Today Show with national coverage.

We asked Mr. Lyons, if along the way, he had ever thought about giving up.

“I thought about it every day. At the end of each day I would ask myself why am I doing this? But then I would wake up the next morning, feel fresh and everything would be fine. The closest I came to quitting was in Mississippi, but I was rejuvenated by a lady there who thanked me for what I was doing, so I kept on walking.”