They slept in homes, hotels, motels, vans and trailers.

The plan was to follow Route 6, at one time the nation's longest transcontinental highway, which snakes through New England, around the Great Lakes region, through the nation's breadbasket, over the Rockies, across the desert Southwest and into California.

Route 6 once officially ended at Ocean and Pacific avenues in downtown Long Beach, though city officials years ago placed a marker commemorating the route at Long Beach Boulevard and Ocean Avenue because of higher foot traffic in the area.

Hurley's wife Pat, who flew into Long Beach to join her husband Wednesday, said the long separation from her husband was difficult.

"I thought he was a bit crazy, but he was so enthusiastic about doing it that I supported him," she said. "This is just something I think he had to do."

For his part, Joe thanked his wife of more than 30 years for putting up with him.

"She's been back home doing all the things I should have been doing these past months," Joe said. "She really deserves a pat on the back."

Before the trip, Lindhorst, the traveling buddy, said he was in one of those life ruts, and the odd cross-country journey turned out to be just the cure he was seeking.

"It was the best history and life lesson anybody could ever have," Lindhorst said of the experience. "I've learned a lot about who I am and who I can be. It's tested me, both of us, but it was all worth it."

Hurley, a longtime writer at the News-Times in Danbury, Conn., kept journals throughout the trip, which he plans to compile and possibly publish in a book sometime in the future.

By Kristopher Hanson
Staff writer


LONG BEACH — You can fly from coast to coast in about five hours, drive the same distance in roughly a week or take a train and make it in 14 days or so.

Or you can do like Joe Hurley and walk.

Some six million steps, 6,000 hours, 3,600 miles and six pairs of shoes after setting out for Long Beach from Cape Cod, Mass., Hurley strolled into town Wednesday appearing no worse for wear.

His 60-year-old knees ached, his face was weathered from nearly nine months of sun, rain and wind, and his feet were blistered, but he was happy, content and grateful to have completed the trek.

"For me, it wasn't even really about the fact that I walked this far so much as it was about meeting the people and learning and experiencing all the differences and similarities of people in the country," Hurley said Wednesday as the sun set over the Pacific Ocean in the downtown marina. "That was the best part of the trip, really."

Hurley, a retired newspaper reporter, decided in the latter part of 2003 to make the trip across 14 states for no particular reason other than to see the country he loves and meet the people in it.

Along with traveling buddy Travis Lindhorst, a 28-year-old photographer from Brooklyn who documented the trip and served as Joe's liaison to the countless communities they encountered along the way, the duo experienced the country like few ever will.

Joe's 20-to 26-mile daily walk began in the morning and continued usually until early afternoon or evening, depending on the weather and terrain. While Joe walked, Travis would travel to town, rent a room, talk with the press and meet with curious townsfolk.

At night, the pair would stop in the closest town and meet the people who inhabited it.