NTX man walking across America, raising awareness about building walkable communities

Holden Ringer is closing in on the end of a very long trip. He's been walking across the country for nearly a year. Ringer talked with NBC 5 via Zoom from Virginia on Monday.

"So it's coming up on about a year in 4 days. So that's exciting. It's wonderful," Ringer said. "I've been through Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and now here in Old Dominion the mother of all Presidents, Virginia. So, 14th state on the walk."

Ringer said he was a student at Emory University when he started thinking about walking cross-country.

"I was studying for this exam, wishing I could be anywhere but there," Ringer said. "Just as a form of procrastination, I started Googling 'what would it be like to walk across America'."

Ringer says he came home during the pandemic to see his family in University Park.

I get a text from my mom on the plane saying sorry honey, I have COVID," Ringer recalled. "So just kinda those 2 things made me decide, hey maybe I want to spend some time outside!"

Ringer went for a 20-mile hike around Dallas that included city trails and White Rock Lake. "And just pretty much over the course of that day I was like, I could do this every day for a year," Ringer said.

Ringer planned for about a year, which included weekends practicing camping. When he finished his job at AmeriCorps Vista, he sold his car and belongings and hit the road.

"Growing up in Dallas, it very much gave me this perspective it's a very car-centric place," Ringer said. "The most dangerous thing I deal with every day is dealing with cars and I knew that going into the walk, so I thought well, I might as well bring attention to these issues."

Through deserts, and mountains, and places in between; Ringer has been raising awareness and money for America Walks, an organization that advocates for walkable communities.

"It doesn't have to be, it's either Amsterdam or Dallas," Ringer said. "There's a world in between and I think so much of it is local advocates being, you know, we want something better for our place."

Ringer said he's learned a lot on the road, about himself and others.

"I think I'm more adaptable than I give myself credit for," Ringer said. "99.9% of the interactions I have with people are overwhelmingly positive, and I think America is a more generous country than we give her credit for."

Ringer says an inheritance from his grandparents gave him the financial cushion to take more than a year off to walk, but added that he hasn't had to tap into it yet.

"I eat Pop-Tarts, and I sleep in a tent," Ringer said laughing.

He's been through 8 pairs of shoes and will log nearly 3-thousand miles by the time he's finished. Ringer says everyone has their own 'walk', and it doesn't have to be across the country.

"For anyone out there, I'd just encourage them to find their 'walk' and have confidence in yourself," Ringer said. "You don't have to justify your dreams to yourself, as long as you're willing to make them happen. Anything is possible!"

Ringer's original goal was to walk from Washington state to Washington, D.C. He's since added on to the trip to have a public end in New York at the Atlantic Ocean, and then walk to Connecticut for a more private ending at his grandparents' memorial site.

"I don't think they would have wanted me to take the walk," Ringer said. "But hopefully they can be proud of what it's accomplished, and who I've gotten to meet, and the person I've hopefully become over the course of this experience."

Ringer said he expects to reach Washington, D.C. next week for a celebration before pressing on with his journey.

You can follow Holden Ringer on the final leg of his trek on Walk2Washington's Instagram, Facebook, or his Walk2Washington website.