By AnneMarie Knepper, Albany Democrat-Herald
Lee Grimm said he was a metal worker for 25 years. A diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease made that kind of work impossible, so he decided to take a walk.
Grimm said he can’t work anymore and wanted to do something constructive with his time, so he is walking to help raise awareness about Parkinson’s disease and the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
That was a year and a half ago. Grimm, 45, and his boxer, Rocky, 4, average 10 miles a day, depending on Grimm’s Parkinson’s.
Rocky, a service dog, helps steady him, especially when he needs to get up from bending or kneeling.
“I can’t live without him,” Grimm said of his canine companion.
The duo began their journey in Laramie, Wyo.
Grimm said his address book is as thick as a New York phone book, with names of the many friends he met during his quarter century of metal working. He is finally taking them up on offers to stop by if he’s ever in the area.
The website couchsurfing.com is another great way to find shelter, Grimm said, although he prefers to sleep outdoors.
The trekker has little baggage. He tows 200 pounds of supplies including two weeks of food, water and kibble, a laptop computer and some camping equipment, in a modified bike trailer.
Grimm’s next stop is Eugene and he would like to be in San Francisco by Christmas. Portland, Maine, is his ultimate destination — by way of Oklahoma.
He said the people he has met along the way have been generous, “Old hippies have been picking me up.” But he has also had 63 encounters with law enforcement, most recently after pitching a tent in Crawfordsville.
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