BERLIN– A quick breeze through Berlin turned into a two-night stay as the town’s charm caught the attention of a man walking across America.
Isaiah Glen Shields, 28, is nearing the end of a more than year-long walk across the country. Though he expected to pass quickly through Berlin, the generosity of local residents and the appeal of a vibrant small town prompted him to spend a little time exploring.
“It was beautiful,” he said. “They didn’t get the ‘America’s Coolest Small Town’ moniker for nothing.”
Shields is walking from the westernmost point of the continental United States to the easternmost point—Lubec, Maine. The journey that began May 13, 2021, has taken him across the country, as he’s visited Utah, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia and Maryland. He’s walked more than 7,100 miles on what he refers to as #WalkAmerica. Why?
“That’s a simple question with a complex answer,” he told one woman who stopped him as he walked out of Berlin.