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A young Missouri couple and their dog are on a five-year walking tour of the United States aimed at letting people know they can be more content in their lives.
Torin and Paige Rouse are doing the journey in sections, and they wrapped up the North Dakota-South Dakota portion Friday in Watertown. The Dakotas were the 21st and 22nd states they have been to. They were to head back to Missouri by car Friday to plan out the next part of their journey, which will be through the Southwestern United States.
They began on May 16, 2022, and will total 12,000 miles of walking by the time they are finished, averaging about 15 miles a day.
The Watertown Current caught up with the Rouses as they walked along the bike path next to Highway 20 at Lake Kampeska. They had just passed the 5,000 mile mark and talked about their journey while their dog, Jak, relaxed.
“We’re carrying a bit of a message along the way.” Torin said. “We’re primarily talking to people about the nature of mind. Ways that they can habituate themselves to healthier thought patterns. And we’re showing that you can live contentedly under almost any circumstance, under hardship or uncertainty. And that you can make friends with basically any kind of person, if you also know how to train your thoughts toward a more empathetic, loving, open-minded perspective.”
The theme for their trip is “Change the inside, change the outside.”
“We want to set the example that you can find contentment in almost all circumstances,” Torin said.
He shared how the idea for the journey began.
“It started some time ago after I had worked for corporations my entire life. I was, as many of us can become if you work in a cubicle, if you watch TV and if you’re plugged in to news, fairly neurotic, fairly cynical, and just not very happy.
“I decided I wasn’t going to spend the rest of my years that way, so I got rid of everything I owned and backpacked a few hundred miles through the mountains.
After he met Paige, he decided he was ready to try something bigger.
“It took me a while, but I was eventually able to goad her into it after a year of trying.”
The couple said they have already changed, for the better.
“I started out this journey as a very cynical person, and my wife was a very shy person,” Torin said. “The people we have met on along the way have changed us dramatically.
“Almost all of us have gone through something that forever changed the way we see the world. But we can also subject ourselves to these experiences by choice. You don’t have to walk across American to change your thought processes. We are all capable of making that change. We can become more positive, more motivated, more empathetic and friendlier.”
The Rouses got to spend a night in a vintage train caboose while walking through Mississippi. (Courtesy photo)
They said they have had many amazing experiences so far, like the night they spent at a camel farm in Colorado, or when they spent time and went to church with a Mennonite family in Wisconsin, and the night they spent in a historic train caboose at the Crossroads Museum in Corinth, Miss.
They spend many nights with host families they connect with through their social media pages. On other nights they will camp in tents.
They meet people through Facebook. Hosts pick them up, take them to their home for the night, then return them to the spot they ended the day before.
The Rouses were hosted by Larry and Laurie Griepp of Watertown on Wednesday and Thursday, and they were looking forward to dinner at Labbies Sports Bar on Friday before heading back to Missouri.
To follow their journey, see their website at WalkingAmericaCouple.com or their Facebook page.
