Hi, my name is Dan Knabb and I’m going to walk across America”

I used to say this when I went on stage and people would laugh. My parents gave the same response when I told them during Easter dinner of 2006.

It was a suprise for most people when I packed up my gear and headed to New York City on April 19th to begin my cross-country walk.

Armed with a small banjo “ray ray” and enough determination to wrestle a rhino I marched into comedy clubs demanding stage time. Few clubs actually complied but I did manage to bomb a few sets. After getting my fill of NYC I took a ferry from pier 11 in Manhattan to Atlantic Highlands, NJ. I did so to avoid the trouble it would take to walk off Manhattan, and to shorten my walk through New Jersey.

After a 5 day walk through New Jersey I was back home in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The walk went smoothly except for some massive blisters that I got the first day walking around New York. It would be another 2 months before I collected all that I needed to continue my walk. An extra light sleeping bag and tent, a video camera, and gps were all I needed to get going.

Leaving from Pennsylvania was not easy for me, and I spent many days walking from my house only to return later in the day. On July 18th I walked into Lancaster, Pennsylvania and there was no turning back. The next 2 months I walked close to 1000 miles and making it to the other side of the Mississippi.

In the month of August, I walked in 5 states: Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.

It was never my intention to do this thing in chunks but that all changed when my grandmother, who was hospitalized shortly after I left my home, slipped into a coma. I flew home in time to see her before she passed away.

My original goal was to make it to California before Christmas. But after a 3 week hiatus it would be impossible for me to make it there walking.

On October 4th, 2007 I flew back to St Louis where I had stopped and kept right on walking. Another 2 months and another 1,000 miles and I found myself in Lubbock, Texas. Walking is easy on the East Coast where towns are evenly spaced about 5-10 miles apart. There were parts of Texas that I walked through where towns were close to 50 miles apart. To account for this I had to carry several days worth of water. There are parts of New Mexico that I plan to walk through that are 200 miles apart.

After 3 failed attempts at returning to the road (3 different drivers all backed out for different reasons) I decided to go to Los Angeles anyway. I am here working on the footage that I do have, and also trying to find a way back to the road to finish my cross country walk.