For a year and a half, a Utah man has been walking across the United States. Now, with only about two weeks until he completes his journey, he’s passing through Waldo County.
On Monday, Isaiah Glen Shields was in Belfast, enjoying the Harbor Walk and chatting with locals while he took a break on his “Walking America” journey. The walk began in April 2021 from his home in Utah. His goal was to walk from Cape Alava in Washington, the westernmost point of the contiguous United States and will end in about 12 days at West Quoddy Head Lighthouse in Lubec, the easternmost point.
For Shields, the spontaneous decision to leave the workforce to talk has not only taken him more than 8,400 miles on foot but given him a renewed perspective. He’s one of more than 4.5 million people in the United States who resigned during the pandemic.
“I feel like I finally understand a little bit better what it means to be an American and how that is different in different places,” he said.
Shield was working from home when he decided to take the journey. He said he was tired of sitting in his living room, staring at spreadsheets all day. He quit his job in April 2021, locked up the home he owns in Utah, traveled to Washington and then began walking to Montana, down to Texas, across to Florida and up the East Coast. Since heading north, Shields has mostly stuck to Route 1 to stay closer to the ocean — especially while in Maine these past two weeks.
The sightseeing has been beautiful, but Shields said it’s been especially important to get to know the areas on a deeper level. He takes time to do research on a town while he travels through it, wanders off path and chats with locals.
Shields got to listen in on some barbershop talk while getting a haircut in Portland. He heard about what’s happening with restrictions on Maine’s lobstering industry and realized he didn’t know much about Maine before he got here two weeks ago.
“We don’t have a lot of awareness about what our fellow countrymen are struggling with if they’re not within 20 miles of us,” he said.
He says he’s learned that Mainers are resilient, self-reliant and hard working with strong ethics.
After Shields spent Monday afternoon wandering downtown Belfast, he spent the night in a motel room paid for by a fan. Shields has gained nearly 100,000 followers on Facebook while documenting the highs and the lows of his journey. Another fan stopped by to say hello and give him some money, which he usually doesn’t accept, as he trekked up Route 1 in Searsport on Tuesday. Today, he’s headed toward Bucksport.
Shields said he’s hardly planned the past year and a half. Though he had a general route in mind — from Washington, he made his way south to avoid the winter, and then went north to end his travels in Maine — for the most part, he roamed around as he pleased. There was also no timeline — not until he announced his end date on Monday.
Shields is now picking up the pace to reach the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse on Nov. 13. He’ll be joined by some friends, family and possibly some fans to celebrate the end of his journey.
After finishing, Shields is planning to load up his cart of belongings in a rental car and drive back to Utah. He says he is positive, though, that he won’t be sitting back down at his computer and opening up another spreadsheet.
“I’ll regroup and then figure out what my next grand adventure is,” he said.