A philanthropic walk across the United States

Jonathan Stalls is a pretty typical young American. Nice guy. Loves his family, his friends, his country. You’ll learn more about all that later. For now, you should just know that this is a tall, strong and passionate man who, one day, decided to take a walk.

Now, I might not have made it clear just what a determined young man Jonathan Stalls is. But when he decided to go for a walk, he meant a very long walk. Like 3,000 miles long.

Jonathan Stalls decided to walk across the United States. And he decided to do it for a good cause – for Kiva, the San Francisco-based organization that connects people through lending, for the sake of alleviating poverty.

KALW’s Ben Trefny called up Jonathan Stalls just after he reached the final state of his cross-country journey.

*     *     *

BEN TREFNY: Where exactly in the world are you, Jonathan Stalls?

JONATHAN STALLS: I am about eight miles west of the Nevada-California border, just outside of Lake Tahoe on Highway 50, cutting under, and through, and up and over the Sierra Nevadas. So, it's wonderful. It's so beautiful out -- perfect.

TREFNY: Yeah, what are you looking at right now?

STALLS: You're still surrounded by small motels and a couple of gas stations. And I'm looking at a big old lumber hardware place right now, and there's a bunch of little, small markets. And everyone in this area, they're taking Highway 50 up Echo Pass, probably one of the most dangerous places in the whole area. So, I'm going to try and avoid that by taking a smaller road, I think, if I can find it. You know, because when you start going up in elevation, your GPS doesn't really work and mine isn't working specifically because it's connected to the phone satellite. So I just kind of have to … well, I've got a map, and I think it'll work out.

TREFNY: Yeah, I was going to ask if you had a GPS. What all kinds of technology do you have with you?

STALLS: You know, it's funny, I found a working GPS in Utah on the side of the road.

TREFNY: You found it?

STALLS: (laughs) I found it! Along the side of the road, because you see a lot of cell phones and all kinds of electronics, that are cracked in half and dusted off and just, they've been sitting there for who knows how long and they're all busted up.  And so there was this, uh, GPS on its backside, just turned over. So, you know, you just stop and kick it, turn it over, like, "Oh, well, there's no real scratches or cracks." So you pick it up, and looking at it, it looks alright. And then sure enough, the thing is a 2010 GPS, turns on, full power. (laughs)

So, I have that, and I also have my … It's an Android telephone; it's my connector, all things – camera, internet, email, texting and obviously, calling. It's incredible.

TREFNY: So did you cross into California today or was it yesterday?

STALLS: It was yesterday, yeah, we just, we literally were picked up at the state line yesterday so we crossed over. It was great. I mean, we're used to having a really nice or at least separate welcome sign to the state, so you can go hug it, and, you know, have an intimate moment with the sign.

It's a fun experience, crossing into a border. This one happened to be a really small welcome to California sign at the top of a stoplight, kind of stuck in the middle of construction, so it was hard to, but we still celebrated, and it was good.

TREFNY: Well, they don't want to discourage the potential gambling tourists.

STALLS: Right! (laughs) That's right.

TREFNY: (laughs) So, how many more days do you have left, as of today?

STALLS: Oh, gosh. That would be … what would that be? That would be 24 days.

TREFNY: Twenty-four days left. And how many days have you been walking?

STALLS: Two hundred seventeen.

TREFNY: Wow.

STALLS: That's right, that's right. I'll be on the downhill slope next time we talk, which will be nice. Today is our last summit, our last peak, our last incline for the walk. So, that's good news!

*     *     *

A few weeks after their first chat, KALW’s Ben Trefny gave another call to the Kiva Walker.

*     *     *

TREFNY: So where are you right now?

STALLS: I'm in the courtyard just on, I think it's Petaluma Boulevard, which is in Petaluma California. So I'm about 35 miles or so north of San Francisco. It's crazy to be so close!

TREFNY: What day are you on right now?

STALLS: Day 236.

TREFNY: And how many days do you have left to go?

STALLS: So I've got about five. I'm taking a day off on Thursday and then walking into San Francisco on Friday and then across San Francisco and then finishing at Ocean Beach on Saturday. We're going to hit the beach and then from there, we're going to have a short walk just to the event, at the Sports Basement in the Presidio.

TREFNY: That's hilarious. You say that's a short walk to the Sports Basement in the Presidio. That's not a short walk actually, Jon! (laughs)

STALLS: I know, I know. I know! I've got to remember that, the context!

TREFNY: Yeah, I mean compared with walking across the country it's a short walk. (laughs)

STALLS: It's just a three-mile walk! Come on! Just three or four miles; geez!

TREFNY: I think most people would probably be driving there! (laughs) Tell me, why did you decide to walk across country?

STALLS: Oh gosh, I'd say to sum it up, it's just the large scale, growing attraction to the simplicity of having everything you need in a backpack. And traveling with less, having less, being attached to less, so the idea of taking eight, nine months to walk through this country was just so attractive to me for quite a while. Yeah, it's been everything and more that I thought it would be.

TREFNY: So this is something of a different way to raise awareness of philanthropy. Tell me how you've thought about that. I'm sure you've had some time to think about this kind of thing.

STALLS: Oh, absolutely. You know, I'd say one of the biggest [things] in outreach and philanthropy is you have the time to build on what I've coined a lot on the walk as the evolution of trust. You start talking to somebody and you have that intimate eye contact and you have the time to shake hands and sit and talk about the unique traits to their community and to the small businesses and their home, and you just get to know the people. You have the time to get to know the people. And then, you know, in a matter of time you're invited into their home and you're having dinner with the family. I mean, most of the people that have signed onto the lending team, the people that eventually will check out the website and then they'll actually sign onto the team and make a loan, 90% of those people are the ones that I have either stayed with or connected with in terms of a solid conversation.

TREFNY: So then I'm wondering, now that you have just a couple of days left, you've probably found some item in your collection there, in your backpack or on your person, to be the most invaluable thing for a person who's walking across country. So if one of our listeners is like, "I think I am going to walk across the country," what is the one indispensable item, would you say Jonathan?

STALLS: (laughs) Oh my gosh. That's a really good question. The good sleeping pad. (laughs). You know, it was just such a treat, the nights that I could just roll out the sleeping pad and know that there was just a little bit of air between me and the hard ground was such an amazing gift every night.

TREFNY: And that doesn't weigh a lot.

STALLS: It doesn't, no. It's lightweight, it's easy, you can fold it. I mean, it can be an overwhelming thing to say, "Oh no, I don't need that," but I tell you, for me it's been … it's been huge.

After traveling some 3,000 miles across the continent, Jonathan Stalls’ Kiva Walk ended right here in San Francisco’s Ocean Beach. What causes have you walked or run for: cancer research? Anti-violence? Whatever cause is close to your heart, we’d like to hear about it. Let us know on our Facebook page.

This story originally aired on February 22, 2011.