CANTON, Conn. — A New England man is on a mission to push his limits as he makes a four-corner walk across the country.
U.S. Army veteran Matt Dyer, 29, started the journey from his hometown of Windham, Maine, at the end of December. FOX61 caught up with him as he passed through Canton.
"I've always wanted to do this, and I didn't know if I was crazy enough," said Dyer.
Dyer is currently heading south for Miami. He then plans to walk across the country to San Diego before he finishes in Olympia, Washington.
"I do 10 to 15 miles a day. If I'm really pushing it, I can do more than that," said Dyer.
Dyer said the more than 5,400-mile journey started as a personal fitness test.
"I have a little joke running, the no-cause cause," said Dyer. "What is my limit? I want to find what my limit is. What am I not tough enough to do?“
With each step, Dyer finds the answers to those questions. He spends some of his nights in hotels but mainly in a tent in public parks and trails. The nights are long, but the days give him something to look forward to.
"Who is sitting in the next town that I'm going to that I need to meet?" said Dyer.
It's now the people on his path that keep Dyer's mission in motion. He shares their stories on a Facebook page with more than 2,500 followers.
"Like this woman, Carol, she went out of her way from Enfield to drive to Simsbury yesterday to meet me. She had messaged me asking me what size clothes I wear. She shows up with all these sweatpants and sweatshirts. That's really moving to me that someone would drive out of their way to do that," said Dyer.
Matt also shares his own stories. His wife, Marinna, also an Army veteran who he grew up with, died by suicide in 2017.
Two years later, in 2019, Dyer's father died of liver disease at 58 years old.
In October 2022, his mother suffered an oxycodone overdose. She is currently recovering in the hospital.
"Everything that happened to me in my past, all the grieving I’ve had to do, and all the people I love that are gone, that stuff, if that stuff didn’t happen, I’m incapable of this. I can’t go out and walk 14 miles in the middle of a torrential downpour with a smile on my face and in some messed up way still be enjoying myself," said Dyer.
Despite the challenges, Matt marches on, state by state, to reach his end goal. He plans to be in Olympia by July 2024, the fifth anniversary of his father's death.
“I carry all those things that happened with me," said Dyer.
Dyer will even tell you he's capable of carrying even more.
“I’m going to find a car dealership and see if they’ll hook me up to like a 2,500 truck or something with some chains and I’m gonna try to pull it across the parking lot or something," said Dyer.
Angelo Bavaro is an anchor and reporter at FOX61 News. He can be reached at abavaro@fox61.com. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter.
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