NORTHAMPTON — Time seemingly stood still as Massachusetts native Ben Davis blew out his 30th birthday candle placed atop a stack of pancakes in the company of two strangers turned close friends on a farm in Lone Jack, Mo. His dirty laundry had been washed, a hole in his shorts sewn closed and a card containing $10 pressed into his hand.
Those moments nestled into a long succession of unique experiences this year for Davis, now a Little Rock, Ark., resident, who on Saturday completed a 3,089-mile walk from Los Angeles to Boston. The trip took him five months and five pairs of sneakers.
All across the country, Davis has experienced the generosity and goodwill of nearly 750 people he’d never met before, with an additional 30,000 actively following his journey on social media at Instagram.com/BenDoesLife and DoLifeMovement on Facebook.
In her Northampton home, his 88-year-old “Meemaw,” Joan Davis, vicariously took the 148-day trip with her grandson.
“I thought it was absolutely insane,” she said Sunday of her initial reaction to his plan for the long walk. “A really insane idea,” she added.
“And,” she continued, “I thought I would die laughing when I heard about the stroller.”
The black-and-yellow jogging stroller dubbed “Charles” accompanied Davis through the Mojave Desert, the Painted Desert, the Rocky Mountains, the Great Plains, across the Mississippi River, the Appalachian Mountains, New Jersey highways and New York City. A few essential items including a tent, sleeping bag and water rested inside the stroller.
But Meemaw, an avid traveler herself, began to believe as Ben Davis reached the middle of California. As he moved west to east across America averaging 25 miles per day, Meemaw kept track of his whereabouts with markings on a large atlas. Davis recalled several times when she contacted him with suggestions to slightly shift his route to encompass scenic spots or landmarks.
“She’s highly in touch with the current technologies,” Davis said of his grandmother, who routinely commented across his social media platforms over the entirety of the trip. “She is truly young at heart, so that’s been a really fun part of the walk — seeing how in touch she was on a daily basis.”
“We’ve been close friends since he was a very small boy,” Joan Davis said of the grandson who lived in South Hadley until he was 4. “He’s entertained me for six months almost, now.”
Joan Davis usually has no idea where her grandson is or what he is doing, and thus embraced the opportunity to engage.
She was waiting with camera in hand when he arrived Saturday at his final destination of Pleasure Bay, South Boston — a spot he picked because of his love for Massachusetts.
Nine months before the walk, Ben Davis had reached 380 pounds. He was divorced in the spring and decided it was time for adventure. Davis left his local marketing job and began planning the trip as a single man.
“I loved the idea of watching the landscapes, the cultures, the personalities shift slowly as I moved,” he said. “Just to be unattached and free out there.”
But as luck would have it, he said, he met his now girlfriend, Alexis AufderHeide, in Little Rock three months before departing. To his surprise, she immediately responded with excitement and support.
That relationship became pivotal in his success, Davis said.
“To have somebody to talk to every single night when I was in the Mojave Desert, alone and scared, isolated … that was imperative to me keeping my sanity,” he said.
Davis noted a particular happenstance in which he lost his wallet in Colorado, days before he had planned to surprise AufderHeide by renting a car and visiting her at home, taking a brief break from the walk.
The wallet was never found, leaving him with no identification with which to rent the vehicle.
But, a Colorado farmer whom he’d never met insisted that he borrow his truck, drive it to Arkansas and return it in a week or so.
“To think this farmer who just met this drifter walking from one coast to the other would say ‘you’re taking my truck to see your girlfriend’ — that was a cool moment,” said Davis. “And things like that have happened all across the country.”
When his money for the trip ran out, his supporters responded graciously.
But the rougher days molded Davis as well.
“Your legs and feet just hurt, badly,” he said. His worst day was in Tuba City, Ariz., where he said he encountered 25 to 35 mph winds all day and “dust so bad you couldn’t see 50 yards in front of you.”
“It was just complete and utter misery,” he said. “Just truly, truly awful.”
Harder for Davis, though, was learning to cope and thrive in isolation. He said that process was made easier by the outpouring of support back home and online. His girlfriend, father and brother joined him for brief portions of the trip, as well as many complete strangers.
“The beauty of it is that it’s very much a 21st-century modern walkabout in that you’re never totally helpless,” said Davis. “You’re always a phone call or flagging down a car away from being safe.”
While he traveled through California, Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York City, Connecticut and Rhode Island, landing in Massachusetts, the young man used his background as a writer to chronicle the journey. He plans to eventually write a book from his notes, adding a second published book to his resume. His first book, a memoir about weight loss, health and happiness titled “Do Life,” was published by Penguin Press in 2013.
Davis now stands at 280 pounds, 100 less than the year before and roughly 20 pounds less than when he began the walk. Although he’s ready for the relaxation his next steps in life will bring, his plans for weight loss are far from over. And Davis also plans to keep his belongings scant — a result of his biggest realization during the journey.
“I was a stuff guy and I loved having things,” he said of a time prior to getting rid of the bulk of his belongings in preparation for the walk.
“When everything you own can fit in a stroller, you learn that living without is often better,” he said. Davis is just as happy, comfortable, satisfied and content as he’s ever been in life.
For Joan Davis, it has also been an enriching experience.
“I really have enjoyed every minute of it,” she said. “I’m pleased that he kept his eyes open and met people and really looked at the country as he went by.”
But Meemaw will have to take the credit for that, Ben Davis said.
“I’ve drawn a lot of inspiration from the way she lives her life,” he said of his grandmother’s active lifestyle. “She’s still going strong at 88, and that inspires me.”