What do you do after graduating college? If you're a California couple, you start walking...across the country.
Levi Stiles and Shikira Severson left New York in July and plan to walk the 3500 miles back to San Franciso.
"We've been on the road for 44 days so far," Stiles tells Live at Five at 4, we first heard about them from a Knoxville couple, Betty and Ron, who had met the pair and offered them a place to stay the night and also a home-cooked breakfast.
"The best part has been meeting all the different people from different states," says Shikira. "They honk as we go by and welcome us into their homes."
"It really restores your faith in humanity," agrees Stiles.
Stiles planned to make the trip after graduating from college and convinced Severson to join him.
"We had a 6 month grace period," says Stiles. "So before we start paying off college we decided to take an adventure and while we're at it, we decided we'd take an adventure and raise awareness for Feeding America. We decided we'd have so much traffic on the website, it would be selfish not to put it in a positive direction so we're not only getting to experience something great for ourselves but pushing it forward for others."
The pair hope to make it back to California by December. They packed light but have all the necessities including: Food, clothes, water filter, solar-powered cell phone charger, clothes.
We tried to get it as light as we could because every ounce adds up to a pound and every pound equals pain in our back or feet," jokes Stiles. "We have a tent, 2 sleeping bags and water. We joke that we're jumping between water holes because we filter water out of the creek one day and are filling it up in a machine the next day."
Some of the couple's favorite parts of the cross-country trek, swimming in the Delaware river and hiking.
"Hiking over the clouds was great and inspiring," says Stiles.
The pair have a website Our Walk Across America
where they blog and post pictures as way to update family, friend and fans on how their journey is going. They also have a Facebook page
As for their relationship, the pair says the trip is teaching them the value of team work.
"When we get home it's going to be easy to pay rent and fill up our water out of the sink instead of fighting mosquitoes and finding a place to camp," jokes Stiles.