Kyndal Ray Edwards is working to make reality what started as a dream: walking to all four corners of the United States. He recently started his journey through Florida, where he pushes a cart with a sign that reads “You Matter” and “Walking Across America.” He is over 800 days into his journey and isn’t ready to stop.
Edwards had been in and out of jail since he was 16. This continued throughout his 20s, during which he racked up 13 felonies. In 2013, Edwards was booked into county jail for a year for grand theft and burglary. During that time, he came across a newspaper article about Harrison Maloney, a man who walked from Tallahassee, Florida, to Laguna Beach, California.
While serving his sentence, Edwards said he had plenty of time to think and exercise. As he got into shape, he said he started to believe he had the stamina to walk hundreds of miles. After his release, he set a goal to begin his walk on Jan. 1, 2015.
However, Edwards soon found himself back on the same dangerous path he hoped the journey would pull him away from.
“I got in trouble that year, got put on probation on Jan. 1, 2015,” Edwards said. “Instead of taking off on the journey, I broke into a post office and went to prison.”
The cycle repeated itself. He said he returned to prison for another five-year sentence. Two years into that second term, Edwards said something shifted. He decided he couldn’t keep repeating the same mistakes. Three years later, during work release, a painting on the office wall reignited his dream.
“I was looking at a canvas painting in our office,” Edwards said. “It was the seven continents. I saw North America, and I was like, ‘I was going to walk from Florida to California.’”
But that route no longer felt ambitious enough, said Edwards.
“I could do a harder route,” he said. “I could go through the mountains of Colorado. I could go to Washington.”
A new plan was formed, he said. Edwards mapped out a route to walk from Washington to California, then to Florida, and finally to Maine.
The walk was no longer just about him, said Edwards. Having battled addiction, Edwards said he wanted the journey to raise awareness about mental health and substance abuse, so he gave his journey a new name: A Walking Testimony.
“Every day on social media, somebody is posting about another loss of life to a drug overdose or suicide,” he said. “As somebody who has been down that route myself, I was pushing about 30 months drug-free when I decided that I wanted to do it.”
While still on work release, Edwards said he spent hours answering phones as a telemarketer studying GPS routes. When he was released on Nov. 6, 2021, he started small. He walked 34 miles from Orange Park, Florida, to the Jacksonville Beach Pier.
“I pushed myself,” Edwards said.
He remembered shredded feet and exhaustion, but he didn’t stop. That test run, he said, gave him the confidence to aim higher.
“January 1, 2022, I put my feet in the Atlantic Ocean, then I took off. I walked 3,292 miles through 13 states,” he said. “I put my feet in the Pacific Ocean on April 12, 2023, which also doubled as my four-year drug-free date.”
Still, he wasn’t finished.
“I had just lived my dream and completed it,” Edwards said. “So I went back, and I was like, ‘You know what? I'm going to walk up to the northwestern point of Washington: Cape Flattery.’”
He started documenting the journey on his Facebook page, which now has more than 45,000 followers. He regularly shares updates about the cities he visits, the people he meets and the strangers who offer help with food or shelter.
Some have compared him to Forrest Gump, the title character in the film “Forrest Gump.” To embrace the comparison, Edwards said he walked through the Forrest Gump Point in Monument Valley, wore a Bubba Gump hat like the one Tom Hanks wore in the film and even ran the same stretch in Utah where the movie character ran.
But for Edwards, this isn't about a movie moment. It's about making history.
“I am trying to set a world record to be the first person to walk to all four corners of the lower 48 states on a continuous journey,” he said.
The walk is grueling, but he said he stays focused on his mission.
“I’ve had people pull over on the side of the road, like grown men hug me and say, ‘Hey, I was going to go home and take my life tonight, but because I just drove by you and saw my sign, like, can I hug you right now?’ and just cry with me on the side of the road,” Edwards said. “My goal is to spread as much awareness and love, kindness and positivity throughout America.”
Once he completes the four-corner journey, he said he doesn’t plan to stop.
“I want to do 100 miles on each continent,” he said. “I want to take it global and go to the next level.”
Unlike Forrest Gump, Edwards said he tends to walk alone. But there’s one person he said he’d love to join him.
“Right now, I’m trying to push a goal to get Jelly Roll to come walk 50 miles with me,” he said. “I think he would eventually, if he’s not like super busy.”
As the miles add up and the journey stretches on, Edwards continues to prove that transformation is possible, one step, one state, and one story at a time.