George’s mission is simple: “I walk to promote a healthier lifestyle. As a first step, I simply ask people to rise up and go take a walk, at least once per day.”

For two weeks George took a respite to speak at East Chapel Hill High School, Frank Porter Graham Elementary School and Duke. “This is the most important part of my journey,” he says. “Getting to know the people and places I walk through, sharing the healthy-living message, and learning from people in each state I visit.”

George is walking to honor his mother Barbara, who lost her battle with cancer on June 18, 1985, two days before her 34th birthday. As George explains: “I began the Walk of Inspiration Across America from my childhood home in Vancouver, Wash., on Sept. 20, 2009. The date was highly symbolic to me as it was two days before my 34th birthday.”

He has since walked nearly 4,400 miles. He walks up to 30 miles a day and will end his three-year journey at the White House this spring. He hopes to meet First Lady Michelle Obama who has been working to fight childhood obesity.

“People have been extremely hospitable,” he says. “Despite the violent crime report we may see on local TV news, in thousands of miles of walking across America, I’ve never once been attacked, robbed, nor had anything stolen from me. I’ve been helped by countless wonderful souls along the path. I call them ‘Road Angels.’”

Many of the people who open their homes to George have been following his journey via social media and are friends of other hosts. He has also stayed in host homes he has found through the social networking site, CouchSurfing International Inc. ( couchsurfing.org ) - a volunteer-based worldwide network connecting travelers with members of local communities, who offer free accommodation and/or advice.“As a sage woman once told me, ‘The world is like a mirror,’ he says. “‘You smile at it, and it smiles back at you.’”

To read more about George Throop’s “Walk Across America” visit enjoythewalk.org