Illinois Man Is Walking To Texas To Raise Money For St. Jude

As if walking to Texas from Illinois weren't impressive enough, the fact that he's 90 years old is pretty stunning.

Even more impressive when I work with people who, at a third of that age, are winded after walking to their car in the parking lot after work. But then again, there aren't many of us who can keep up with Dean Troutman.

Dean didn't just wake up a couple of weeks ago and decide to take this giant trek to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Hospital. He's done this sort of thing before. Not once, but twice.

According to information I found on his Facebook page, Mr. Troutman, is from Princeville, a town about 130 miles southwest of the Rockford area. When his wife Dorothy passed away in 2014, Dean, at age 83, took a 700 mile hike around Illinois and ended up raising $70,000. Those funds were used for a playground and sprucing up efforts at a popular local park.

Dean wasn't done.

Fast forward about a year to when the blisters faded and his feet had properly cooled off, and Dean was back on the road. This time he walked from Princeville to Memphis, Tennessee, and raised over $10,000 for the kids and their families at St. Jude.

Now 90, Dean Troutman is saying that this is his last, and by far, biggest walk. This stroll will cover 3,600 miles, and once again, the money he raises will be going to St. Judes.

WGN-TV News:

"I might be back home next year, July or August,” he said. “My goal now is to get out of Illinois, and once I get into Indiana, my goal is to hit Ohio then Kentucky and West Virginia, then Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, and I hope to be out in Florida by Christmas. As long as people keep sending in donations and these old bones hold up and this old body keeps holding together, I’m going to keep walking."

If you're doing the math, you might be wondering about the 3,600 miles part. It's only 1,400 miles from here to the bottom tip of Texas, so where are the extra miles coming from? Here's his route (from his Facebook page):