Lexington man walking across America for nearly 4 years

Jun. 9—Armed with nothing but the clothes on his back, a heavy wooden cross, and a satchel full of mementoes, Lexington native Greg Jones has been walking across America since Nov. 22, 2019.

"I was sitting at home praying on Nov. 22, 2019," Jones recalled. "I said, 'God, what can I do to reach out to more people in this country? How can I bring people closer to you?'"

Jones, whose face is darken by his sun-drenched days on the road, stated that he heard God's voice telling him to "drop it all and go."

"That scared the daylights out of me, but I got up the next morning and stepped out on Faith," Jones stated. "I quit my job, paid my roommates off with every dime I had, and left with the clothes on my back. I left with no money, no nothing."

Nearly four years later and 40 pounds lighter, Jones has walked nearly 4,000 miles through 13 different states in America. Along the way, Jones has met thousands of new friends and has always tried to spread the Word of God everywhere he has traveled.

But when Jones began this journey across America, he was scared and had no idea how he was going to survive from one day to the next.

"My first day, I was scared half to death," Jones explained. "I was praying on the side of the road in front of Hamburg's Thortons [convenient store] in Lexington. I remember saying something like, 'God, I'm tired, I'm hungry, I'm scared, and I have no idea what I am going to do.'"

Just as Jones finished praying, he looked down in the ditch to find a $20 bill setting beneath his feet. He moved up 10 more feet and picked up a total of $140 in 20-dollar bills scattered along the ditch line.

That ditch-line financial windfall secured a motel room and food for Jones on his very first night. But more importantly, it took away all of Jones' initial fears and allowed him to put his Faith in God to provide for him along his journey.

With no exact plan, timeline, nor absolute directional path, Jones takes each day one at a time.

"I get up like Paul the Apostle, I find jobs in towns along the way," Jones stated. "I get a lot of donations from the churches and places I speak at, and I get donations from other people along the way. That's what helps fund my motel rooms. I have a homeless ministry where I collect resources through every town I go through."

Being out on the streets has put Jones in direct contact with others who might need help — whether it be food, shelter, a job, or just someone to talk to.

"I collect the information resources that others might need to get them out of the situation that they're in, like rehabs and drug programs, places to shower, places to get food, and stuff like that," Jones stated. "I am kind of a minister to them by me trying to get them out of their negative situation."

Jones carries an eight-foot tall, 30-pound wooden cross over his shoulder everywhere he walks. The cross is aided by a small wheel on its base, but the bulk of the weight bears down on Jones' shoulder each and every day.

"I started out my journey with a walking staff with a cross on top of it," Jones stated. "I went through three of those and then I decided to upgrade because I felt like I could get more people's attention about the Gospel with the bigger cross.

"I've got quite a few signatures on it over time from pastors and other people along the way," Jones stated.

On Friday afternoon, Jones sat in the local Downtown Deli talking to a Pulaski County Deputy Sheriff. He had just completed a 30-mile, cross-carrying walk walk from Stanford, Ky., which started at 3:30 a.m. that same morning.

"Whenever I come into a new town, I always like to talk to a local law enforcement officer and explained to them why I am in their town," Jones stated. "I came into this particular restaurant [Downtown Deli] because I was intrigued to find out what a 'Tooter Pie' was when I saw it written on their window."

Like every other day in the past four years, Jones is not sure how long he will be staying in the Somerset area. By mid afternoon he had secured enough money to find a local motel room to at least stay the night, but after that Jones will be guided by a higher calling.

"This morning, I started with $4 in my pocket," Jones explained. "The day before I had talked to a gentleman at Stanford's Bluebird Cafe, and he left me $30 at the motel front desk. So, I got up and started with that."

Jones starts each morning out with the pretty much the same routine by walking the streets in search of people that might need his help.

"Usually in the mornings, I go around to talk and minister to people on the streets," Jones stated. "I try to find people who might be feeling down-and-out or maybe discouraged. I can share my story with them and bring a little light into their darkness. And that's what I do everyday of my life now."

Prior to his cross-bearing journey around the nation, Jones was limited to a small circle of people that would frequent the Lexington grocery store he previously worked at. He felt like he wasn't reaching enough people in his life and he wanted to find a way to be able to reach the masses.

"He [God] told me to 'drop it all and go' and it's been an amazing experience ever since," Jones stated. "It's brought me so much closer to Him and that has made it all worthwhile. I am not being distracted by daily life like we all have to go through every day. It's kind of like a bit of freedom. Being able to see sights and sounds that nobody else can see, because when you're driving you miss a lot."

Jones may only stay in a town overnight or he may stay in one place for up to a month at a time. He worked as a cook at a southern Georgia Mexican restaurant for three straight days, and he also worked for the Dublin, Ga. Chamber of Commerce for an entire month during this past December's brutally cold stretch. Jones claims to have had over 100 different jobs during his time on the road since 2019.

"I was really getting worried in December because I knew the weather was going to drop below zero," Jones recalled. "I went to the Dublin Chamber of Commerce and asked them if they had any work for me, because I was hoping to make some money to get a motel room and stay out of the harsh weather. They gave me a job of 'praying for the community' and they paid me $500 in cash, which kept me in a motel room for that stretch of brutally cold weather."

Also, Jones does not always know when or where his next meal is coming from, but the Chick-fil-A restaurant organization has become one of his biggest supporters in that department.

"Sometimes I have enough money to buy my own meal, and sometimes other people will donate to buy my meal," Jones stated. "Once, I visited a Chick-fil-A in Valdosta, Ga., and I told the general manager at that restaurant about how God had led me on this great journey. He told me I could eat for free anytime I was in his restaurant, and he also spread the word to other Chick-fil-A restaurants to do the same."

Jones stated that his nearly four-year long journey has been filled with so many positive experiences, but traveling through deserted towns during the height of the COVID pandemic was scary and difficult. Jones said he has never been sick nor injured throughout the entire time of his travels, but being an outsider during COVID was hard to navigate.

"I had to stand in line between cars at fast-food restaurant drive-thru's to get a meal and I had to slide money under the door of motel front offices to get a room for the night," Jones explained. "At first I had no idea about the pandemic, and I thought it was strange that everyone was inside and no one was outdoors. It was also difficult to transition from one town to the next during the pandemic, because they all had different restrictions."

Despite all his struggles along the way, Jones is happy with his life, his relationship with the Lord, and his work in the various American communities. He doesn't worry about tomorrow. He trusts that the Lord will lead him and provide for him.

"I really don't plan anything," he said. "I just get up and going. If the Spirit leads me to go in somewhere, like for some reason I wanted to come in here (Downtown Deli) and find out why it was called Tooter Pie. I ended up coming in here and now I am talking to you for a newspaper interview."

By the way, Jones stated he has been featured in 17 different newspapers throughout his journeys in America. Make that 18 newspapers now.

Contact Steve Cornelius at scornelius@somerset-kentucky.com.