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By Steve Marroni, Evening Sun Reporter
Week of March 23 - March 29, 2008

Every journey starts with the first step, and in Josh Howell's case, it also started with the first hug and the first dollar.

Howell, 33, of Biglerville, is on his hike to raise $1 million for the Alzheimer's Association. It's a campaign he calls Hugs for Humanity.

He's doing it for his mother, Diane Howell, who has Alzheimer's.

He will be hiking across the country along the American Discovery Trail. He left from Cape Henlopen Park, Del., Saturday, and he hopes to have his trek of embraces completed by Thanksgiving.

So far, he's averaging about a mile a hug, and about 23 miles a day. He had 98 miles as of Wednesday, when he stopped in Annapolis, Md.

"My feet are a little sore, but it's going along pretty good," he said on a cell phone from downtown Annapolis.

There are few people to hug along the trail, so he tries to hug as many as he can in towns, walking through with a banner on his pack proclaiming "One Million Hugs, One Million Dollars." It's for the Alzheimer's Association, the banner proclaims, encouraging potential huggers to approach and hear his story.

He's had no problems so far, and said everyone has been receptive.

"I talked to a couple police officers, and no one wanted to arrest me for solicitation," he laughed.

It may be an unusual endeavor, but people have been receptive so far, he said. When hiking through some smaller towns, people came out of their offices and some lined up for hugs.

One lady he met along the way named Jill was intrigued with his mission. She even flagged down traffic along a major highway to help find hugs for Howell.

Along the rest of his trip, he hopes to draw attention in malls, historic and downtown districts and events, where he'll charge $1 for a hug to meet his goal.

He has a lot of support, including a huge e-mail list of friends and supporters he'll keep in touch with along the way. He has a MySpace page to update along the way for his cyber-hiking friends. And, he'll meet many more on his trip as he hugs his way to trying to find a cure for Alzheimer's, the disease that afflicts his mother.

He even has a hiking partner he met online, Jodi Harrington of Oregon, Ohio, who is hiking to raise money to fight neurofibromatosis, he said. Plans fell through with her original hiking partner, and they happened to be leaving at the same time, so they linked up for the trip. In his mind, he had worked himself up to taking this on solo, but having somebody to talk to and back him up along the trip has been helpful and pleasant, he said.

Howell has been an outdoorsman and a hiker most of his life. It's his lifestyle, and it's what helps him make sense of his world, and what has happened to his mother.

He described Diane Howell as someone who was a vibrant, active woman. Watching her succumb to a disease has been devastating to his family. What Howell's mother always loved, and still responds to, is a simple hug. The quiet, tender hug of a loved one. The firm bear-hug of greeting a friend. Or just the quick one-arm-over pat on the back. He'll do it all to spread his mother's love and, hopefully, help raise money to cure the disease.

A hug's a powerful thing, he said.

Months of planning are finally over, and now the hiking and the hugging will begin. He'll have to average 25 miles and 3,704 hugs per day to meet his goal.

Annapolis, Bowie, Washington, Clarksburg, all on the way to Lake Tahoe, Sacramento, Oakland and finally, San Francisco. He plans to be at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, and Georgetown on Sunday.

One million hugs. One million dollars.

"I get mini panic attacks when I think ahead too far," he said. "I'm taking it one day at a time, and not worrying too much about tomorrow. Carpe diem."

More Information:

Josh Howell of Biglerville began his hike across the country Saturday. His goal is to hug one million people to raise $1 million for the Alzheimer's Association. To find out more about his trip, visit http://www.trailjournals.com/hugs or http://www.myspace.com/healthpeacesimple.

By:

By Steve Marroni, Evening Sun Reporter for

The Evening Sun, Hanover, Pennsylvania