Henry Lee McGinnis isn’t spending his retirement like most Americans, choosing to spend his golden years walking around the world. The 80-year-old man has been walking for 18 years, traveling through 66 countries and undoubtedly many different pairs of shoes. He started his most recent worldwide trek in 1992 in Dublin during its St. Patrick Day’s parade, and has been walking ever since, through Europe, Africa, Asia, and South America. He plans to finish up his walk in Texas around 2010 and right a book about his trek and experiences. It hasn’t been all fun and games of course, as McGinnis has been assailed by Islamic militants, saved by Egyptian soldiers, and held by authorities in Sudan.

McGinnis caught the “walking” bug 18 years ago, and according to his website he’s logged approximately 80,000 miles in those 18 years, through 66 countries and all 50 states.

McGinnis’s personal life seems almost as crazy as his current endeavour. He was born before the great depression, learning to read through National Geographic magazines. He was an army sniper in east Asia during World War II, and has married, and divorced five times in his life. He’s been in a band, managed a country club, and even was a Methodist minister before deciding to be a dedicated walker. His dream of walking the world was born in his youth, as a nine year-old farmboy reading National Geographic.

The six-foot two-inch trekker carries a 100 pound backpack with essentials he needs, camping wherever he can with a small portable tent. A six-foot walking staff with a steel tip serves as a walking stick and a weapon, and McGinnis is armed with some throwing knifes and a Bowie knife for extra protection. He’s needed the protection:

In Algeria , two Islamic militants screaming “Allah” appeared wielding a stick and a knife. A couple slaps to the head ended the attack. But in Asyut , Egypt , Hawk was not as lucky, where another militant knocked him to the ground with a stick while he was fending off two others in front of him. Luckily the soldiers arrived just in time, as he was fading into unconsciousness. In Sudan , when the authorities held him for three days in Wadi Hafa, the staff was of little help.

He’s lucky nothing worse has happened, considering everything.

[BBC Video] [Website]

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