“A Walking Testimony”: Man Walking Across America for Mental Health and Recovery Awareness Makes a Stop in Bogalusa
Published 11:00 am Wednesday, May 14, 2025
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CARIE EDWARDS
CORRESPONDENT TO THE DAILY NEWS
With every mile he walks, Kyndal Ray (Edwards) is telling a story – one of survival, resilience, and redemption. The 32-year-old from Orange Park, Florida, is on a powerful mission: walking across the United States to raise awareness for mental health and addiction recovery.
Ray, who calls his journey “A Walking Testimony,” is currently on the third leg of an extraordinary four-part effort to walk to all four corners of the lower 48 states. His mission began on January 1, 2022, when he left Jacksonville Beach Pier in Jacksonville, Florida, and began a 3,292-mile walk diagonally across 13 states. That first cross-country journey ended on April 12, 2023, in Long Beach, Washington -a date that also marked his fourth year of sobriety.
The idea for the journey first took root while Ray was serving a one-year sentence in county jail in 2013. There, he came across a newspaper article titled “America On Foot,” about a man named Harrison Millanian, who had walked from Tallahassee, Florida, to Laguna Beach, California. That story planted a seed – a vision of transformation that would grow over the next decade.
For Ray, this walk is far more than a physical feat, it’s a declaration of survival. For 17 years, he battled depression, addiction, and a life of crime. He overdosed numerous times, attempted to take his own life twice, and spent time in county jail 11 times. He also served two prison sentences-the first for 18 months, the second for 60 months. Now in his early 30s with 13 felony convictions, Ray is over five years drug-free and more than two years out of prison. “I’m thankful for every breath I breathe,” he said. “I’m someone who should not be standing here today. Life is precious. I walk for those who didn’t make it, those we’ve lost to overdoses and suicide. I walk to say recovery is possible.”
After completing his first cross-country walk, Ray went on to trek 2,211 miles up the West Coast to Cape Flattery, Washington, finishing that segment on August 4, 2024. Now on his third major stretch, Ray is walking a second coast-to-coast path, beginning at Imperial Beach in San Diego, California, and heading back toward Florida. Along that route, he reached a major milestone, logging his 8,000th mile in Bogalusa, Louisiana. The final chapter of his mission will take him from the Florida Keys, the southeastern-most point of the contiguous U.S., to West Quoddy Head Lighthouse in Lubec, Maine, the northeastern-most point.
With thousands of miles behind him, Ray says staying motivated comes down to one thing: being a man of his word. It’s not easy-he has had to push through pain, discouragement, and even danger-but the people who reach out to him about the cause fuel him to keep going. His journey hasn’t been without hardship. Ray has dealt with broken carts, flat tires, and torn tents. His cart was stolen in Oklahoma, and he developed a hernia in Alabama that he continued walking with all the way to Colorado. He’s walked through snow, hail, 40 mph winds, and along some of America’s most dangerous roads. Despite it all, he remains undeterred.
Ray’s mission statement says it all: “If I can keep one person from putting a gun to their head and pulling the trigger, or putting a needle in their arm not knowing they will never wake up, then I did my job!” He views himself as a metaphorical candle, a symbol of hope, with his wick lit-hoping to light the way for many others who are struggling. He wants to be a beacon for those lost in the darkness, and through his journey, he aims to ignite the spirits of others who need to find their way.
Ray funds his journey through a combination of merchandise sales on his website and as a digital creator for Facebook. Before becoming a digital creator, he relied on donations via GoFundMe to sustain his walk. However, he also encourages his supporters to donate to other recovery-focused organizations, such as Addict II Athlete and To Write Love On Her Arms, which provide invaluable resources to individuals in need.
