SENNETT - When Will Buchanan decided that he would move to New Hampshire with his wife as part of the Free State Project, he had no idea how long it would take him to get there.

Buchanan had been living in Hawaii at the time, after quitting his job because he wanted to do something more fulfilling, he said. He was trying to decide what he could do to help the initiative, which is trying to gather “liberty oriented” people to New Hampshire to change government policies, when his wife came up with the idea of walking there.

“We knew we were going to move to New Hampshire, and he wanted to do something that would make a difference,” Brooke Buchanan said “I came up with the idea. We're moving there, we have to get there, so why not just walk there?”

When he began walking, on April 14, it was spring in Oregon. When he walked through South Dakota, the leaves were just beginning to change. Saturday, on his 199 day of walking, he arrived in Auburn just in time to enjoy some lake-effect snow.

“I'm spreading the ideas of liberty and letting people know that if they're really serious about wanting to do something about government, come join us in New Hampshire,” Will said while walking on Turnpike Road in Sennett Saturday. “There is a whole community there, that's growing larger everyday, working towards liberty.”

That community believes that people should be allowed to live their lives however they wish, as long as they aren't hurting anyone else, without government regulations getting in the way of that, Will said. A lot of people believe that the government has become too large and the people need to do something about it.

Walking across the country hasn't come without its adventures for the couple.

“We broke down in a little town in Montana and had to stay at an RV park for a few days while getting a part to repair our car,” he said. “People there were really helpful and supportive. A couple next to us had really taken a liking to us and had caught some fish the day before. They fried it up and shared it with us. It was a nice community feeling.”

Their RV broke down again on Friday before they reached Auburn, but a local family was nice enough to lend them their car so that they could continue the journey, Will said.

Brooke drives ahead in the RV, or car so that when Will reaches her she is ready to bring him food, drinks or whatever else he needs. At the end of the day, she picks him up to drive to the couple's home for that night, but they note his location on the portable global positioning system that he wears on his wrist. The next morning he goes back to that spot and starts walking again.

“Certainly my feet and legs have been a challenge,” he said.

Even though he says some days his shins and feet bother him, he doesn't show the almost 200 days of walking. His pace remains quick and he waves at cars and trucks as they drive by.

Now his walk is almost over. He plans to cross the border into New Hampshire in early December where other members of the Free State Project will meet him.

“It's going to be different. By the time we finish, the last eight months of my life I will have been walking across the country,” he said. “I'm kind of glad because we have been out here for a while; it will be nice to be in one place.”