There were six days in Memphis and seven days in Phoenix, but most of the time, Nick Tucker and Sam Rouleau were walking.

It’s a big country out there. Over seven months, Tucker and Rouleau soaked it in one step at a time. It took approximately eight million steps to walk from coast to coast. Eight million steps, with stops to help people along the way. Meeting the people is more important than seeing the landscape, and that’s what Tucker and Rouleau’s trip was all about.

“We saw it at three miles per hour,” Tucker said.

Tucker and Rouleau, Colby College graduates from North Berwick and good friends since they met playing basketball when they were 10, left on their journey on Aug. 6 last year. They arrived at the Santa Monica Pier in California on March 8, where they dipped their toes in the Pacific Ocean, surrounded by friends and Colby alumns.

Rouleau was the captain of the golf team at Colby, and Tucker was a cornerback on the football team. When they planned this adventure last spring, the goal was simple. Walk, and just help some people along the way. In between North Berwick and Santa Monica, they accomplished a lot. They called it Making Strides.

The first project was helping at an animal shelter in Salem, N.H. In Memphis, they helped at Manna House, which provides services to the homeless. They worked at a store in Dallas that benefits a shelter for abused women. They canvassed the streets of Phoenix, delivering food, water and clothing to homeless youths.

Never once, Tucker said, did they question their decision, or consider turning around. While the trip wasn’t a competitive endeavor, the same fire that pushed them in athletics pushed them onward.

“We did a good job from the beginning of not looking towards the Pacific Ocean. If you look towards the end, the feat becomes so grand, you’re like ‘How am I ever going to do this?’ ” Tucker said. “You buck up and take the next step.”

They were joined by Nick Bromley, another Colby graduate, for a spell in the Southwest. In Arizona, they crossed paths with a man who called himself Peace, who was walking east to Savannah, Ga. The trip would not have been possible without the kindness of strangers, and Tucker was glad to report the nation is full of decent people.

“Maybe it’s because good, kind people make themselves available,” Tucker said.

Plenty of people opened their homes to Tucker and Rouleau along the way. A Wal-Mart in Abilene donated a cart, the kind that you see hooked to bicycles normally used to transport children. Tucker and Rouleau loaded it with food, water and other supplies and pushed it across the desert, replacing the tires every so often until the cart finally died near California.

When they finally reached Santa Monica, if felt odd, Tucker said. They had anticipated some top of the world moment, but instead, it was just over.

“That had become our reality,” Tucker said. “That had become our life.”

Rouleau came back east first, but Tucker spent some time in Los Angeles before coming home. Now, they’re eager to plan the next adventure. Perhaps something entrepreneurial. Rouleau and Tucker have applied to be contestants on “The Amazing Race,” the CBS game show in which two-person teams travel the world, racing other teams to complete tasks.

Whatever they do, Tucker and Rouleau know they’re ready for it.

“We’ll just continue to dream big,” Tucker said. “The people that make it are the people who take chances and don’t fear failure.”

Tucker and Rouleau walk, but it won’t be away from the next challenge.

Travis Lazarczyk — 861-9242

[email protected]