Dennis Godby estimates he’s heard quips related to the 1994 film “Forrest Gump” perhaps 1,000 times.
The title character of that film runs across the United States more than once. Godby, a 70-year-old naturopathic doctor who lives in West Sacramento, likes to tell people that while “Forrest Gump” was a movie, he’s the real deal. In September, Godby finished a roughly 3,450-mile walk that he made across the U.S. in five stages over five years. It was only his latest adventure.
In 1978, Godby ran about 1,420 miles, from Corvallis, Oregon, to near Calgary. He ran across the U.S. in the mid-1980s and again in 2011, the second time with his two sons and his nephew. On a recent day, Godby said he felt like he could immediately start walking from Seattle, where he finished his recent cross-country walk, to Sacramento.
“For the first few weeks when I get back every year, I really miss it,” Godby said during an interview at his office in midtown Sacramento. “Because I’m back to, a lot of times, the mundane. And even though I like what I do, that is really exciting, being out on the road.”
Godby is part of an eclectic group of people willing to spend weeks, if not months, undertaking long journeys on foot. There is an altruistic component that draws these people to the road, a belief that their adventures can contribute to social good. But it’s not the only thing that causes them to set out.
Why run or walk long distances?
The first time Godby embarked on a long trip by foot, when he set off for Calgary with scant supplies, he was running to promote nutrition and exercise.
“It’s always been to promote something,” Godby said. “It’s never been just an adventure.”
When Godby ran across the country from December 1984 to March 1985, going from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., he was raising awareness about violence in Central America. He finished his run in time to attend a rally in Lafayette Park honoring the five-year anniversary of Archbishop Oscar Romero’s assassination, according to news coverage.
In 2011, Godby took off across the country once more, this time from San Francisco to Bridgeport, Connecticut. He ran with his son, Isaiah, to honor a promise to him and promote naturopathic medicine, a form of alternative healing.
Godby’s recent cross-country walk was to promote health equity, the idea that a person’s wellness shouldn’t be tied to their skin color or ZIP code.
“I just felt like I needed to be involved in the fight,” Godby said. “It’s like I need to leave my body on the line.”
There are other motivators for Godby beyond social justice. One of them is his faith. He recalled a talk he once gave in Los Angeles.
“I said the two most profound influences – what I would still maintain now – would be going to mass every day at Sacred Heart and reading and hearing the Scriptures,” Godby said.
Then there is his spirit, which is dogged. Godby, who grew up in Sacramento before attending Oregon State, told The Sacramento Union in 1978 about why he attempted to run to Calgary. He stopped 130 miles short due to an injury to his Achilles tendon.
“I wanted to accomplish the longest run with the most miles averaged per day without a support team,” Godby said. “I’m not a jock, just a guy who wanted to prove the body can adapt to stress and overcome the many psychological barriers involved with such a run.”
The cost of adventure
While Godby did the 2011 run in one stretch, he split his recently finished, cross-country walk into five sections beginning in 2022 so he could be gone five weeks at a time. He didn’t want to be away for too long from his patients of his medical center or his wife of nearly 40 years, Wilma Godby.
“I feel very proud of him,” she said. “I don’t think I will ever find a man like him in my whole life. He has a big heart for this world and for making changes.”
For his five-part walk, Godby went from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina to Knoxville, Tennessee to Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Fargo, North Dakota to Bozeman, Montana to Seattle. He said he could have made the walk in one go.
“You actually get in better shape as you go along,” Godby said.
He had open-heart surgery after completing the first three legs of the journey.
“I didn’t realize that when I walked from Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, to Milwaukee that I actually had a severe mitral valve regurgitation that would eventually have led to congestive heart failure,” Godby said.
Godby spent close to $1,000 for his first run to Calgary in 1978, as he told The Sacramento Union then, which is equivalent to around $5,000 in 2026 dollars. He also came in close contact with a bear, suffered hypothermia and wound up in a ditch after jumping out of the way of a passing car.
“There’s a lot of cost involved in these things,” Godby said.
Rich Saalsaa, a childhood friend of Godby’s, joined the final leg of the walk across the country. Saalsaa lost 150 pounds training for the journey. On the trek, Saalsaa wore out his shoes three times and lost a big toenail, but he still hopes to join another adventure with Godby.
“I think I’m in the best shape I’ve ever been in my life at age 68,” said Saalsaa, who now lives in Philomath, Oregon.
The costs come with the reward of the generosity of people along the way.
On his 1978 run, which spanned about 40 days, Godby often relied on food from strangers. People also sometimes provided free lodging — he slept in homes, a horse barn and nine Catholic church rectories, among other places.
“The kindness is always something that has stood out over the years,” Godby said.
Inspiring others
In 1981, Runner’s World magazine published an article that Godby wrote about his 1978 run. Ken Arnett, a 36-year-old father of three, was inspired by the story.
In 1983, Arnett ran 500 miles in 19 days from his home near Peoria, Illinois, to Iron Point in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. He ran partly to raise money for the American Heart Association, as his son had open-heart surgery as an infant.
“He said he really doesn’t expect anyone to understand this crazy, undying desire he has to complete his goal,’” wrote a reporter for a local newspaper. The story added that Arnett had been in contact with Godby, who “advised him to either expect the residents to welcome him with open arms … or tell him to ‘get lost.’”
Arnett is now 80 and was unavailable for comment. His wife Barb Arnett said she wasn’t thrilled when her husband declared he wanted to do the run. But she was supportive and went with their children and her parents to meet him at the finish.
Dave McGillivray, who ran across the U.S. in 1978 to raise money to fight childhood cancer, estimated he has inspired 30 people to run across the country.
“When you do something, someone else hears about it. And then they accomplish something and then someone else hears about them. It just feeds on itself,” McGillivray said.
Godby’s sons Isaiah and Jeremiah followed the run that they did with their father and their cousin across the country in 2011 by each going for long runs the next year.
Jeremiah Godby ran south from the Canadian border and Isaiah Godby ran north from the Mexican border, with the men planning to meet in the middle. Not wanting to use support teams, they pushed their gear in strollers as they ran. People called 911 thinking they were crazed parents pushing young children along highways.
“We literally both got pulled over many times and sometimes even on the same day, within a few hours,” Jeremiah said.
The brothers met in Davis and then ran across the Yolo Causeway to Sacramento.
In 2014, they ran through 30 of Oregon’s 36 counties, logging about 1,675 miles. After the 2018 Parkland, Florida, high school mass shooting that killed 17 people, the brothers ran and biked from the school to Washington, D.C.
The sons don’t go for unusually long runs today. Jeremiah is in medical school. Isaiah serves as clinic manager at his father’s practice.
“My dad is not perfect, but he’s extraordinary in terms of his heart,” Isaiah said.
Godby’s wife and sons were on hand when he and Saalsaa finished the walk on Sept. 24 at Pier 62 in Seattle. Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson declared the day “Health Equity Day.” Godby and Saalsaa were joined by about 20 people who walked with them the final few miles.
“It felt so great,” Godby said of the finish.
Godby said he’d promised “the powers that be” that he’ll do shorter journeys than a cross-country walk in the future. He’s interested in walking next year around Lake Tahoe, a distance of roughly 74 miles. He doesn’t seem ready to give up life on the road.
“It is an adventure, and you meet a lot of cool people, a lot of wonderful people,” Godby said. “It’s an opportunity to try to make a difference.”
This story was originally published October 24, 2026 at 7:00 AM.
Graham Womack is a general assignment reporter for The Sacramento Bee. Prior to joining The Bee full-time in September 2025, he freelanced for the publication for several years. His work has won several California Journalism Awards and spurred state legislation.
