By Bob Weaver

He was an apparition on the Calhoun landscape, a Moses-looking man walking down US 33-119 at Millstone, wearing his long patchwork robe on a hot summer day and his sandals made of tire tread, held together by bolts and wire.

We stopped to inquire of his presence to discover Pilgrim George.

The humble, soft-spoken man has been on walking pilgrimages over three decades, traveling about 40,000 miles, literally walking around the world.

He doesn’t carry money in his three sacks, simply water, dried fruit, nuts and a tent. He doesn't want worldly belongings, but does accept the generosity of people be meets along the highway.

Pilgrim George's staff was carved by the cave of the prophet Elijah on Mount Carmel, and has been to holy places - Nazareth, Bethlehem and Calvary.

We drove to the Sand Ridge church to spend a little time, telling him the story about the Polings building the round church, "so the devil could find no place to hide."

This year's walk is taking him from Pittsburgh to Alabama and back.

Internet websites say people who have encountered Pilgrim George have a sense that it was ordained by God, not just sheer chance.

The Holy Man said three people had stopped to inquire of his presence in Calhoun, and one bought him a soda at Arnoldsburg.

"I stayed last night in Spencer. People who pass by often want a photograph and a little visit," he said.

The 69-year-old George Walters says his steps are those of faith, and his purpose is in lifting the name of Jesus as he walks along the highways of the world.

He dropped from studying to be a priest, saying "There was something missing. I had knowledge but I lacked faith."

On his walking pilgrimage while in America's Rocky Mountains, he said "I discovered why I'm here on earth, that I am God's creation, a part of the magnificent."

"Being a child of God became real," he said.

In 1958 he walked to Guadalupe, Mexico with a mule, and later walked to the Holy Land, with a a few lifts across water. In 1996, he met the late Pope John Paul II.

He said "My first pilgrimage was in 1970 when I walked from Barcelona Spain to Jerusalem. I’ve been in 41 countries and walked over 39,000 miles."

When asked about the most trying times on his journeys, he said one time he was stoned in Israel and was struck over the head from behind by a mentally-ill youth in California.

Pilgrim George leaves footprints on the land that he traverses, but also on the hearts of people along the way.