KANSAS CITY – The man known as "The Barefoot Dutchman" has reached St. Louis, MO after passing through Kansas City and crossing Missouri on his coast to coast trek, setting a Guinness record along the way.
And Anton Nootenboom is not finished. He stepped off from Los Angeles earlier this year and is walking to New York City to raise awareness and funds for men's mental health.
"I struggled with my own mental health quite for a while," Nootenboom told KMOX. "I was in the Dutch army for 10 years, and did three tours in Afghanistan, but then life happens and didn't know what to do with it."
"I was one of those guys where I said' I'm climbing up and keep going' but I learned the hard way that if you don't speak up it's just yourself and people around you that are punishing."
Nootenboom decided that in order to raise the awareness and funds for men's mental health, he thought one of the ways to do it is to walk barefoot across the country.
"There are many mental health benefits from walking barefoot, but mainly it's something that is out of the ordinary and challenging that does the trick and get the attention," said Nootenboom. "When someone see or hear about someone barefoot, they are like 'woah, wait, what?' moment where you can use it to raise awareness and talk about the subject."
Notenboom has walked barefoot across countries all around the world since 2019, Notenboom previously held the Guinness World Record for the longest barefoot hike back in 2021, when he conquered 1800+ miles along the East coast of Australia. But a Polish individual would eventually break the record a few months ago according to Notenboom.
However, It now appears that Notenboom will reclaim it, with Nottenboom already walking 2200 miles just by to St. Louis from Los Angeles.
"I will add another 1,000 miles to it just so no one thinks about doing it again," joked Notenboom.
Notenboom stressed that while it fun to reclaim the world record, that's not the goal for him.
"When you can say it's a world record, it's a momentum you can use to raise awareness and funds," said Notenboom.
Notenboom says he hopes to reach New York by Nov. 2, preferably before the cold temperatures comes.
"As long as I get there before winter starts, that's my main goal," said Notenboom. "I have had one winter in the Rocky Mountains, that is enough."
You can follow his journey here.