BROWNTOWN — At the age of 92, most men would be content to spend their remaining days relaxing, and maybe visiting friends and relatives.

But for Dean Troutman, the road beckons. He walks for a cause. He walks a lot. And now he’s walking across the region to raise money again for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Tennessee — a hospital that treats kids with cancer and other life-threatening ailments at absolutely no charge to them or their families.

Troutman, who hails from Princeville in downstate Illinois near Peoria, started his latest journey from Orangeville. That took him to Monroe, where news of his efforts reached the AmericInn, which offered him a free room for the night Sunday.

Not one to dawdle, Troutman was up bright and early, leaving his breakfast and the comforts of the hotel for the pavement on Wis. 11 at about 6 a.m. He pushes an old running stroller full of the things he needs to get by, and it has a pair of flags on it for visibility as he strolls at his own pace along the shoulder of the road. Cars and trucks fly by him but he keeps going.

“I average two, maybe three miles an hour” he says. “I do the best that I can, then I get up and do it again the next day.”

On Monday afternoon he’d easily made it over the rolling hills and into Browntown, where he could be found quietly eating lunch at The Old Grizzly. That’s right across from the local fire station, where he planned to spend the night on the floor on his air mattress.

“I stay in a lot of fire stations,” he said. “And sometimes I sleep outside under the stars.”

Along the way he meets plenty of people, and he’s always amazed at the kindness he receives — both in donations to St. Jude and for assistance during his travels.

“It’s a really great thing he’s doing,” said Old Grizzly owner Jeff Moore, who treated Troutman to a lunch of chicken tenders and fries, after he’d made it there from Monroe on a sunny yet still unseasonably cool afternoon. “I saw him coming up the road and could not believe it. I don’t know anyone who would try to do that, especially at the age of 92.”

The night before Troutman said he enjoyed his warm hotel bed, especially after walking into Monroe the day before, when the temperature dipped into the 40s Sunday night and a light drizzle greeted him as he crossed into Wisconsin.

The walk isn’t Troutman’s first fundraising mission. In 2014, he walked 700 miles and raised $70,000 for Troutman Park back home in Illinois, in memory of his wife, Peggy. He decided to do it again and raised more money for St. Jude. On Troutman’s Trek 2 Memphis, he raised $10,000 by walking 500 miles from his Illinois home to Memphis. 

And ever since, he plans a fundraising walk whenever he can.

“St. Jude is a special place for kids and they need money to keep it going,” says Troutman. “People are happy to give to a good cause like that.”

Troutman says those wishing to give to St. Judge in support of his efforts can do so online and through the St. Jude website. He even collects donations by hand, which he dutifully saves and presents to the hospital when his walk is done.

How does he do it?

Troutman says he is extremely healthy. He takes no medications, and tries to eat right. But he says he is blessed to have his health at his age, and wants to make the most of it. He tried to remember all of that when laying on his air mattress outside under the stars, surrounded by a bunch of coyotes on a recent trip.

“I didn’t worry about them,” he said. “They just serenaded me to sleep right there in the cornfield.”

His footwear of choice is a pair of high-end Brooks running shoes, and he has a second pair with him so he can switch pairs every other day.  Troutman says he has put over 2,500 miles on those type of shoes, and they work best for him. But that’s about it for any kind of special gear — otherwise, he wears jeans, a ball cap, and a high visibility green t-shirt.

Occasionally, he gets wet or wind-blown, he says, but its no big deal compared to what kids have to endure at St. Jude.

“I have everything I need in my cart,” he says of the jogging stroller. “And what I don’t have, people help me out along the way. That is the best part. Meeting people.”

From Browntown, he planned to make his way to South Wayne and on to Gratiot on Tuesday, where he will be joined by a friend for the walk south along Wis. 78, back toward Illinois.

“It’s always nice to have company,” he said. “The miles go by faster.”