Shane Johnson, “The Walking Man,” returned to Yellow Springs after two decades away. He now offers the same errand services around the village that he offered before moving away in 2000 — to be completed, as his name implies, on foot. (Photo by Lauren "Chuck" Shows)
For errands, call ‘The Walking Man’
- Published: August 2, 2024
You may have seen him around town: backwards ball cap, bright yellow visibility vest and a smile as he walks by on Xenia Avenue.
He’s Shane Johnson, but he calls himself “The Walking Man” — and he’s hoping to put his steps to good use for the residents of Yellow Springs.
Johnson has recently begun advertising, via business card, his services as a “general go-getter and errand-walker.” Those services include photocopying, post office drop-offs, getting extra change from the bank, light grocery store runs and coffee and meal pick-ups from local restaurants.
He adds one particular flourish to these offerings: They’re all completed on foot.
“I don’t drive, so I can’t do anything that involves a car,” Johnson told the News in a recent interview. “But I can pick up small things or run errands, and I’ll do it for tips.”
This is not the first time Johnson has run errands as The Walking Man; a 1989 YS High School graduate, Johnson routinely performed the same services in the village for several years.
Born in Utah, Johnson moved to Yellow Springs as a teenager with his mother, Rosann Miller-Wethington, after several years in Fairborn. The family lived on Grinnell Road, and Johnson said he would often walk three miles into town to run errands for those who needed it.
“It took me about an hour to walk into town,” Johnson said. “What I really like about walking is the exercise.”
In 2000, Johnson and his mother and stepfather, Clyde Wethington, decided to move to warmer climes.
“Mom wanted to move to the mountains and desert, because she’s originally from the mountains and desert in Utah,” Johnson said. “We traveled around the country for about a year and a half.”
The family eventually landed in another “springs” — Jemez Springs, a village in New Mexico. Johnson said the town is even smaller than Yellow Springs — in 2022, the population was just shy of 200 — but afforded him the ideal weather for walking.
“The one thing I really liked about it was that I was able to walk up and down the road virtually all year round, because it’s warmer there,” he said. “It’s a dry heat and a dry cold, so during the winter you can just wear pants and a jacket and you’re fine. But [in Ohio] in the winter — not so much. I wouldn’t recommend it.”
Like Yellow Springs, Jemez Springs is a draw for tourists, with scenic views and the hot springs for which the town is named. But the small population made it difficult to continue the errand-running business he’d established in Ohio, so he took a job with the Village of Jemez Springs doing custodial work for the parks department.
He continued his daily walking, however — this time as “The Walking Mountain Man,” as he described himself while out west, more for the love of it than for the business he might drum up.
At the same time, Johnson said he developed an interest in LEGO-building in Jemez Springs, setting his sights on some of the most challenging LEGO builds. He said it took him a few months to build the 6,020-piece “Harry Potter” Hogwarts Castle LEGO set, and even longer to put together the 7,541 pieces of the legendary “Star Wars” Millennium Falcon set — the second largest set LEGO has produced.
“Oh my god, this thing was huge — it took me six months to build,” Johnson said. “They wanted me to show my LEGOs in Jemez Springs, so I put [the Millennium Falcon] in the library.”
The Millennium Falcon — and all of Johnson’s LEGO creations — came back to Yellow Springs with him earlier this year; he and his mother returned to the village in March. Now the two live with Johnson’s sister, Selanie Johnson, and his brother-in-law, Eli Hurwitz.
“There’s four adults, three dogs, one cat and one turtle,” he said.
Having been away for more than two decades, Johnson said a lot has changed in the village — different stores downtown, and much larger Street Fairs than in years past, for example. The main difference, he said, is that he’s been away long enough that folks don’t necessarily know him anymore. For that reason, he said, reinstituting his business has been more challenging than he anticipated.
“So far, it hasn’t been all that easy,” he said.
Still, Johnson continues to reacquaint himself with the community, greeting folks as he walks around town wearing his bright yellow vest, which contains a multitude of pockets.
“It’s got pockets on the inside, a bunch of pockets on the front, and a huge pocket on the back — you could fit a laptop in there,” he said.
The on-the-go storage space the many pockets provide is essential to the services Johnson hopes to provide as “The Walking Man.”
“It’s got a ton of space,” he said. “If you need anything, just give me a call.”
Shane “The Walking Man” Johnson can be reached by call or text at 505-934-3844.
The Yellow Springs News encourages respectful discussion of this article.
You must login to post a comment.
Don't have a login? Register for a free YSNews.com account.
No comments yet for this article.