After Dave Durkee strolled through Kamloops, B.C., on his epic cross-Canada walk, he opened the front door to his home in Yarmouth, N.S., and started teaching a music class.

Durkee, 62, is on a whimsical walk that will take him coast to coast without leaving southern Nova Scotia. Every morning since October, he's set out at about 6 a.m. to walk for three to four hours. While his feet don't leave the streets of Yarmouth, his avatar takes the same steps on a virtual map of Canada.

"Usually by noon I have the 29,500 steps necessary to give me 25 kilometres," he says, citing his daily distance goal to reach about 6,400 by July 1. He plans to arrive in Vancouver on Canada Day.

At first, he just wanted to walk to Halifax. "It took me 15 days. It would only take me 12 now," he says. "I got there — virtually speaking of course — and it didn't seem like much of an effort, so I thought, let's keep on going."

'Ontario was terrible'

Durkee soon found himself passing through New Brunswick and Quebec. When he reached the Ontario border at the start of 2017, he thought, "You could really turn this into something big."

That was when he decided to walk to Vancouver. "Ontario was terrible. It took longer to get across Ontario than it took to get there, and by then the weather was getting really cold and uncivilized," he says.

But most days he's excited to get up and go out. "Especially when I got to the Prairie provinces and I began to really feel like I could actually maybe do this."

One day he woke up in western Canada, bone-tired and aching, and found the thought of not walking scarier than the thought of walking. "That was a clarifying moment."

His route circles Yarmouth, including stops at the grocery store and the gas station. "I meet the same people every day. There really is a Groundhog Day aspect to this," he said, referring to the Bill Murray movie.

"People really do exactly to the minute the same things every day. I see the same garbage truck pulling into the same business every morning, the same car pulling into the same Tim Hortons."

Not to mention that one chap who gets up at the crack of dawn every day to circumambulate Yarmouth.

Study in humanity

"There's another interesting study in humanity. There are people still today who stubbornly refuse to say good morning to me. And I don't give up. I still smile and say hello," he says with a laugh.

Burning 4,000 calories a day, he can and does eat whatever he wants. "I eat six to eight cookies a day just to keep from losing weight."

Durkee is semi-retired but still teaches music. He says finding the time for the walks is the most challenging part. (Dave Durkee/Facebook)

That's actually how the project started — his doctor told him to lose weight so his bad back wouldn't hurt so much. "It was quite daunting at first. There were physical problems. I'm a long-time marathon walker, but never at this level. My feet were just one big blister for the first while. I'm not even sure why I kept on going."

Now he doesn't break a sweat (or a blister). "The human body is an amazing thing, even at 62 years old. You fairly quickly get used to that level of exercise. I'm in better shape than I've been in decades."

He doesn't listen to music, radio or podcasts. "It's my thinking time. I think about everything from what I'm going to have for lunch to grappling with the big questions," he says.

He usually figures out his lunch. "Still can't tell you if there's a God or if aliens exist."

Get out there and do'er

Durkee has thought a lot about this great country he's touring in his mind. "I'm old enough that I remember the 100th celebration," he says. "I really do love this country. We're not demonstrative enough about our patriotism. Not that I'm a great wave-a-flag guy, but this really is a wonderful country."

His gift to his fellow Canadians is this: "If you have some kind of crazy notion — particularly if it's a positive thing — and you don't think you can do it, life is short. Get out there and walk across the country, learn to play the cello, or get reborn in peace. Whatever crazy notion seizes your brain, go with it and see what happens."

On Canada Day, he plans to walk into Vancouver, which is conveniently situated at his Yarmouth front door. Inside, he and his very supportive (if slightly baffled) wife will crack a bottle of champagne to celebrate and then join the wider national festivities in the nearby community of Clare.

How's he getting home from B.C.? "Actually, I've got a good deal on a virtual car rental. I plan to drive back."