BERNE — He’s not an adventurer. He’s not in super-human physical shape. He is not driven by some cause. Thomas Walls is a 38-year-old regular guy from Berne, who describes himself on his Facebook page as “Great and Mighty Nobody.”  A regular guy who on May 1 took the first step in his planned 3,075-mile walk across the continent, from sea to sea.

He took the step at a coastal location where some earlier wayfarers are said to have stepped ashore almost four centuries ago (more legend than fact). Plymouth Rock. Unlike them, however, this modern-day pilgrim took a selfie on his phone — himself precariously balanced on a rock a few feet offshore.

And then he posted the photo on his Facebook page for all those who follow his progress. And who worry about him, root for him, and find it hard to believe he is really doing this. As hard to believe as he himself finds it at times.

“Maybe I am not the sort of…person who would walk cross-country. We’ll find out I guess,”  he said on his fifth day on the road, about 60 miles from his starting point. About to set up his tent in a forested area off Route 146 in Milford, Massachusetts, he welcomed the chance to talk.

His cell phone and his iPad are not just conveniences. They’re lifelines to combat the loneliness of the open road — the very long-distance road he has chosen to take.

Asked if loneliness is a problem, he readily concedes it is. “Sorry, I get a little emotional and choked up,” he said.

Part of the emotion is gratitude, he says, for all the people who are supporting him. And who seemed to be accompanying him as he pushed forward through a challenging first week of rain, chilly temperatures, and feet that were not at all happy.

“I can’t believe,” he says, “how supportive people are.”  Not disappointing all those who want him to succeed is a big incentive, he says.

So far — and this is one of his main goals, meeting people — there have been few people of the non-digital sort to cheer him on his way. But he thinks that will change as the weather improves and paths cross more often.

One unwanted interaction happened on Day Four.  A woman who saw him go by called the police. Walls would be hard to miss. A big man with a big backpack, pushing a stroller in which he keeps his food supplies (he will swap the stroller for a pull-cart when he pauses in Altamont a few weeks hence) is an uncommon sight on the largely pedestrian-free highways and byways of America.

The woman convinced herself that the stroller contained a dead baby. The police, who had spotted Walls earlier and had seen no harm in him, calmed the lady down by inspecting the food-bearing stroller.

 Walls looks forward to people asking him what he is doing and why.

“The idea first occurred to me about a year ago,” he recalls. “I had been feeling for a while that I needed a big change in my life. That I was spinning my wheels in my personal and professional life.” Walls worked most recently as a math tutor at Berne-Knox-Westerlo.

“I think I may also have been  inspired by books like Bill Bryson’s ‘A Walk in the Woods’ and ‘Into the Wild’ by Jon Krakauer.” But Walls knew the wilderness experience was not for him. He needed to stay close to “civilization.” (Even if narrow shoulders on some roads can make for unnerving closeness.)

He also knew he wanted to see the big chunk of America he had never seen.  He has a bucket list of things and places he wants to see, including the Giant Granite Sphere in Amarillo, Texas.

Walls also feels confident that all the walking is sure to take off pounds in a hurry. Or at least at a steady average daily speed of 10 miles per day, an average he expects to increase as his feet get happier with their new life.

Walls has alerted the makers of his backpack to his journey and they fired off a rain cover to him. He has yet to hear back from the makers of his walking shoes. But he is sure to need replacements the deeper he goes into the continent.

One supportive friend back home tries to keep Walls informed about camping grounds that might be coming up ahead, where showers and company would be available.

He has with him an alcohol stove he uses to cook morning oatmeal and simple meals. Restaurants would be a budget-killer.

His planned cross-country route will take him down two of America’s most iconic highways: US 20 and US 66. How long will it take? “Maybe a year,” he estimates. “But it really doesn’t matter.”

Across New York State, a succession of friends and relatives will put him up for the night. And he’s hopeful that, as more people begin to follow his journey on Facebook, more invitations will be forthcoming from more states and places.

His sister, Katie Sheldon, is full of admiration for him and describes what he is doing as “soul-searching” and an inspiration for anyone “in search of their destiny.”

Thomas Walls is a modest man.  But “‘The Great and Mighty Nobody’,” he says, “does not mean I feel I am a nobody. It means I am no different from anyone else…We all have this greatness and are trying to do great things.”

Ahead of him lie the Berkshires. “Yeah, when I walk up the little hills I have encountered so far, I tell myself, ‘You haven’t seen anything yet.’ ”

Not Superman. Just a regular guy who decided to see what happens when the rubber meets the road. In this case, a pair of walking shoes.