Three years ago, 24-year-old Matt Perdie of Jim Thorpe began a 3,600-mile walk across America that would take him more than one year and wear through nine pairs of shoes.

A freelance videographer, Perdie recorded his odyssey, and plans to release a series of five or six DVDs of his journey. The first DVD is being released today. There will be a release reception with a showing of the 114-minute feature-length DVD on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Mauch Chunk Museum.On June 22, 2009, Perdie began his Perdie Across America walk beginning at the northeastern tip of Long Island, heading south through Washington, D.C. to South Carolina, turning west toward south Texas, and concluding his walk on July 4, 2010 in Santa Monica, Calif."I walked to bring awareness to the dangers of massive government growth and spending of both the previous and current administrations," Perdie said."Reflecting on my thoughts from the beginning of the walk to now," he continued. "I believe my opinions were amplified. Along the way, I met many people who agreed with what I was saying. Probably more than I expected. I learned more from them that I had not known before."Perdie passed through the southern states."I walked through the Bible Belt states of Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana," Perdie said. "I found they care about the issues. The people were talking about how the government is trying to push Christianity out of the public schools. In Arizona and southern Texas. People were talking about illegal immigration."Along the way, Perdie recorded his journey with a hand-held camera and video camera, often recording his own image by holding the camera at arm's length and watching the preview on the LCD screen. Other times, he would set the camera on a rock and walked into the distance. On a rare occasion, he had someone video with him during the walk.This first DVD that Perdie is releasing covers his trek from Long Island to southern Virginia. It includes his first challenge, crossing a three-quarter-mile long bridge that, because it was under construction, had no pedestrian walkway."I had to decide whether to compromise the integrity of my walk by getting a ride across the bridge," Perdie said of his pilgrimage. "I decided to cross it."The bridge had three lanes - two oncoming and one outgoing."I moved between the two lanes coming at me so that I could see the cars coming. I switched between the center lane and the left lane. I had to have fancy footwork in order not to be killed. It seemed like several drivers didn't seem to care that I was walking across the bridge. I filmed my entire crossing.""As I was crossing," Perdie said. "All I remember thinking was - I hope I don't die".Perdie is now 26 years old. He is a graduate of the Art Institute of Philadelphia with a bachelor's degree in digital film production. He has been working as a freelance video editor.Asked what he learned from his walk, Perdie responded, "Perhaps, I've learned to become a better capitalist."As he walked across America, Perdie videotaped his walk, uploading it to the Internet for people to follow his progress. After the walk, he was thinking that he could do a better job of presenting the information if he edited his videos.One day, Perdie posted to his Facebook Page the question, "If I redid my episodes and sold them on DVD, would you guys buy them?" He received many replies. "People were interested. So I thought, this would give me a time to get into my thoughts about my walk across the United States."As his intention to walk across the United States was to champion a reduction in government spending, Perdie was asked what might be one of his recommendations to meet that objective."What I'm suggesting is to throw out the big 14,000-page tax code and replace it with a flat tax that is a lot lower," he replied."Since my walk, the issues that concern me have become even more intensified, just because we are getting closer to the election, Perdie said. "I think all the issues are still there. The spending is still there and it is increasing. The debt is increasing still, and even more. We are almost at $16 trillion in debt. When I started, we were at about $11 trillion."Friday's event is free and open to the public. Donations to the museum will be accepted.Trailers and additional information are available at

www.perdie.com.