Andrew Wahila scribbles down the last bits of notes in a pocket-size notebook that he dug out of a plastic bag after completing a 20-mile run Tuesday.

DRC/Gary Payne

Matt Durkin, left, Ken Stannard, Kaitlyn Skelley and Andy Wahila run on U.S. Highway 380 west of Denton on Thursday. The three men are trying to run cross-country from Georgia to California by May 26. Skelley, who is Wahila’s girlfriend, joined them on this stretch.

The 150-page notebook carries the names of dozens of people who Wahila, 23, Matt Durkin and Ken Stannard have met during their 2,800-mile cross-country run that started Feb. 1 in Tybee Island, Ga.

Each name carries a story.

Like Elizabeth Sims of Auburn, Ala., who served as the trio’s Valentine’s date this year, or Dr. Troy Espiritu, a podiatrist who mended Stannard’s ailing foot.

On Tuesday, Wahila’s journal detailed the group’s run through the Dallas-Fort Worth area en route to San Diego by May 26.

However, rather than running for a cause, the three men are running for themselves. Running to meet people. Running to experience the United States one town at a time.

“We are seeing a lot of different people and their lifestyles,” Stannard, 23, said. “Things we have never seen or experienced before. Basically, we are seeing America, but not just the little community that we live in up in New York.”

The plan was hatched more than three years ago after the group was inspired to attempt the feat by reading of another man’s trip — no, it wasn’t Forrest Gump — while attending State University of New York at Oneonta.

“We got to thinking that we wanted to do something big — something like this,” said Durkin, also 23. “It just snowballed. Ever since that day, over three years ago, it has always been in the back of our minds.

“This is what we are going to do after we graduate,” he said.

While at college, the group saved their money instead of going on spring break trips with friends, and many people, including their parents, wrote off their plan as nothing but a dream — until they started buying gear and plane tickets and training, Durkin said.

“When parents hear their kids daydreaming, they always just shrug it off,” Stannard said. “We did the same thing — we are going to run across the country in three years. My parents shrugged it off, but I knew it was true.”

It wasn’t until their parents saw their detailed route and schedule that they fully embraced the idea, and since then, their parents have been completely behind them, the trio said.

Over the last 47 days, their parents have stayed up late to check their blog, NationRun.com, called family and college friends to find them a place to stay and touched in with newspaper and television stations along the way.

When the group doesn’t have a place to stay, they get a hotel or sleep in a tent. With no car following them, they keep everything they need — including tents, food, clothes and other supplies — in two baby strollers that they run with.

While their parents worried about the trip, the group has been carefree since it started.

“When I got off the plane [in Tybee Island, Ga.], I knew we were going to make it,” Durkin said. “Now, we are rolling. Our bodies have just gotten into the routine of running at least 25 miles a day. We don’t know anything else.”

However, through their trip, they’ve learned it has never been about running across the United States. Rather, it has been about meeting people who share their stories, their culture, their money and their homes with them.

But in the end, the three know it’s their job to finish the trip.

“Our own legs and wallets have to get us to the next city,” Durkin said. “We don’t have another option. So far, it’s been the best 47 days of my life, and I intend for it to be the best four months of my life when we finish.”

DAN X. McGRAW can be reached at 940-566-6875. His e-mail address is dmcgraw@dentonrc.com .

Over the next week, Andrew Wahila, Matt Durkin and Ken Stannard plan to travel down U.S. Highway 380 on their way out of Texas. During those days, the three 23-year-olds will run an estimated 131 miles. They are expecting to arrive in San Diego on May 26. Here is a rundown of their schedule:

Thursday — Denton to Decatur

Today — Decatur to Runaway Bay

Saturday — Runaway Bay to Bryson

Sunday — Bryson to Newcastle

Monday — Newcastle to Throckmorton

To check their status or read their blog, visit www.NationRun.com  .

1,100 estimated miles run so far

75 pounds carried in two jogging strollers

8 shoes each will go through during their trip

30 dollars budgeted for food each day

24.3 average mileage per day