COSTA MESA : Retracing a Sentimental Journey

The story is more than 20 years old, but Dave Kunst loves telling it.

It is about two young guys, bored with their small-town roots and dead-end jobs, who set out looking for adventure.

It has all the elements a good tale should have. Meetings with princesses, journeys across deserts, struggles with bandits, love, and, yes, death.

It is the story of the Kunst brothers: Dave, then 30, and John, then 22, from Waseca, Minn., population 5,000, who set out one day to walk around the world.

Two decades later, the odyssey that ultimately took John’s life is never far away.

Dave Kunst, who is credited in the Guinness Book of World Records as the first world walker, travels--this time by car--to local schools, service organizations and libraries to tell their story.

He will continue his oral history tonight at the Balboa Branch Library.

“I love to relive it. I wish I could do it more,” said Kunst, sitting in his Costa Mesa apartment, which is filled with newspaper clippings, official letters and a dozen pair of black leather shoes he wore on his journey.

The story begins in 1970, when Dave Kunst realized that he was bored.

“I wanted to do something different. I was tired of my job, tired of being in a small town,” he recalled.

He sat around with his brother trying to decide what they wanted to do with their lives. A trip around the world sounded like fun.

Six months later, on June 20, 1970, the Kunst brothers left Waseca, headed for New York.

They set out from there with two plane tickets to Portugal, a few maps, some advice from a local postman on walking, $1,500 and a mule.

From Portugal, they started the four-year odyssey that took Dave over 14,450 miles.

The trip included walks across the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia.

Talking to Kunst about the trek today is like leafing through a couple hundred issues of National Geographic.

The 53-year-old apartment manager is full of exotic facts about foreign countries.

Many of his sentences end with “to make a long story short.”

One of his favorite tales is how these two small-town guys quickly learned that walking around the world took more than a good pair of shoes.

They needed food, places to stay and water. What they found was the media.

Before arriving in each town, Dave would call the local radio and newspapers to let them know they would be arriving.

Once the stories hit the newsstands or airwaves, the brothers were treated like celebrities.

Finding a meal or a place to stay was rarely difficult. Many times they were taken in by the locals or given assistance by the American embassy.

Ironically, it was the press they sought out that ultimately led to John’s death.

Two years into the journey, a reporter in Afghanistan incorrectly reported that they were walking across the country collecting money for UNICEF.

After the article appeared, they were attacked at night in the desert by a group of bandits.

John was shot in the chest and killed instantly. Dave was brought back to the United States for surgery for a bullet wound to his chest.

A few months later, he went back to the desert where his brother was killed to continue his journey.

“John and I had talked about it (death) before, and I had told John that if something happened (to) tell Mom and Dad that I died happy doing something I loved,” Kunst said.

Finally, on Oct. 5, 1974, Dave Kunst walked back into Waseca, ending the journey. But he didn’t stay long.

Three days later he took off for Australia to meet with Jenny, a friendly face who helped him along the way and who is now his wife.

Kunst will speak from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Balboa Branch Library, 100 E. Balboa Blvd.