MCLEAN COUNTY, Ill. (CBS/WMBD) -- More than eighty five days ago, a group of friends left Arizona on foot with their sights set on Chicago. Today they crossed into McLean County on old Route 66 on an incredible mission.
These five guys coming up behind me all worked together in Alaska. They're also all Cubs fans and each of them have somehow been affected by cancer. So they literally decided one day to walk across the country for both causes. Kyle Townsend says, "We just got to talking one night and might've started out as a joke, but we just talked more and more serious about it."
They call themselves "five guys and a goat." Yes, a goat. The guys bought it on Craigslist before they left and named it Wrigley. Blake Ferrell says, "He's cute. He's cuter than most goats."
The theory is it was a goat being kept out of Wrigley field in the 1940's that led to the billy goat curse of the Chicago Cubs. These guys think if they can get Wrigley into Wrigley, the curse will be broken. Townsend says, "It's crazy. It's definitely a wild experience."
But baseball is not the main reason they're on this journey. They're doing it for cancer research. Ferrell says, "I've had quite a few people in my family pass away in the last couple of years."
And as tough as the journey has been, every step honors all the people they want to help by "cracking the curse." Ferrell says, "Well, we're living out of our backpacks. We have tents, sleeping bags, clothes. It's enough motivation for me."
The walk will continue into next week. They hope to reach Wrigley field by Monday and the final tally will be about 2,000 miles.
The kicker is, they don't even know if they'll be allowed to get the goat into Wrigley Field, but the team owner does know the group is coming. And so far they've raised $12,000.