By April 2004, Donahue decided to walk to the town of Whitehorse - 120 miles away. (Initially, his doctor met the idea with silence - and then she sent him on his way.) Word of Donahue's trek spread, "cool things" started to happen, and the idea for the Heartbeat Trail took hold. "People started driving out to honk their horns and wave, or offer an apple, tea, or encouragement. People were just really nice," says Don­ahue, who is well known in Skagway for punctuating sentences with a howl. When he finally got to Whitehorse, a woman at the local diner told Donahue that he'd inspired her husband to get his post-­congestive heart failure self off the couch and start walking, too.

Then Donahue got really ambitious: He started planning a yearlong journey from Miami to Alaska. If all goes as planned, by September 2006 he'll have walked through at least 16 states and five Canadian provinces and territories. He's gunning to raise about $250,000 through donations and fund-raisers along the way to give the Skagway medical clinic a boost - especially in equipment and EMT training for heart attacks. He'll also stop into schools and hospitals to perform a show about life in the far north, a show he's honed through performances for cruise-line passengers who visit Skagway. Of course, spreading the word about heart disease is also on Donahue's agenda.

Though he will walk straight through the winter, he's not too worried about dealing with frigid temps. In December 2004, he hoofed it from Whitehorse to Dawson City, Yukon, Canada, in temperatures that tumbled to 40 below zero. "There were times when I had to turn around and walk backward because the wind was too brutal," he says. Along the way he plans to listen to his fill of satellite radio, do a lot of thinking, and keep his eyes open for beauty. "Everywhere you go, there's beauty," he says. "Even when I'm in places that aren't supposed to be pretty, I find beauty. I'm looking forward to having those kinds of experiences."