New York couple to hike from Brooklyn to Rehoboth

Dogfish Head beer can make people do a lot of things, but providing the impetus for a 200-mile walk from Brooklyn to Rehoboth Beach is a new one.

“Coast To Coaster” is the brainchild of Juliet Glazer and Gene Shteyn, two New Yorkers who discovered Rehoboth after coming to visit the Dogfish Head brewery in Milton.

“I was looking up hotels near the area and found Rehoboth Beach. It’s just so great. The town is just beautiful. The people are incredible. It’s just such an incredible, warm, homey feel,” Glazer said

The walk was a spur-of-the-moment thing for Shteyn, 32 and Glazer, 23, who try to come to Rehoboth at least twice a year.

“You don’t feel like you get a break here,” she said, referring to Brooklyn. “When we discovered Rehoboth it was just the polar opposite of here."

The couple said the goal of their walk was to prove to themselves that they are capable of walking 200 miles.

“This project is just completely crazy and something we need to prove that we can do,” Glazer said.

Glazer, who works at a hotel in Manhattan and Shteyn, a musician and sound engineer, are planning to start walking Saturday, May 18, and will film their experience for a documentary. They are raising funds through Kickstarter, an online site for creative projects. For the Coast To Coaster project, Glazer and Shteyn hope to raise $8,500.

Kickstarter allows donors to choose how much they want to invest, with escalating benefits. For instance, a $10 to $15 contribution wins the donor two ‘Coast To Coaster’ coasters and a thank you email, while a $35 to $50 donation gets a thank you credit in the film, two tote bags, four coasters, a digital upload of the film and a thank you email. Contributions can be as low as $1 or as much as $1,000. The couple is collecting funds for the documentary until Sunday, March 3.

"The more you give the more you get back,” Glazer said. “People who give the money for the project who believe something is going to come of it will get something in return.”

Glazer and Shteyn plan to film the documentary as they walk. Glazer said the couple would have a computer with them to edit the film as they go along.

Glazer, a Brooklyn native, said the couple plans to walk 20 miles per day, taking about 10 days to get to Rehoboth by Tuesday, May 28. Glazer and Shteyn have been training for the walk since October.

“We walk at least four times a week, 20 miles per day. It’s been pretty rigorous. Our feet have been paying for it, lots of blisters but our endurance is definitely much better now,” Glazer said.

For more information and to donate, visit http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/coasttocoaster/coast-to-coaster.