Man reaches the Bay Area after walking across the country from New York City

Before this summer, Chantz Rivera, 29, had left his hometown in New York City twice in his life. On May 31, Rivera headed out of the Bronx on foot, starting a long-planned walk across the country. On Monday, nearly five months later, he touched Bay Area waters for the first time. I rolled my pants up, said Rivera in a phone interview from a bike path in Mill Valley on Monday. The water s kinda clear, lowkey. Thanks to recent El Niño storms, the path had flooded, with water from the Bay almost reaching Highway 101. Rivera had to push his cart of belongings through a few inches of seawater. I feel great, he said, surprising himself. He arrived in the Bay Area almost two months ahead of schedule. Since setting out, Rivera has camped beside highways, gazed up at the Rocky Mountains, watched bighorn sheep graze, eaten home-cooked meals in Kansas and gotten a handful of free motel stays along the way from generous strangers. I want to do it just to be free, not to be