CLOSE Steve Simoff takes his long commute to Lakeside Hotel and Casino in stride, walking and catching rides when possible 
 
 Buy Photo Steven Simoff heads out of Davis City on foot Feb. 13 on the way to his overnight janitorial job at Lakeside Casino, 35 miles away in Osceola. He walks along Interstate Highway 35 in the hopes that he will be able to hitch a ride with one of his many “road friends” he has gotten to know over the years of walking to work. Steve Simoff doesn’t clock into work at Lakeside Casino, where he works as a janitor, until 11 p.m., but his daily commute begins nearly eight hours earlier. But to give himself time to get there on foot, he bounds out of the front door of his basement apartment at 3:30 p.m. 
 
 On those days, his 2002 Ford Windstar minivan with 105,000 miles on its odometer stays parked in the driveway. Simoff makes this daily trek so that he can support his wife, Renee, who has undergone treatment for numerous health problems in the last decade, and their grandson, Steven III, whom the couple adopted. "First of all, when you got a family, and you've got a job," he said, "you've got to be able to support your family. And you've got to keep your job — the most two important things I can think of," Simoff told the Des Moines Register. His story mirrors that of James Robertson in Detroit, whose 21 mile commute made national headlines and motivated a college student to raise $350,000 via a Kickstarter campaign to fund a car, gas, and insurance. On average he walks four hours a day to get to work and is able to get a ride, at least part way, three out of five days during his work week. Lately, Simoff has been hitching a ride most of the way home with a co-worker who lives in Leon, leaving him a morning jaunt of barely more than eight miles. "If I see him, I pick him up.” 
 
 While many in the community are impressed by Simoff's hard work and perseverance, particularly his grandson, who considers his grandfather his hero, he remains humble. Steven works at Lakeside Hotel and Casino in Osceola and walks the over 30 miles to work. "He's dedicated, and he works his buns off," casino employee Julio Camacho said of Simoff. "Everybody in the county knows him as far as I know," said Herbert Muir, who has been the sheriff of Decatur County for 17 years. Muir and his officers have given Simoff rides to work in the past. "There's no danger about him or anything," the sheriff added. "He's personable. He's not been in trouble. Simoff opts for a route that is longer, but with heavier traffic, to increase the chances of getting a lift, even for just a few miles. But Simoff’s community often helps him on his way. “If I don't get to work, bills don't get paid,” Simoff said. “As long as my two feet are good and my health is good, I don't think I'll change." But when I began to independently poll some contacts in and around Decatur County, it seemed nearly everyone had heard of Simoff, seen him or given him a ride.
– After hearing about the Detroit man who walks 21 miles to work, a Des Moines Register reporter was told about "a guy in southern Iowa who walks even farther" and discovered resolute pedestrian Steven Simoff. The 61-year-old regularly walks 35 miles from his home in the small town of Davis City near the Missouri border to his job as a casino janitor in Osceola, setting off at 3:30pm to start the night shift at 11pm. He says he makes the trek to support wife Renee, who has suffered serious health problems, and grandson Steven III, whom the couple has adopted. "First of all, when you got a family, and you've got a job, you've got to be able to support your family," he tells the Register. "And you've got to keep your job—the most two important things I can think of." Simoff, who earns $9.07 an hour at the casino and lives in Davis City because rent is cheap there, has a 2002 minivan but can't afford to fill it up very often. But he does get plenty of help from the community, the Christian Science Monitor reports. He often gets rides home from work from colleagues who live in nearby towns, and he has a network of "road friends" who give him rides at least part of the way to the casino most days. Still, Simoff says he averages around four hours of walking a day, much of it on Interstate 35. "If I don't get to work, bills don't get paid," he tells the Register. "As long as my two feet are good and my health is good, I don't think I'll change." (A Canadian city is considering freezing an old rail line so commuters can skate to work in winter.)