A man on a journey through time passed through Council Bluffs Friday, retracing the steps of his great-grandmother.

Between 1856 and 1860, some 3,000 people, including Sara Goode Marshall traveled 1,400 miles from Iowa City to settle in Utah’s Salt Lake Valley. Now her great-grandson is doing the same thing in her honor.

This sound hasn’t been heard in southwest Iowa for more than 150 years, a 217-pound handcart powered by Lynn “Doc” Cleland. Doc started his journey in Iowa City and plans to end it in Salt Lake City, just like his great-grandmother did.

Following her footsteps is the major reason why he's making this journey. “She was the first handcart in the valley. She was a widow, carried six kids across the U.S. and they probably said, 'are we there yet?'”

“I follow the trail as close as possible. You're standing on original trail, it’s just been graded over and paved, but this is original trail."

Doc is keeping the entire journey original, from his clothes to his look to the food he eats.

"I eat what they ate and do what they do. I sleep in an 1800’s tent, I eat 12 ounces of self-rising flour a day and I eat a little beef jerky every couple of days and whatever I can find on a tree on the way. All the things that I'm going through are all the things they went through, probably two or three times worse. All the blisters I get, all the pain that I go through, they had it a lot worse than I do."

Doc has also had a lot of time to think as he follows the Mormon, Oregon, California Trail. He seems to attract wildlife and the beauty is more than the sites, there’s a lot of beauty in the day.

“It’s special to be on this road right now, this is where they walked 'cause my grandmother came by this spot 153 years ago today. That’s what’s neat.”

Doc should arrive in the Salt Lake Valley by about mid-October. Along the way, he will turn 60 years old. Click here to follow Doc’s progress.