The Kindness of Strangers (2014) by Mike McIntyre

This is a book by a journalist who traveled from San Francisco, CA to Cape Fear, NC by hitching rides and not using any money.  He relied, as the title of the book says, on the kindness of strangers.  He mostly avoided big cities and traveled through the countryside and small towns.  Along the way he learned a few things:

• those who have the least are the most generous;
• There are many women who have been abused;
• The country is soft in the middle and hard on the edges.
• and most people think others in their own state are kind but people from over states are mean.

He's not religious but I would call it a secular pilgrimage.