Woman walks from California to Maryland to raise money for 9/11 tribute park
7 months down and two more days to go. That’s what’s left for Jan Walker, a woman who has been earning her surname step by step, trekking across the country since the beginning of March.
From the moment the sun comes up, Walker is on the move. Walker tells 47 ABC, “I’m going about 12 hours a day.”
Walker started her 2,700 mile journey in Oceanside, California on March 1st and only has a few miles left until her final destination, Ocean City Maryland. And it’s all for a good cause. Walker works for he 9/11 National Memorial Trail Alliance, which is dedicated to raising money to create a trail to connect all three crash sites from the September 11th attacks.
When it’s completed, the trail will be about 1,300 miles long and will connect the Pentagon Memorial, the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania and the National September 11 Memorial in New York City.
Walker says when she was able to put a few things on hold she knew she had to take the opportunity. Walker tells 47 ABC, “I just kind of wanted to see if I could do it and I’m not getting any younger so the time is now.”
When it’s time to sleep, Walker says she usually finds a hotel or bed and breakfast but if that’s not an option, she’ll set up the tent or hammock that she carries and camp out. A typical day, getting up in the morning, getting her gear sorted and taping her feet to prevent blisters. Walker then has some breakfast and is on her way. Some of the scariest moments of her journey so far?
Walker says, “The petrifying moments have all been vehicles. You have to be on guard all the time, mentally it’s extremely tiring and when you’re tired mentally you’re tired physically.”
But Walker says for the most part, “Everyone has been really good and really helpful and I’ve had nothing but great experiences with that.”
There’s a lot to see across the U.S. and Walker says among the most memorable stretches was crossing the I-55 bridge in Memphis over the Mississippi. Walker tells 47 ABC, “Another highlight was actually getting to go through Tennessee, my home state, and walk right to my front door and my parents front door that was great.”
Walker says throughout her trip she’s had really high highs and really low lows, but the key is to keep your mind busy. Walker tells 47 ABC, “Basically I’ve solved all the problems in the world and wrote about 400 books and those kind of things just to keep my mind because if your mind starts sinking down then you get so tired you can’t even move along.”
To finish her 7 month long journey across the U.S. Walker says on Saturday she’ll start at the 9/11 firefighter memorial on the Ocean City boardwalk and then make her way over to the pier. But Walker says her trip won’t be officially over until she dips her feet into the Atlantic Ocean.
Walker says although her journey will end on Saturday, she hopes to complete another journey, the National Memorial trail when it’s finished. Right now it’s about 70 percent complete. If you’d like to donate to the alliance you can visit Walkers facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/RiseUpForTheFallen/
