Today, I decided to leave the group for a bit, taking my own route on Route 30 from Chambersburg, Pa. to Breezewood, Pa. The hills were impossible. But I saw some amazing things!
The first thing I saw was the Longest Walk, a journey from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., celebrating American Indian faiths and advocating for the preservation of spiritual sites. While I was trekking up a huge hill, they were walking down it.
I stopped to chat with them for a bit, but we both had to keep going. But their story is fascinating. Following in the footsteps of the 1978 American Indian Movement Longest Walk for native rights, this journey spans several months and several thousand miles, like mine, but these people are walking!
I saw the smaller of two groups, which is taking a shorter northern route, while the other tours the South. Jimbo Simmons, coordinator of the northern route, said that their walking informs them about their ancestors, reinvigorating fading traditions in American Indian youth.
The walk is for a very noble cause, bringing light to the many problems that native communities and nations continue to face. Although they walked in 1978, many of the same issues are still prevalent, such as the threatened destruction of sacred sites such as the San Francisco Peaks and Wyoming’s Bear’s House (Devil’s Tower). But not only do they want to protect their own sacred sites, they want to protect all of Mother Earth, picking up dozens of bags of trash along the way.
They plan to arrive in D.C. July 7.
Later that day, I got waylaid by a bicycle race from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh called the Tour of Pennsylvania. Sadly, an Argentinean man fell so far behind that a cop car had to pick him up. Even worse, it’s too bad the American Indian walk had already passed. The racers had thrown so many water bottles by the side of the road, and no one from the race picked up the litter. At least the walkers would have cared enough.
Finally, I ended up in Breezewood. Ugliest place in America!
