Dennis Kinch is walking from Chicago to L.A. That’s no small feat. What makes it more impressive is that Kinch suffers from chronic pain. He’s doing this not because he’s a masochist, but because he seeks to raise awareness of chronic pain for the National Pain Foundation. Here’s Kinch’s story. Here’s the site where you can keep up with his progress. So far, he’s walked 200 miles and has about 2,200 to go.
I hope he can make it. The site’s FAQs say that the route is “mostly flat.” But I don’t think anyone who’s driven it in the Ozarks, the Oklahoma hills between Tulsa and Oklahoma City, most of New Mexico and much of Arizona would think it’s flat. Plus he’s starting when winter is setting in. Dress warm, Dennis.
At least the Route 66 community seems to be rolling out the welcome mat, as evidenced by Kinch’s last journal entry. He met Illinois Route 66 guidebook author John Weiss and Illinois Route 66 Association member Marty Bilecki and toured the Route 66 Hall of Fame Museum in Pontiac, Ill.
It sounds like Kinch is feeling the magic of 66 that so many others of us have felt.