Man’s cross-country run for veterans includes Route 66

Albie Masland is running east across the United States, including much of Route 66, as part of Operation Amerithon to raise funds for veterans and their families.

Masland started his journey March 17 in Dana Point, Calif., with a goal of hoofing it to Washington, D.C. Supported by the Bullets 2 Bandages and other sponsors, he’s raising money and publicity for the Travis Manion Foundation, which helps veterans and the families of fallen soldiers.

The website doesn’t post a timetable for his run, but he made it to Seligman, Ariz., this past weekend, according to Frank Kocevar, owner of Historic Seligman Sundries. So he’s covered about 500 miles in less than a month.

Kocevar emailed this photo of Masland in front of his business:

Although Route 66 isn’t mentioned in the Operation Amerithon site, the Route 66 cities of Flagstaff, Santa Fe, Amarillo, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, and St. Louis are on his itinerary.

A haggard-looking Masland has posted a video blog every few days during his trek.

Masland explained why he decided to spend much of his spring and summer running across the country:

Finally, this past October 11th while I was running in the rolling countryside of of south-central Pennsylvania, the idea overwhelmed me in an instant. My thoughts quickly flashed from the work my friend Erik Spalding was doing with his campaign for veterans called bullets2bandages to the news of the week that our men and women serving overseas would soon be coming home. I found myself thinking of the many struggles they would face as they adjusted to civilian life after the incredible things they had experienced while at war. I realized immediately that I was fortunate – the problems I faced in unemployment, personal loss and personal heartache paled in comparison to the challenges our veterans had encountered in service and would encounter when they returned home. I had found the lost perspective I had been searching for, and in that perspective, I had grasped the cause I needed for a run across the country. It was no longer my run, but a run for our returning veterans.

If you wish to donate to Operation Amerithon, go here.

(Hat tip: Frank Kocevar)