Two walk across America for candidate
Originally published in the Quay County Sun
Two walk across America for candidate
TV Hagenah
Two young people, one from Ames, Iowa and the other from Ann arbor, Mich. traveled through Tucumcari late last week. That they traveled through Tucumcari was less of note than how and why.
The two, Jonathan Meier and Amy Kaplan are walking across the United States in support of a political candidate and the concepts he espouses.
“He inspired us,” said Kaplan about Democratic Presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich. “We are walking because Americans deserve to know that we each have the opportunity to make a difference in a way that can effect our country for years to come.
The pair said they were both inspired by the Presidential aspirant after they heard him speak on their respective college campuses.
The two got together and decided a way to manifest their support for the ideals expressed by Kucinich would be to walk from coast to coast communicating the ideas that the candidate has put forth.
Their journey across America for the two began in Portland, Maine, on October 17 and has covered over 20 states and 2,500 miles so far.
According to Meier the trek, which they have undertaken with no support vehicles, is to call attention to the Kucinich platform which he says, “embodies the principles I hold closest to my heart: nonviolence, sustainability, justice and love.”
The two hikers have worked out their schedules so they will finish the last leg of their journey just as the California primary is set to take place.
The two walkers said they are not worried about their candidate pulling out of the Presidential race as have other candidates already because they feel he has a higher calling.
“I don’t believe he will be pulling out,” said Kaplan. “He said he will be in the election to the end, no matter what.”
The two manage to keep in contact with the hundreds of people they have met on the way by email on a laptop computer they carry in the backpacks.
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