On our journey across America, our focus has always been on the people and as we’ve traveled from town to town we’ve learned a few things about the heart of America. America has been downtrodden. It intensified in 2020 and never completely let up. The message from the mainstream, from the tyrants, has been that if you rise up with your voice it won’t matter and will just be cancelled. People’s hope for this country has been stolen from them. That often results in feelings such as “there’s no point in saying or doing anything, it won’t matter anyway.” We need to address this.
We recently made the decision to drive some of the distance between the towns out here in the desert. Some may be tempted to think that this was a form of “giving up.” But I’d like to explain why it wasn’t “giving up” at all, it was “TRADING up.” Rather than spend days alone in the desert, where our efforts and our time are focused on ourselves, on our physical performance, and on whatever mileage goals we may have, we’ve decided to re-emphasize our BEHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal) and figure out how best we can achieve it. Our BEHAG is about YOU, it’s about your voice, it’s about making sure you understand that YOU MATTER. The purpose of our walk is to be a physical manifestation of you taking steps in your mind and life to shake off the feeling that you will be “cancelled” if you speak out, and to encourage you that YOUR VOICE MATTERS. No one can shut you down or cancel your voice if you don’t allow them to. So, giving up hours and days alone on the road translates into hours and days we can spend with you, encouraging you and your voice and giving you the chance to walk through your town with us, or even further if you’d like. It may feel strange to gather to walk through your own town, but you have to start somewhere in your personal journey to re-find your hope and your voice, and to find people in your own town who have ideas similar to yours. Those in power need to understand we cannot be silenced, but we ourselves need to believe that first.
I’ve mentioned it before, but some folks may be new. My goal has never been to gain personal recognition for physically walking across the United States from coast to coast. If that had been my goal, I probably would have started at the coast rather than in my home state. I started in my home state because our efforts for the country start in our home states, in our home towns. That’s also why I am coming to your home town, to help you all see each other, encourage each other that you have a voice, tell you that you and your voice matter, hug you and listen to your stories. If you write down your thoughts I’ll even take them with me to DC, in my Pony Express bag.
It’s time for all of us, as a nation, to shake off the discouragement of the last two years, focus, and encourage each other. I’d love to meet with you on my way to do just that.