Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
INDIANOLA — A group on a coast-to-coast trek passed through Sevier County on Thursday as it continued to spread its message of peace.
Paul Chavez and James Thompson began their long-distance walk on June 24 in San Francisco, along with friend Katrina Dobieski, who drives their support vehicle.
“James and I were talking about how we were concerned about what was going on in the country with rioting and all of this violent protesting happening,” Chavez said. “I made this suggestion — I was like, ‘Dude, James, what if we walked across the country for peace?’”
Chavez said in the 72 days of their “Walk for Peace” so far, they’ve encountered numerous “angels” and benefited from “countless miracles” along their path, which has stretched across hundreds of miles of barren Nevada and Utah desert.
“It’s been really hard but we’ve experienced so many good people walking across the country,” Thompson said.
The group dropped everything to do the walk.
Thompson sold much of his property, including his car, to help finance the journey, which they said they have approached frugally. They also have been accepting donations* through Venmo and Patreon.
Dobieski has dutifully operated the support vehicle to keep Thompson and Chavez on track, along with whoever else joins them along the way.
“I thought, ‘How in the world are they going to make it through Nevada — where there’s not services for, you know, hundreds of miles at a time?” she said. “They don’t have food and water. Like, how can you possibly bring that many gallons with you? The more unreasonable it seemed, the more reasonable it seemed that I could take some time off. We were all in quarantine. I was working remotely at the time and I think I kind of invited myself — I said, ‘hey, you better take me or you guys might die,’ and they were happy to have me.”
Thompson and Chavez acknowledged the walk has been trying physically. Chavez said his left knee gave out 15 miles into day one. Though he has treated it since, the pain started returning after the trek extended beyond 50 days.
“I didn’t really think I had any weight to lose and I lost like 10 pounds,” he added.
When summer temperatures grew too unbearable, the group turned to sleeping during the peak of the day and walking at night.
“We have to have some good sleep,” Thompson said.
The group hopes to reach Washington D.C. before Christmas, and Virginia Beach before the end of the year.
“Dude, we’re going to have people walk with us into D.C.,” Chavez told Thompson during Thursday’s walk. “It’s going to be freaking dope.”
Thompson and Chavez said they’ve been receiving positive feedback about their trek in-person and on social media, where they post regular updates.
They said they hoped to continue to spread their message of peace across the rest of the country in the weeks and months ahead.
“With everything crazy going on, we wanted to bring some of this peace, some of this love and acceptance to our nation’s capital,” Chavez said. “If each of us chooses to raise our individual levels of peace, acceptance, love — I mean, a lot of times it starts from the bottom up — I think the nation, the world will become a better place as we see it.”
*Disclaimer: KSL.com has not verified the accuracy of the information provided with respect to the account nor does KSL.com assure that the monies deposited will be applied for the benefit of the persons named as beneficiaries. If you are considering a deposit or donation you should consult your own advisers and otherwise proceed at your own risk.
