- Amanda and Kolton Rackham walked across the U.S. from May 2017 to July 2018.
- They wrote a book, "Walk to Life," about their journey and self-discovery.
- The Rackhams will discuss their experience at the Provo Public Library on Sept. 13.
PROVO — Close to 10,000 women give birth in the United States every day, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. You can bet that not many of them did so while walking across the entire United States of America.
But that's exactly what Amanda Rackham did.
Between 2017 and 2018, the Provo native held fast to her decision to walk across the U.S. When Rackham, then 25, left Tyree Island in Georgia on May 1, 2017, her then boyfriend and now husband, Kolton Rackham, from Syracuse (then 23), was with her. By the time they completed the walk — 14 months and 23 days later on July 23, 2018 — their newborn son, Onyx, was in their arms while they waded in the ocean.
"I suppose we could have stopped when Onyx was born, but now we can see him as not someone who made us stop walking, but someone who kept us going," Amanda Rackham said. "Really, the intention of the walk was less about the continent and more about putting myself in a situation that would allow me to see who I really was. Onyx helped with that, as well."
The Rackhams have written a book, titled "Walk to Life," about their 2,927-plus-mile walk that started in Tybee Island and ended in Newport, Oregon. Here is where anyone can learn about many different places where they slept — an airport hangar, for one — and the partial Red Riding Hood and Wolf costumes they wore throughout the entire walk, causing many to stop and talk to them and the decision to keep walking with Onyx.
On September 13, at the Provo Public Library, the couple will interview each other and answer questions about their walk. The book, while available on Amazon, will also be for sale at the library.
Amanda and Kolton Rackham will speak about their walk across America
Where: Provo Public Library, 550 N. University Avenue, in Provo.
When: Saturday, Sept. 13, at 3 p.m.
The book took them four years to write — much longer than the actual walk itself — due not only to the editing process and rehashing of memories, but also due to the need to make sure they were as accurate as possible, providing a true display of their experience.
They walked along frontage roads as well as interstates when it was legal to do so. They walked during each of the four seasons, keeping track of weather patterns, especially in the winter when they arrived in Nebraska.
Despite anything that came in their way, they just kept putting one foot in front of the other.
"While we were on our walk, we were constantly asked, 'Is there going to be a book?" Amanda Rackham said. "Most people wanted to hear the stories. And one day, I was like, I feel like somebody is going to benefit from these stories. The book does that."
The duo also learned about the country during the walk, but equally as important to them, they learned about the people in it.
They accepted meals in strangers' homes, sat in strangers' cars when they needed to go into a town, cleaned their clothes and sometimes showered in homes of people they never knew. In Parma, Idaho, they met a retired midwife who helped to deliver their son.
They chatted with these people and learned about the kindness of Americans, something they felt many people have forgotten about over time.
For anyone wondering, their own parents had the expected responses when they heard about all of this: His thought they were nuts, and hers just assumed she wouldn't finish. It is nearly 3,000 miles, after all.
They had only been dating for six months when, in 2016, Amanda Rackham proposed going on this walk across the continent. This nearly 3,000-mile walk gave them plenty of time to learn more about each other. So, they talked.
Today, Kolton Rackham and Amanda Rackham, now 31 and 34, respectively, are married and have welcomed another boy — Koa, 4 — as little brother to Onyx, now 7. They live what would be considered regular lives, dropping kids off at school, picking them up, getting meals ready, laughing together and spending time as a family.
They continue to be passionate about mental health — they raised "a few thousand dollars" for Make-A-Wish in Oregon and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in Georgia during the walk — and they encourage others to see ways to challenge and learn about themselves.
It doesn't have to be a walk across the United States, unless you choose to make it so.
"Ultimately, people know what it is they want or, if they removed all limitations, what they could hypothetically just do. Or a way they want to live," said Kolton Rackham. "How do you change? You just starting walking in that direction, the direction where you want to be. Say to yourself, we're going to go and do something."
