2010.05.16: Gabon RPCV John Coté makes cross-country walk for US Troops
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2010.05.16: Gabon RPCV John Coté makes cross-country walk for US Troops
Gabon RPCV John Coté makes cross-country walk for US Troops
Coté, a former Peace Corps volunteer, dreamed up his plan after his son graduated from West Point about a year ago. He had always been a military buff, but the quiet sense of service to country among the newly commissioned Army officers was inspiring. He set his fundraising goal at $2 million, which Team Fisher House adjusted to $50,000. Now, after more than 40 days of walking, Coté has raised about $16,500. Most of the donations have come in increments of $25 to $100 each. Along the way, Coté has attracted encouraging waves and thank-yous hollered from service members just home from Afghanistan, veterans of earlier wars and regular Joes. He has braved divebombing hummingbirds and bees, fought off elevation sickness and encountered electric fences and rattlesnakes. When a crazed driver swerved across the road in his direction, he planned evasive action and a dive into the nearest ditch. One day, he felt so pumped with purpose that he began to run. Coté, who hasn't quit smoking and had only trained at a walker's pace, soon realized that was a bad idea. "Doubt tried to vanquish me. I finished 20 miles with some cursing and spasms, but I finished," he wrote on his blog that day. He has persevered, slow and steady, along abandoned Main Streets and majestic state parks. He heads for the nearest campsite or motel after walking an average of 20 miles per day. Along the way, he has found beauty in the empty corners of the country, the smell of the earth under his feet and stories told of a long line of American warriors - from Apache braves to female veterans of the Iraq war.
Gabon RPCV John Coté makes cross-country walk for US Troops
Man on a mission: Walk U.S. for wounded troops
By Gretel C. Kovach, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Sunday, May 16, 2010 at 12:04 a.m.
Caption: John Coté wears a face mask and goggles to protect himself from dust storms during his cross-country walk. He took this photo while passing through New Mexico.
April 1 was D-day for John Coté's operation - a fundraising walk expected to last about 3˝ months.
He awoke early that morning, jittery with anticipation. He was armed with moleskin for the inevitable blisters to come, ready to take the first steps in his walk across the country for wounded troops.
A different sort of man might have thought it a bad omen: the pouring rain, getting lost on the way to the starting point. But Coté, 57, a real estate broker from Del Mar, wasn't one to let a cold drizzle stop him. The Junior ROTC cadets who marched beside him that day weren't, either.
Cadet Maj. Emily Wisden, a 35-pound rucksack on her back, set out at dawn with Coté and seven other students from colleges in San Diego County. It was spring break. They could have slept in. Instead, the cadets had donned camouflage uniforms, combat boots and rain ponchos.
They decided that Coté's quest to help the Fisher House Foundation, which builds homes near medical facilities to offer temporary residence for wounded service members and their families, was a worthy cause. They walked with him for the first eight miles.
"Anytime someone tries to do something that is bigger than themselves, for other people, I think they should be supported," said Wisden, who will be commissioned into the Army after graduating from college last week.
Besides, she said Thursday, "it could be one of us or someone we know someday that he is trying to raise money for."
Coté felt honored by the escort and excited by the path ahead. "It was really a great start," he said.
Then he continued alone on his journey, charting a course from Camp Pendleton to Fort Benning, Ga., from Marine Corps base to Army post. His ankle ached, but his resolve remained steadfast.
The tally that first day: about 20 miles down. Only 106 days and 2,120 miles to go.
Coté, a former Peace Corps volunteer, dreamed up his plan after his son graduated from West Point about a year ago. He had always been a military buff, but the quiet sense of service to country among the newly commissioned Army officers was inspiring.
He set his fundraising goal at $2 million, which Team Fisher House adjusted to $50,000. Now, after more than 40 days of walking, Coté has raised about $16,500. Most of the donations have come in increments of $25 to $100 each.
Along the way, Coté has attracted encouraging waves and thank-yous hollered from service members just home from Afghanistan, veterans of earlier wars and regular Joes.
He has braved divebombing hummingbirds and bees, fought off elevation sickness and encountered electric fences and rattlesnakes. When a crazed driver swerved across the road in his direction, he planned evasive action and a dive into the nearest ditch.
One day, he felt so pumped with purpose that he began to run. Coté, who hasn't quit smoking and had only trained at a walker's pace, soon realized that was a bad idea.
"Doubt tried to vanquish me. I finished 20 miles with some cursing and spasms, but I finished," he wrote on his blog that day.
He has persevered, slow and steady, along abandoned Main Streets and majestic state parks. He heads for the nearest campsite or motel after walking an average of 20 miles per day.
Along the way, he has found beauty in the empty corners of the country, the smell of the earth under his feet and stories told of a long line of American warriors - from Apache braves to female veterans of the Iraq war.
On Day 7 in Ocotillo Wells, Coté wrote on his blog: "The air was cool and had the faint scent of alfalfa sewn into it as a reminder, like an almost imperceptible thread placed in an otherwise flawless Chinese tapestry."
On Day 16, after a hard walk in Dome Valley, Ariz., Coté rubbed salve on his callused foot and typed a blog entry regarding a Green Beret he was reading about in the book "The Only Thing Worth Dying For." This soldier, "Mag," had nearly collapsed under the weight of a 200-pound rucksack but refused to quit.
Coté's rucksack was only 8 pounds, and no one was firing rocket-propelled grenades at him. The thought of Mag lightened his load.
The real Mag, Gil Magallanes, heard about this guy from San Diego walking across America for wounded troops and checked out his blog, only to discover that he was the star of it that day. Mag had spent a month in a coma and a year and a half in hospitals after being wounded in Afghanistan in 2001.
"John … You CAN do this!! It's just mind over matter; the mind is always stronger than the body," he wrote on Coté's blog.
In an interview, Magallanes said: "Fisher House took care of my family when it was needed, so I wanted to say thank you for what he is doing. It is like a home away from home. … A beautiful thing to have at the hospital."
Coté kept walking, buoyed by Magallanes' encouragement. Now he is approaching New Mexico's eastern border. Dust storms have been blowing so hard, turning the grit in his mouth to paste, that he had to buy ski goggles and face masks.
"By the end of the trip, I will probably be wearing an Arab gown. Probably coming in on a camel," he joked recently, the wind howling into his cell phone at a campground.
Truthfully, "it has been invigorating," he said. But the next 40 days will be his proving ground.
Walking across Texas. In summer.
"If I can make it through Texas, I can make it anywhere," Coté said.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Headlines: May, 2010; Peace Corps Gabon; Directory of Gabon RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Gabon RPCVs; Military
When this story was posted in July 2010, this was on the front page of PCOL:
Peace Corps Online The Independent News Forum serving Returned Peace Corps Volunteers
| Memo to Incoming Director Williams PCOL has asked five prominent RPCVs and Staff to write a memo on the most important issues facing the Peace Corps today. Issues raised include the independence of the Peace Corps, political appointments at the agency, revitalizing the five-year rule, lowering the ET rate, empowering volunteers, removing financial barriers to service, increasing the agency's budget, reducing costs, and making the Peace Corps bureaucracy more efficient and responsive. Latest: Greetings from Director Williams |
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