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Brock ‘boogying’ along on the flat, desolate Plains

Keystone Heights Army veteran logs 261 miles last week after being sideswiped by a tractor-trailer

By Don Coble Managing Editor
Posted 5/1/19

VALENTINE, Neb. – The towns along Ken Brock’s 2,650-mile trail to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, were getting smaller and further apart last week.

And that’s exactly what the U.S. Army veteran …

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Brock ‘boogying’ along on the flat, desolate Plains

Keystone Heights Army veteran logs 261 miles last week after being sideswiped by a tractor-trailer


Posted

VALENTINE, Neb. – The towns along Ken Brock’s 2,650-mile trail to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, were getting smaller and further apart last week.

And that’s exactly what the U.S. Army veteran needed.

“I’ve been boogying,” Brock said.

Brock lost a few days last week after a tractor-trailer sideswiped the cart that holds his minimal supplies – and his service dog Pam. His companion wasn’t hurt, but all three wheels had to be replaced. Since then, Brock’s been on a roll.

“I’ve been putting in some miles,” he said while taking advantage of a rare pocket of cell phone service. “It’s flat and the towns are really, really small. When you walk through and there’s only 160, 180 people, they don’t even bat an eye. That’s all right with me right now.”

For the past month, Brock has received a hero’s welcome at every stop. Police departments give him escorts; residents provide hotel rooms and hot meals. Large portions of his days were spent signing autographs, taking pictures and doing interviews.

While he understands the attention is a necessary part of the walk, it’s the mission to walk from Amvets Post 86 in Keystone Heights on Feb. 1 to Idaho before July 4 that matters most.

“I don’t miss all the attention,” he said. “I like the solitude sometimes. I really needed to get some miles behind me, so this came at a good time.”

Despite losing a couple days for repairs, he put 261 miles behind him last week.

Even with 1,623 miles – and more than three million steps – down, there’s still 1,027 miles to go.

His next “big” town is 207 miles away at Rapid City, S.C. But at his current pace, he should be there by this weekend.

Even as he gains speed on the flat, desolate plains, the word of his incredible journey continues to grow. His fellow veterans back in Keystone Heights wear “Where’s Pam?” T-shirts. There are message boards on social media. And when he left Keystone Heights three months ago, he had eight followers on Facebook.

Now he has nearly 1,400, including Liz Frederic.

She saw Brock walk between Hooper, Neb. And Wisner. She started crying when she met him.

Moments after finding service to do this interview, he sent the following message: “We’re going in and out of cell service up here so don’t worry if you don’t hear from me. The roads are nice and wide and the traffic is very light.”

Which is exactly what he needed.