DEARBORN, Mo. – The miles are getting easier and the road is getting flatter for Ken Brock as he continued his walk across America to promote Wounded Warrior Project.

By Wednesday, the U.S. Army veteran was leaving Dearborn, a little town 38 miles north of Kansas City.

And while the rolling hills are behind him, the past week still proved to be challenging.

“I got to the point where my leg started swelling up twice the size as the other,” Brock said. “I was in a lot of pain, so I called the V.A. hospital in Kansas City, and they ordered me to come in immediately. They thought I had a blood clot.”

After hours of tests, doctors determined Brock had severe shin splints. They gave him medication, a compression sock and ordered him to stay off his feet for at least a day.

Despite being on his back most of last Friday and Saturday, Brock said, “I’m fine now. I was able to put in 20 easy miles [on Tuesday]. I will make up the lost time.”

Brock left Amvets Post 86 in Keystone Heights with his service dog Pam on Feb. 1 on a 2,664-mile walk to Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, to create awareness to WWP’s work with post-traumatic stress disorder. He essentially walked with anonymity through Florida, Georgia and Alabama before his story started to gain national traction. Now he’s constantly stopped for autographs and photos. Police forces wait at the city limits to escort him through town. Television stations have cameras and microphones on the ready.

“I could make better time if people weren’t stopping me. They all want to chit-chat,” he said. “It’s a killer of time, but, yes, I love it. This why I’d doing this. It keeps me going.”

Brock was stopped last weekend by Kansas City police officer Vickie Radideaux. She saw a television interview ahead of his arrival. When she asked if he needed anything, Brock told her about his aching feet and legs.

“She came back with some shoe insoles [solesBOXX] used by her department,” he said. “They feel great. I don’t have any pain.”

The two have since “friended” each other on Facebook.

Although Brock expects miserable weather by the weekend – there’s a strong chance he’s heading into more violent thunderstorms and/or a blizzard – he keeps pushing on.

“I know I will need to find a place to hunker down when I get to the storm,” he said. “I don’t want to ride that out in my tent.”

He also knows the miles will click off easier and more-quickly now that he’s reached the Plains.

“When I started this, going 8-10 miles a day was a real struggle, but now it’s easy to do 20 miles a day,” he said. “I’m looking forward to knocking out 30-35 miles a day.”

By the time he reached Dearborn, he had covered 1,173 miles, not including a couple glitches by his GPS that sent him miles off track. That only leaves 1,491 miles to go to reach Coeur d’Alene by July 4.