Overcast, 66°
Weather sponsored by:

Brock back on schedule to arrive at Coeur d’Alene time

Army veteran only 110 miles from self-imposed finish line

By Don Coble Managing Editor
Posted 6/19/19

SUPERIOR, Mont. – There still are two significant mountains between Ken Brock and Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Compared to all the other challenges in his cross-country walk from Keystone Heights, they …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Don't have an ID?


Print subscribers

If you're a print subscriber, but do not yet have an online account, click here to create one.

Non-subscribers

Click here to see your options for subscribing.

Single day pass

You also have the option of purchasing 24 hours of access, for $1.00. Click here to purchase a single day pass.

Brock back on schedule to arrive at Coeur d’Alene time

Army veteran only 110 miles from self-imposed finish line


Posted

SUPERIOR, Mont. – There still are two significant mountains between Ken Brock and Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Compared to all the other challenges in his cross-country walk from Keystone Heights, they now appear to be little more than speed bumps.

Brock not only has picked up speed in his quest to walk from Amvets Post 86 to Idaho for the town’s Fourth of July parade, he’s on a pace to hit the finish line well ahead of his self-imposed July 3rd deadline.

“I’m going to make it,” he said. “I’m getting close. I’m physically and mentally exhausted, but I’m not going to slow down. This is really catching up with me. I still have two mountain passes to go. That will be tough, but I will get through it.

“There will be plenty of time to rest when this is over.”

Brock left Clay County on Feb. 1 on a journey to bring awareness to the post-traumatic stress disorder programs at Wounded Warrior Project. He’s ran into several obstacles along the way, including two weekends of deadly tornadoes in Alabama, flooding in Nebraska, snow in South Dakota, a glitch with his GPS that sent him five miles off track and into the wilderness and two-week bureaucratic detour back to Florida for a mandatory evaluation by the Veteran’s Administration. Each setback was enough to put an end to the 2,650-mile trip.

“All it did was make me more determined to finish,” he said.

And finish on schedule.

Brock has completed 2,540 miles of his trip, and he has 110 miles to go with about two weeks to get there. He averaged more than 35 miles a day in the last week. His drive now is fueled by the mile post numbers that dwindle to double, then single, digits.

And after pushing through so many problems, Brock finally got a break this week along Interstate 90.

“My GPS sent me along a trail and I got lost,” Brock said. “The trail was a dead end. I either had to cut through a forest or backtrack five miles, and I wasn’t going to backtrack.”

He had to take apart two barbed-wire fences so he could cut across private property with his cart and service dog, Pam. He relied on trails created by wild animals, and he had to bypass a tunnel that had collapsed.

“I finally got back to the highway, and believe me, I’m sticking to roads from now on,” Brock said. “I was a little worried when I was lost. I was afraid I’d get caught. I didn’t know what was out there.”

When he got to I-90, the westbound lanes were closed for construction. That gave him an easy and open highway for days.

“It will open back up sooner than later, but I was able to boogie,” he said. “It was great to have the interstate all to myself.”

A mission that once seemed so impossible – and unlikely – now is down to a handful of miles and days.

“A half-mile was a struggle when I first started,” Brock said. “Everybody was betting against me. But I’ve proven every one of them wrong.”