It all began with a father telling his sons they couldn’t do it. This man was days away from losing a battle to dementia, just last year. It was when he said they couldn’t, that brothers and veterans, Jeff and Rick Harrison, decided they would. A cross-country Trek from Naples, Florida to Seattle, Washington.
Rick told his father, “Oh, I can do that in six and a half/seven months.” His dad replied, “Oh, you can’t do that.” Then, Rick shared with Fox News, “So, then I decided, ‘Well, now I have to.’”
The Harrison brothers are calling it Veterans Walk For Dad, but ‘dad’ has a double meaning. The word also stands for Dementia, Alzheimer’s, and Depression, issues that affect many veterans. They’re walking across the country to keep a promise to their dad, and many people are touched.
Already, the men have been walking for a few days straight. With them they carry the supplies they need to survive, a wagon they push together, and that’s it. They hope to make it to Seattle by summer, specifically, the month of July.
The men are originally from Iowa, but they chose Florida as a starting point in hopes that the weather warms up as they head North. They average twenty miles per day, an astonishing feat. However, this journey comes with its challenges.
“We’re really sore and really tired, but we’re getting stronger. It’s getting easier every day,” Jeff said. “I never thought I’d walk across the United States, but since I’m doing it for dad, it’s what motivates us to get on.”
Rick shared, “Sometimes I’m pushing him and sometimes he’s pushing me to keep going.” It’s a journey—a 3,000-mile long journey if you were wondering—in which the brothers have to depend on each other to keep going.
But their dad isn’t the only one they’re honoring. They’re walking across the country for all the veterans who may struggle with dementia, Alzheimer’s, or depression. They’re doing this for the people they fought alongside with, their friends, their family, their brothers, and sisters.
“It’s just another brother helping a brother out,” Jeff said. These men are honorable people, and we wish them the best of luck in the journey they were brave enough to take.
If you’d like to see and hear about the Harrison brothers taking their journey, just to honor their dad and other veterans, watch the video below.
