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Man crosses the country for cancer research
Published November 25, 2009
Don’t offer Bob Korth a home where the buffalo roam because his nights of hiking, camping and sleeping under the stars will end soon — as soon as he finishes walking from Pittsburgh to Los Angeles to raise money for children’s cancer research.
Korth is the “Coast 2 Coast Kid,” and he can be found on the Facebook Internet Web site under his name. Korth, who works for Children’s Hospital in the Pittsburgh area, set out in early September to try to raise awareness — and a little cash — to help St. Jude’s Ranch, the M.D. Anderson Cancer Centers and Children’s Hospitals around the country.
He’s been on the road 10 weeks, and he can run through the list of places he’s been in rapid-fire fashion, in no small part because he has lots of time to memorize them while trying to average 40 miles a day, either walking or gliding on in-line skates.
“I’ve walked through Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas,” said Korth, who stopped in Seguin the other day on his way toward San Antonio from Luling. “I was getting through a state a week until I got here. Texas is big.”
Along the way, as one might guess, Korth has had some interesting experiences that have little to do with cancer research, although he makes a point of stopping in a children’s hospitals along his route and visited Houston’s famed M.D. Anderson a few days ago.
In Oklahoma, for example, he walked onto an oilfield and the workers there let him hang out for a day and learn about being an oil rigger.
He came into Texas by way of Bowie, northwest of Fort Worth, and there got hooked up with some country folk who taught him a little bit about roping and wrangling.
“They said, ‘If you’re going to walk through Texas, y’all have to know how to do what cowboys do,’” Korth recalled.
He was OK with that — except for when he encountered his first rattlesnake, an experience that isn’t for everybody, particularly those from up north who aren’t used to regularly meeting them.
Korth said he took the project on, basically, because he was the youngest and most able to walk of the employees in his office, and to tell the truth, he expected to be wrapping up fairly soon, but his route has been changed here and there by events. Sometimes his office changes his route, and sometimes he changes it, like he did this week to be able to visit St. Jude’s Ranch near Bulverde.
“The whole trip, in a straight line, is about 4,200 miles, and I’ve walked 5,000 miles,” he explained. “By the time I reach Orange County (California), I’ll have walked 6,500 miles — if I go straight through the route we’ve planned.
And some of it is pretty lonely, he allowed — and not without its risks, both physical and emotional.
“Sometimes I have dogs chase me, and sometimes, when I see the cows, I’m talking to them,” he said. “Now, I have the desert coming up to look forward to.”
He doesn’t know how much money he’s raised, because that’s all handled back east.
“I’m just the pack mule,” Korth explained. “But let’s take Indiana, because I know the population of Indiana, and there’s about 4 million people there. If everybody in Indiana could donate $1, that would be $4 million we could spread around for research or to help kids. If we don’t take care of our children now, who’s going to take care of us later?”
And so, Korth strapped on a 67-pound backpack — he’s worn out two so far — and a pair of in-line skates he wears when conditions permit. He’s on his fourth pair of boots, and his second set of wheels, which he will discard when worn out rather than repair and carry the four-pound skates any further.
“When these wheels wear out, I’m done with them,” Korth said.
That’s not all he’s done with, either. Next year’s fundraiser, he hopes, will be a motorcycle run, again across the country — hopefully with a lot of help.
“We’d like to have the biggest motorcycle run in the United States,” Korth said. “But that’s next year. I have to get this done, first.”
And his hiking and camping days out on the road are over.
“I’m never camping again, and I’ll never walk coast-to-coast again,” Korth said. “I’m older than 16, and I have a driver’s license. Next time, I’ll use it.”
Bob Korth is raising money for children’s cancer research. Mail checks payable to the Bob Korth Cancer Walk Fund, P.O. Box 7785, Pittsburgh, PA 15215.
On the net: Bob Korth has a facebook page. Search under Bob Korth, look for the Route 66 sign.
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