For Jarad Schofer, a decent day going across the country involves a lot of street shoulder and the generosity of strangers.
And while he is Smile in all Instagram photos Of the quirky and beautiful places he has walked through, the effort is heavy.
Perhaps not as difficult as Krebs, who touched the lives of his friends and acquaintances and drove him on a donation journey. Nonetheless, constant walking is physically and emotionally demanding.
43-year-old Schofer, a 1995 Boyertown High School graduate, began his 3,000-mile hike in Santa Monica, California on March 14. He walks about 6 million steps on a planned route toward Virginia Beach, Virginia.
He’s not going to drive through Pennsylvania. On Wednesday he left Oklahoma and entered Arkansas.
Schofer teaches math at St. Alban’s School in Washington. The school granted him a sabbatical year for the spring semester.
After graduating from Boyertown, Schofer attended the University of Pennsylvania. He then received his PhD in mathematics from the University of Maryland and shortly afterwards decided to start teaching. His family still lives in Berks County.
To date, he has raised nearly $ 23,000 for the Cancer Research Institute. He would be thrilled to raise another $ 10,000 before it ends.
Schofer has never done anything like this before, but he thought about it for a while, he said. Last year he took part in the Vol State Ultramarathon – 500 km or 314 miles – which was a physical preparation for the grueling journey on foot.
Before that, the death of a colleague and mentor Molly Woodroofe of Pancreatic Cancer in her 40s, Schofer worked for years.
“She was an amazing person, a mentor, a trainer,” said Schofer, adding that the seed for the hike was planted at her memorial service.
In early 2020, Neil Peart, the drummer of his favorite band Rush, died of brain cancer.
“He was considered one of the greatest drummers of all time, and now he’s gone too early,” Schofer wrote on his fundraiser website.
Moved by the losses, Schofer decided to hike.
On an active day, Schofer said he was traveling about 35 miles. His slowest was about 18 miles and he took a few days off. He is wearing a pair of No. 4 shoes.
“My feet feel good,” he said in an email. “I’m dealing with a muscle pull that is really bothering me.”
He pushes a stroller nicknamed Neil with his supplies for the trip. A week later he wondered why he was doing it and thought it might be the dumbest thing to try, he said.
But Schofer prevailed and went on.
The challenge each day is dealing with changes in weather and driving long distances without food or water.
Schofer said the trip could be isolating and he couldn’t eat enough calories not to lose weight. The possibility of something going wrong annoys him all the time, he said.
But he’s more than halfway home now – about 55 days to go to Virginia Beach. Moments of kindness gave him a boost.
In Warner, Okla., Motel owners this week refused to let him pay for his room.
“It’s one of the nicest gestures I’ve seen on this whole trip,” Schofer wrote on Instagram. “Now I’m in the middle of a tornado warning, so I’m not sure when I’ll be out on the street tomorrow morning.”
There used to be a man who brought him a McDonald’s lunch while walking through the bottom of a canyon. The man passed him in the morning and realized that at the end of the day there would be no place to eat. When he returned through the ravine, he brought lunch to Schofer.
Schofer said he was surprised at how much his students continued to engage with his journey.
Also unexpected were responses from people with cancer who wrote to him that they were inspired.