Running For a GMO Free USA - Running The Country

When we initially planned our route to run across the USA, we chose Atlantic City, New Jersey, as our final destination. Karen Stark with GMO Free PA and Barbara Thomas with GMO Free NJ didn’t want to step on our blistered toes, but they said that Ocean City would provide us with a more enthusiastic welcome. We told them we didn’t know one New Jersey city from another. Timbuktu, New Jersey, would work for us if it worked for them.

As it turns out, beyond “working,” ending our run in Ocean City was pure inspiration. Thanks to a phone call or two from Donna Conner, our last night’s house host, professional photographer, and personal friend of food critic and radio show host, Ed Hitzel, we were scheduled to be on Ed’s show in Linwood on our final day’s run, just six miles shy of our Ocean City destination.

Photo Credit: Donna Conner. Available at gettyimages.com.

The run would be a piece of cake: 13 miles to Linwood, then another six miles to the ocean. All we needed to do was follow the blue line on my phone’s map. Easy enough, right? Wrong. I took a wrong turn that turned our 13-mile run to the radio station into 15 miles. No problem. We covered the distance and arrived at the station with three minutes to airtime. Donna photographed the last few steps of our run to the station. She also joined us in the recording studio and took some great shots during the interview. David, Jenna, and I had a good time with Ed, his co-host, Pastor Dave Delaney, and two other guests.

Following the radio show, Ron Stark joined us for our final six mile run to Ocean City. As we ran along a beautiful bike path, Ron told us that Ocean City is a “dry town.” No sale of alcohol is permitted. He wasn’t the first to tell me that, but I was still in shock. Donna had explained over an amazing late night dinner the night before that Atlantic City had enjoyed many years as a gambling and drinking boom town, but with gambling sites popping up all over the East coast and on-line, Atlantic City was in decline.

Ocean City, however, had built itself as a family friendly town and destination, and as such, it’s thriving.

When we arrived at the World War Memorial Bridge we met Clint, our personal motorcycle riding police escort. Kris’s sister, Julie, pedaled down the bridge wielding a camera and a Go Pro.

Shortly after starting up the bridge, a group of local runners joined us. And then Kris joined in, something she had been unable to do during our six months on the road because she was always occupied with the truck, trailer, meals, shopping, laundry, logistics, phone contacts, finances, etc. You get the picture, Kris was one busy woman and our run would not have been possible without her presence!

Our run through the Ocean City streets was certainly a highlight of the entire run. As was the clapping and cheering crowd awaiting our arrival on the boardwalk. Of course, the crowd had been informed of our arrival and had also received GMO Free USA seed packets.

Barbara Thomas with GMO Free NJ graciously introduced us and mentioned that we still need help covering the considerable costs of our transcontinental run. Karen Stark with GMO Free PA presented us with beautiful flower bouquets including a dozen red roses for Kris in honor of our 25th wedding anniversary. Yes, we finished our run on our 25th wedding anniversary! (Thank you, Karen, for taking care of details that I clearly missed!)

We said a few words, then headed to the beach to complete our six month, nearly 3,000 mile Run For a GMO Free USA.

We owe the deepest debt of gratitude to many, many people—people who enriched our run and mission in countless ways. More on that later, but for now:

Thanks to all of you! Thanks for your commitment to a GMO Free USA and world. And as always, Organic Blessings to You!

Our run is finished, but our work and common mission continues. For the sake of our future, our children, and the Earth we share, let’s make it happen!

We completed our Run For a GMO Free USA on July 19, 2014, but we’ll be paying off our expenses for a very long time. We deeply appreciate donations of any size made either at RunningTheCountry.com/donate or to our Indiegogo campaign titled Help The Wilcox Family Finish Strong.

Robert Woolsey from Sitka’s public radio station, KCAW, spoke with us a few days ago when we were parked at the ferry terminal in Cape May, New Jersey, getting ready to ferry our truck and trailer to Delaware. Thanks for the write up, Robert!

Sitka father, son finish 3,000 mile trans-America run
by Robert Woolsey, KCAW
July 21, 2014

Source: http://www.kcaw.org/2014/07/21/sitka-father-son-finish-3000-mile-trans-america-run/

A father-son team from Sitka has completed a six-month run across the United States.

Brett and David Wilcox ran into Ocean City, New Jersey, on Saturday (7-19-14), after covering 3,000 miles on foot. The project was intended to raise awareness about the hazards of genetically-modified foods.

There were some lonely times for the Wilcoxes, especially in the vast stretches of the Southwest.

But on the eastern seaboard, that had changed.

“We hit the big bridge going into Ocean City, and got a police escort. We were joined by a local runners club, so there were 10 or 12 of us. Kris (Wilcox) joined us. And with a police escort, they would stop all the traffic, even if we had a red light we got to keep running through it. And we ran right on to the boardwalk. There was a huge crowd waiting. They had been informed that we were coming. They were very excited. People had passed out GMO-free USA seeds. So they had some inkling of what our mission was….And it was the culmination of six months of actual running, and a year-and-a-half of preparation and time leading up to that moment.”

53-year old Brett Wilcox and his 15-year old son David are now the first father-teen son team to run across the country. They started on January 18 in Huntington Beach, California. David is the second-youngest runner to accomplish the feat.

Wife and mom, Kris Wilcox, piloted the support vehicle and handled endless logistics. Team member and sister, Olivia, provided support and dog wrangling.

Covering 20-miles a day, six days-a-week, Brett Wilcox is glad the United States is only 3,000 miles across.

“I’m down 8 pounds, and I bet David is down a few pounds, and up a couple of inches. I don’t think we could sustain that sort of schedule long-term. I think we were eating muscle. And we’re pretty worn out and pretty exhausted.”

The Wilcox family was on a campaign to raise awareness about GMO’s — or genetically-modified-organisms — and their prevalence in the American diet. Trying to live by their ideals, they were often frustrated trying to buy GMO-free food in stores along the more remote parts of their route.

But Wilcox says their message seemed to catch up with their run as they crossed the Mississippi and entered more densely-populated areas of the country.

“The final few days were pretty epic. There were some key people in Pennsylvania and New Jersey who got hold of our run, and really turned it into a mission. From GMO-Free PA and GMO-Free NJ, and they did all sorts of things to make sure the media was aware of what we were doing.”

The Wilcoxes maintained a website and blog during their run, and the number of media events increased significantly as the family moved eastward — and almost sabotaged their grand finale, as they ran to a radio interview only 14 miles from the finish line in Ocean City.

“And I took a wrong turn, even though we have the phone which told us exactly where to go. So 14 miles turned into 16 miles, and we made it to the interview with three minutes to spare, dripping wet.”

The Wilcoxes gave up their jobs, and started an Indiegogo campaign to accomplish their activist run. Their house and apartment in Sitka are leased through August. Though he’s optimistic that he’ll be able to get his old job back as a behavioral health counselor, Brett Wilcox and his family are essentially jobless and homeless.

KCAW – Do you feel it has all been worthwhile, or is it too early to tell?
Wilcox – Right now I would say it has absolutely been worthwhile. It’s been very challenging, very difficult. Day-by-day struggles just making it work, and dealing with the exhaustion and the potential injuries — it has been hard. But I wouldn’t want to have missed this experience for anything.

David Wilcox suffered from an injury for part of the trip. His dad credits a chiropractor in Pennsylvania for diagnosing and correcting the problem. David will be entering 10th grade in Sitka this fall, where his ambition is to try out for the Cross-Country team. Olivia will be entering 8th grade.

And due to some last-minute re-arranging of the itinerary, Brett and David crossed the finished on Saturday, rather than on Monday.

For Kris Wilcox, it was a special day.

“I did tell them that this would be a great wedding anniversary gift for me, if they finished on the 19th.”

Brett and Kris have been married 25 years. They’re headed to Washington DC next, for some additional activism on GMO’s, and plan to be back in Sitka sometime in August.

Tag: Running For a GMO Free USA

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