A man’s journey across America brings him to Lawton
MITCH MEADOR
Mark Klodzinski’s “Patriot Walk Across America” has now brought him 2,500 miles from upstate New York to the home of his older brother, Erik, in Lawton.
“It’s been a wonderful experience,” he said here Tuesday following a “meet and greet” with Erik’s co-workers at Engineering Solutions & Products Corp. (ESP) on Fort Sill. They have been tracking his progress on Facebook and Twitter since he set out from Ellicotville, N.Y., and they showed him a map with colored pins stuck in prominent stops along his journey.
They also presented Mark with a stencil so he can decorate a solar-powered cart that a friend recently built for him so he can speed up his rate of travel. It uses solar panels made by one of his sponsors, Goal Zero of Salt Lake City, Utah, to power the camcorder that Fox News loaned him and his cell phone, so that he can upload photos onto his Facebook or http://patriotwalkusa.org/ pages.
Mark said his mother, Janet Gaczewski, and his father, Paul Klodzinski, have also been following his progress from the beginning. His father knew he was about to reach Lawton, so he drove down from Buffalo, N.Y., and stayed with Erik’s family for three days before Mark’s arrival here Thursday.
On Friday, Mark was interviewed for The Sean Hannity Show, and that segment aired Saturday and Sunday. His father left Sunday, and Mark is getting ready to hit the trail again soon. His plan is to reach Colorado Springs, Colo., in about a month.
It was reading Peter Jenkins’ book, A Walk Across America, that inspired Mark to embark on his 4,500-mile tribute to service members. While he himself has not served in the military, both of his brothers have. Erik served eight years in the Army, half of it in the infantry and half in the field artillery, before he was medically discharged. He was classified as a wounded warrior after having three surgeries on his left knee and one on his right. One purpose of Mark’s walk is to bring attention to the plight of wounded warriors.
