Man quits his job, walks across U.S. - all for his beloved country

Some men and women honor their nation by serving in the military. Others live their lives in fashion of the ‘American Dream,’ working day-to-day and raising a family, in hopes the next generation will have a better go of things.

Rolla Joyce has always been one of those men. Earlier this summer, he took his love for his country, and hit the road - trekking some 2,000 plus miles along the Lincoln Highway, from Salt Lake City to Washington, D.C. He expected to reach the nation’s capitol last weekend. However, he is now just east of Gettysburg, PA.

“My wife and I are both in agreement that this is crazy,” said Joyce in mid-July. “A week before Independence Day, I felt inspired to make plans to march to Washington, D.C. from Salt Lake. I told my wife that I feel pressed to do this, that God wants me to do this.”

Joyce requested time off from work, only to have his request denied, leaving him a difficult choice; abandon his plans to walk across the country or quit his job, which constituted an overwhelming portion of his family’s income.

With his family’s support, he set out for the East Coast.

The Richland, Washington native passed through Kimball during the first leg of his journey in mid-July, at which point he was averaging some 30 to 40 miles per day.

With the wheel on his cart hanging by mere threads on the axle, he stopped at the local Qwik Stop, in dire need of hydration.

As he sat in a corner booth double-fisting a sports drink and a slushee, he looked around.

“I just need people to march out their front doors and meet their neighbors,” Joyce said. “We just need to start loving each other.”

On his website, http://www.marchonwashington.com, Joyce outlines four steps he believes will help restore America:

1. Turn off the TV, computer, phone, electronics for half an hour a day. (Go for a walk, play with kids, talk to your neighbors, have a real conversation about what you see. Go to civic meetings.) 2. Forgive someone, even if they don’t deserve it or know it. (Person in traffic, family member or friend. Maybe yourself.) 3. Do a selfless act of service. (Help someone, open a door, carry something, let someone else go ahead of you in line, etc.) 4. Invite someone else to try these 4 steps to change our country.

The bitter political climate that has gripped D.C. since the election of Barack Obama in 2008 has seeped into all corners of society, and Joyce hopes that this can be reversed by ordinary people reaching out to one another.

“I really feel that my children will grow up in an America that doesn’t resemble anything like what I grew up in,” said Joyce, in reference to the current climate in the nation.

Suffering through countless calluses, blisters, cramps and sprains, Joyce has made his way over half way across the nation, bridging east and west.

He hasn’t sought publicity or fame. He just wants to fix his homeland. He hopes that leaders and citizens alike, from the left and the right, can reunite as one nation.

“In the time that I’ve been walking, I’ve been thinking a lot about the problems our country has,” said Joyce. “It seems like most of them, when you boil it down, comes down to a form of selfishness and isolation.”