To cross the country: California man on walk of love for Locks of Love

Dan Lyons walks down Main Street Colfax last Thursday, covering a tiny portion of his 3,287-mile cross-country trek to raise awareness for Locks of Love, a charity which provides hairpieces for children who have lost their hair from medical treatment. The walk is Lyons’ fifth charity hike across the nation.

No cell phone. No car. No bicycle.

Just a pair of New Balance tennis shoes and a pack filled with donation forms, a tent, sleeping bag, a change of clothes and an umbrella to keep dry.

Californian Dan Lyons is walking from Olympia to West Palm Beach, Fla.

Lyons estimated he will burn through seven or eight pairs of shoes on the trip.

“I’ve tried all different types of shoes,” he said. “No matter which kind, I get blisters on top of blisters on top of blisters. The only way to handle that is just to walk through them.”

Through rain, snow and even lightning, Lyons is strolling 3,287 miles in an effort to raise awareness for Locks of Love, a charity that uses donated hair to provide hairpieces for children who have lost their hair from medical treatment.

Dan Lyons

He passed through Colfax March 5.

“They do so much good,” he said. “I’ve seen so many kids that have been helped out by them. It really boosts their self esteem at a time when they need it the most.”

As he moves from town to town, Lyons stops by salons and hands out information on how to donate hair to the charity.

At a pace of about two miles per hour, and covering 15 to 20 miles each day, Lyons expects to cross 11 states to reach Florida by September.

The Gazette first came across Lyons on Highway 26 between Othello and Hatton Sunday, Feb. 28.

Before hitting the Gazette’s front door Thursday, Lyons had made overnight stops at the Hatton rest stop, city parks in Washtucna and LaCrosse and then in a field near Dusty.

Luckily, his pack includes high-calorie food like power bars, granola and jerky for the days when he cannot find groceries.

“You sure can get the itch for a hamburger out there,” he said before enjoying one of the Top Notch Café’s World Famous hamburgers.

This “hair-raising” trek is the fifth across the United States for various charities for Lyons, now 58.

Lyons, who taught school in California’s East Bay area for 21 years, was beset by a series of personal tragedies in the waning years of the 20th Century.

In 1998, he lost his daughter to cancer, shortly after his father died from Alzheimer’s. In 2000, his wife was struck and killed by a drunk driver.

Shortly after his wife’s death, he approached the Alzheimer’s Association with the idea of a fund-raising cross-country walk. A month and a half later he set out on his first trek.

“It was great to get out and see some of the most beautiful places in the world and just think,” he said.

In addition to the Alzheimer’s Association, Lyons’ previous walks have benefited Mothers Against Drunk Driving, a Bay-area homeless veteran’s shelter and the American Cancer Society. The last walk, which he called his personal Relay for Life, raised $36,000 for cancer research.

Lyons estimated he has raised more than $100,000 through his walks.

“I’m not rich. I don’t have a whole lot of money to give,” he said. “But I can give my time and my feet.”

Because he takes no money from the charities for his walks, Lyons primarily depends on the kindness of strangers to help provide food and the occasional warm place to stay. He also relies on retirement funds.

At Washtucna, Tom and Nancy Meise provided a dinner after they stopped to talk when they spotted him walking near town.

He spent a warm night at the Siesta Motel in Colfax in a room donated by the Colfax Relay for Life committee.

“It just seemed like we needed to do something to help him on his trip,” said committee member Kathy Lemon. “What an inspiration.”

“These small towns, it’s really been the Relay for Life folks that have helped me out,” said Lyons. “There’s a network of really caring people in place, and they’re always more than willing to help.”

Friday, Lyons walked to Pullman and spent the night there at the home of some charitable locals. From Pullman, he walked to Lewiston on his way to Lolo Pass and over the Rocky Mountains.

On his personal Relay for Life walk across the country, Lyons stopped at 10 Relay for Life events and visited children in a cancer clinic, which planted the seeds for his current Locks of Love walk.

Walking alongside major highways provides one with any number of interesting observations.

Based on what he noticed in ditches, litterbugs on the west side of the Cascades prefer Budweiser Light. On this side of the divide, the discarded beer can of choice is Busch Light, he said with a laugh.

And while it can provide that kind of market research, a cross-continental walk can take its toll.

Lyons loses 35 to 40 pounds on each walk. He’s had to deal with angry drivers aiming at him, bottles of frozen water on mountain passes, and nearby lightning strikes. He even once had his backpack stolen by a bear in Arkansas.

Despite all that, Lyons remains committed to reaching his far-off destination.

“I quit every day,” he said. “But then I wake up and realize I have to continue to the finish. I’m not going to tell an organization like this that I’m going to do something and then not do it.”

Donations to Locks of Love can be made through the charity’s web site:

http://www.locksoflove.org