Farmington Hills Hikers Raise Funds to Aid Severely Wounded Troops

Editor's Note: This coming week, Farmington Hills firefighter Kevin Bersche and his fiance, Christa Rutherford, will be hiking 110 miles of the Appalachian Trail, from Dalton, MA to Wallingford, VT, to raise money for an organization that builds specially adapted homes for severely wounded veterans. They're part of a relay team called "American Hero Hikers," so named "because we are hiking to support our American Heroes, the men and women who put their lives on the line for their fellow Americans," their fund-raising page explains. Bersche will be sending updates along the way; to make a contribution, visit homesforourtroops.org. 

Sunday, July 24, 2011

It's 3:20 a.m. as the train pulls out of Toledo, OH heading toward Pittsfield, MA. We already got thrown the first fireball of the trip when Amtrak told us that, "The tracks are torn up between Albany, NY and Pittsfield so you will be on a bus, but you will still be on time arriving at roughly 4:30 p.m."

Hmmm, I've travelled enough to know that any change to the plan results in delays so I'm not hopeful.

The next delay came in the form of "heat restrictions" that are needed as the tracks expand during the heat of the day. "We expect that this will only result in about an hour delay of your arrival." As one delay cascaded into another the 13-hour train/bus ride became 20 hours.

I guess we are still in our impatient everyday mode and each new piece of news makes us frustrated. Several times, Christa and I have to remind ourselves that these are really minor inconveniences and that our soldiers experience much greater difficulties.

This gets us back on track mentally for the reason we are on this adventure – to raise money for Homes For Our Troops. If you've never heard of that charity, they build or modify homes for severely injured veterans to accommodate their disabilities. I guess I can put up with a few delays...