A coast-to-coast traveler made his way on foot through San Gabriel Valley Wednesday, Aug. 28, joined by a companion 60 years his senior.
Ranger Kielak, 26, started his journey in Myrtle Beach, S.C., on March 10.
Kielak and 86-year-old Joan Virginia Allen set off from a Baldwin Park hotel around 6:30 a.m. and completed the approximately 9-mile journey to the Sheraton hotel in San Gabriel in about four hours.
Kielak, a holistic success coach, was inspired by accounts of others who walked across the country. He met Allen, a fellow life coach, through coaching training.
Allen, a retired elder law and estate planning attorney, has always stayed active and at 60 made a promise with her husband Willis Allen that they would lead healthy, active and productive lives to 120 years old.
Two years ago, the couple hiked the Vernal and Nevada falls in Yosemite after her husband’s hip replacement in 2020. On the way down, a 77-year-old man asked how old Willis Allen was and said he thought this would be his last hike but that seeing the couple inspired him to keep going.
Allen started Dynamic Aging 4 Life Magazine, an online publication that provides a platform for seniors to share their stories of dynamic aging. Allen will be writing about her experience on the walk for her magazine.
Allen said that interaction in Yosemite incapsulated the goal of her magazine and why she wanted to join Kielak. When she heard about Kielak’s plan Allen, a Ventura County resident, asked to be part of it once he reached California.
“That’s why I wanted to share Ranger’s story because it’s so inspirational what he’s doing and I wanted to share it from a personal viewpoint and from somebody 60 years older,” Allen said.
Kielak’s “hero’s journey,” as Allen called it, has gone through 10 states and covered more than 2,500 miles. Prior to embarking on the trip, the most Kielak had gone in a single day was the 13.1 miles of a half marathon and he had never traveled across…
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