When funding is in place, David Pierce, President of Friends Along the Road, Inc., will be embarking on a 2,000-mile walk 
from Cape Coral, Florida, to Dillon, Colorado. The purpose is:
| To honor your loved ones |
| To help us learn from your own experiences of grief |
| To raise awareness about individuals experiencing bereavement |
| To help you establish bereavement sanctuaries wherever you are |
Starting at the site in Cape Coral where Lilli Pierce -- David and Judy's beloved 14-year-old daughter -- was killed in 1999, David will be walking through Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Colorado, to finish at the Dillon Cemetery where Lilli is buried.
David hopes to gather information behind those roadside markers where people have been killed. Mostly, these markers are ignored, and yet they represent unique, eventful, important lives. He will collect the stories behind these solitary remembrances, and find out from participating families and friends how they have lived with the deaths of their loved ones. At the end of the walk, in Dillon Cemetery, David will erect a memorial in pictures, art, and poems for those whose stories he has gathered, or whose markers he has photographed. The walk, including stories and pictures gathered along the way, will form material for a book: Looking for Lilli: The Big Walk.
Along the way David will be giving interviews on television, radio, and in newspapers and magazines. He'll be keeping a photo journal that will be updated weekly on the FAR Discussion BBS. Sometimes he will call in from the road, via cell phone, to radio and television talk shows. Keep checking this website to find out when he'll be on the air!
Another purpose of the walk is to solicit donations and grants so that FAR can buy land in Southern Colorado to build the first Friends Along the Road Sanctuary, a fully-staffed facility where those in deep grief can stay or live in a safe, idyllic, nonjudgmental atmosphere. The sanctuary will became a model community filled with edible landscaping, a fish farm, and loving individuals.
The route will take David along hiking trails, country roads, and sometimes through cities. He'll walk ten or so miles on most days, but he won't walk every day. If he has an opportunity to spend time with the bereaved, or if he needs rest, David will stay in one place until it is time to move on.
For accomodations David will be camping as well as staying indoors. Sometimes he'll be sleeping in a tent or outside under the stars; sometimes he'll be with friends or relatives; sometimes he'll be staying in private homes, churches, hostels, or homeless shelters. When possible he will stay with new friends kind enough to take him in. David is looking forward to spending time with the Brothers and Sisters of Charity of Berryville, Arkansas; they have a very special sanctuary of their own. Waymakers in towns along the route will be keeping an eye out for him, making sure he comes through when he's supposed to. If you'd like to be a Waymaker, and volunteer your vigilance and/or sleeping quarters for David, please click here.
With the help of his Friends Along the Road, David is planning the walk so as to minimize danger, and to maximize time for interviews, meeting people, and self-reflection. He will carry a backpack filled with clothes, food, and other basic supplies; additionally, he will have a pda phone in order to access the Internet and a cell phone charger that works manually, by turning a small crank. He also hopes to have a combination radio/flashlight from the C. Crane Company; this will have AM/FM/shortwave/weather band, as well as a powerful flashlight, and all aspects of this compact device can be charged by cranking a handle, as with the Sidewinder.
The Big Walk, as with all of FAR's events, is funded by grants and donations from businesses, government agencies, churches, and private individuals. If you would like to help David's walk be a success, consider giving to the cause with donations, grants, or by taking a pledge walk of you own. Hopefully, folks will get involved by helping us with fundraisers: if you have a band, do comedy shows, or have a talent or an idea that might help, contact us. You can also help by purchasing T-shirts and other items emblazoned with the beautiful FAR logo from our online Store.
Until funding is available for the big walk, David will be making small walks in his local area in order to begin gathering data on roadside memorials, and to get in shape.The Big Walk is becoming a reality. You too can help. Please consider supporting this valuable life-art by looking into the concept of nonjudgmental bereavement support. For you are unique and wonderful; you are truly our friends along the road.