Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Man crossing US on foot visits Fort Smith
California resident speaks to local nonprofits before continuing journey west
FORT SMITH — A California man walking roughly 994 hours or 2,737 miles across the country spent some time in Fort Smith last week to speak with local nonprofits about how they’re improving the community.
Ranger Kielak started Ranger’s Walk Across America on March 10 in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and made it to the Arkansas-Oklahoma border by Tuesday. He plans to travel through Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona before heading north in California and ending at Pismo Beach.
The idea for the walk started years earlier, however.
Kielak’s grandfather passed away in 2018 from Alzheimer’s disease, and after hearing stories about him from his family, Kielak realized someone can live their life working to be remembered by everyone else only to forget who they are to themselves and that it is up to him to create a life worth remembering.
In 2019, Kielak was inspired by singer/songwriter Mike Posner walking across the country and documenting his travels, but started comparing himself to Posner and making a list of reasons he couldn’t do it as well. He graduated from college later that year and started working when the pandemic hit, putting the idea on the back burner.
Then Kielak found that people just like him trek the
country every year, prompting him to take the leap in July 2022 and start preparing himself for the trip.
“I’m doing it all on my own,” he said. “The way that it works is I have a backpack that I carry and I push a cart, like a jogger stroller, and I just have all my camping, sleeping, podcast equipment, food, water. Just basically whatever I would need to survive for a few days.”
Kielak said he’s been active on social media sharing where he’s going to be, and the public has been offering the use of spare bedrooms, a yard to camp on, and in one case in Alabama, a newly built shed to sleep in.
Kielak said he’d never gone backpacking and didn’t like camping much before starting this walk. He said the longest he’d traveled by foot previously was 13.1 miles in a half marathon.
His record was broken with a 20-mile average daily walk, then broken again with a 38-mile walk to Fort Smith.
“It did not feel great, but I’m able to say, ‘I did that.’ It was a 36-mile day and then a 38-mile day, so two records back-to-back. And again, that was just, ‘This is what I need to do to get to Fort Smith on schedule.’ I booked a hotel room for a couple days, so the treat for myself at the end of this is a nice, comfy bed.”
Kielak said he’s had very supportive friends and family he talks with on the phone while he walks. He said the overall mission for the walk is to highlight, learn from and work with people in the U.S. who are making a difference in their communities.
Kielak’s been doing this through social media posts and podcasts to connect people to issues they might care about.
“I hope by sharing their stories, their story is able to inspire somebody else on the other side of the country that they can do these great, crazy things. That they can make an impact and they can make a difference,” he said.
Kielak spent his Thursday morning in Fort Smith speaking with Austin Coats, founder and director of Hope’s Bridge.
According to the Hope’s Bridge website, the nonprofit is dedicated to helping individuals overcome substance use disorder and reintegrate into society by providing a living space, offering peer support, mentoring, job readiness training and case management.
Coats, a native of Fort Smith, personally experienced homelessness and addiction for over two decades before becoming sober in 2016. Hope’s Bridge was founded in January 2023 and opened a house at 4109 N. 55th St. in August.
The program was made possible with a $319,441 award from the Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership.
The Association of Arkansas Counties and the Arkansas Municipal League created the partnership. In January, it began distributing money the state received from a $216 million opioid settlement allocation announced in 2021. The money is meant for programs aimed at ending the opioid epidemic.
Coats said he saw a need because Fort Smith didn’t have a transitional living recovery residence.
“It’s OK to reach for something that you don’t yet comprehend,” Coats said, referring to both his and Kielak’s journeys.
“It’s OK to reach for a goal. You don’t know what the goal exactly looks like or even how to get there, but just start. And that’s what I did.”
Kielak said he hopes to take what he’s learning from local groups and nonprofits and apply it to his business as a holistic success coach at Within Range Coaching. He describes the job as working with entrepreneurs, nonprofit leaders and active community members to help them live an intentional life.
“What I have found is that a lot of people that are entrepreneurs or have their own nonprofit, they kind of just throw their entire life into it,” he said. “Which makes sense. They’re passionate, and they enjoy doing it. But it ends up kind of consuming them to the point that when they go home, all they can think about is work, and then they go to work and just think about how stressed they are at home.
“What I really want to do is help those individuals that are out there making magic and solving problems, finding solutions, help them solve the problems and issues they are having in their own life so that they can be as effective as possible in their business or nonprofit and still go home and be the husband, the wife, the kid, the dad, whatever they need to be in order to not live with regret.”
Kielak said Arkansas was very welcoming to him and he hopes that trend continues as he travels through other states.
“I’ve had more people stop me in Arkansas for donations, snacks, asking me if I need a ride or water or anything than any other state so far,” he said.
Updates on where Kielak is and what organizations he’s speaking with are available on his website at withinrangecoaching.com, or on social media at Within Range Coaching on Facebook or @withinrage_coaching on Instagram and TikTok.
Kielak said he’s also using the walk to raise money for three nonprofits: Future Farmers of America, Bigger Than the Trail and Hospice Promise Foundation. More information as well as links to donate are also available through his website and social media.
Kielak said he hopes his story makes people reevaluate what they might be capable of accomplishing.
“I’ve had more people stop me in Arkansas for donations, snacks, asking me if I need a ride or water or anything than any other state so far.” — Ranger Kielak