{"id":24411,"date":"2024-12-13T16:37:54","date_gmt":"2024-12-13T23:37:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/florida-man-passes-through-kirtland-in-his-walk-across-america\/"},"modified":"2024-12-13T23:37:54","modified_gmt":"2024-12-13T23:37:54","slug":"florida-man-passes-through-kirtland-in-his-walk-across-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/florida-man-passes-through-kirtland-in-his-walk-across-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida man passes through Kirtland in his walk across America"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Kyndal
Kyndal Ray, a recovery coach, records his distance he walked on Dec. 11, west of Kirtland on U.S. Highway 64, on his journey back to Florida for the holidays. (Alx Lee\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Kyndal Ray is walking across America to bring awareness and raise funds in support of mental health, suicide prevention and recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cI walked 3,292 miles across 13 states over 15 months! I put my feet in the Pacific Ocean to complete my coast-to-coast portion of this journey on April 12th, 2023, also my 4 year drug-free date, in Long Beach, Washington,\u201d Ray states on his website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Tri-City Record <\/em>spoke with Ray on Wednesday, as he was winding up his day on U.S. Highway 64, west of Kirtland.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I go by coach Kendal Ray, recovery coach, through a group called Addict II Athletes, a nonprofit that I\u2019m actually raising money for as I\u2019m walking across mental health and recovery and mental health advocate, AKA a walking testimony,\u201d Ray said.<\/p>\n

His journey began in Jacksonville Beach, Florida, Jan. 1, 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201cI only count the days I walk on the actual days that I walk. So today\u2019s Day 635,\u201d Ray said, adding that he\u2019s walked 13 states and 3,292 miles to Long Beach, Washington, to put his feet in the Pacific Ocean on April 12, 2023.<\/p>\n

That date doubled as his four-year drug-free date.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom there I walked up to Cape Flattery, which is the most northwestern point of the lower 48 states in Washington. And then from there, I walked the entire West Coast down to border Field State Park in San Diego, which is the most southwestern point,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Travelers
Travelers who stopped on the side of the road, line up to speak with Kyndal Ray, recovery coach, on Dec. 11 as he stopped west of Kirtland, on U.S. Highway 64, for the day. (Alx Lee\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Now on his way to Albuquerque, he\u2019s heading back to Florida, but wanted to hit certain special places, including Las Vegas, the Grand Canyon, the Forrest Gump point (Mexican Hat, Utah) and the Four Corners Monument.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll take a break for Christmas to visit family and plans to put his feet back in the Atlantic Ocean on April 12, 2025, where he began. It will mark his six-year, drug-free day.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then I\u2019m heading down to Key West to touch the most southeastern point, and then east coast up to Lubec, Maine, and the West Quoddy Head Lighthouse.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo all four corners (of the U.S.) and all for mental health awareness and recovery, to tell people that they matter and that we do recover,\u201d said Ray, whose fundraising efforts are aligned with Addict II Athlete<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He has raised close to $22,000, with a goal of $50,000.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow on the first part of the journey, the first coast-to-coast, I raised for a nonprofit called To Write Love On Her Arms<\/a>. We were able to raise, I think, close to $6,700 \u2026 so it was just really cool,\u201d Ray said.<\/p>\n

\"Kyndal
Kyndal Ray, recovery coach, speaks to travelers on Dec. 11 after walking for the day and stopping west of Kirtland on U.S. Highway 64. (Alx Lee\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Ray shared that he\u2019s done a few thing for different organizations, which actually are active for mental health and recovery.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve got licensed therapists and clinicians and everything like that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ray, who had just passed through the Navajo Reservation, said, \u201cIt\u2019s crazy, because my favorite individual spot of all times on this journey, when it comes to land and the people and everything, is Cape Flattery and Neah Bay, Washington. So that\u2019s a Native (Makah Tribe) and that\u2019s reservation land. And I learned then that I love the Native people because they try to keep their traditions alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ray received a lot of support in the last couple of weeks from people of the Navajo Nation, \u201cbecause so many people are affected,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI probably had anywhere from 300 to 400 honks. \u2026 I\u2019ve never had so many people stop on the side of the road at one time,\u201d he said. \u201cSomebody gave me a Navajo flag. People gave me a Navajo beanie today.\u201d<\/p>\n

He was also given an animal skin, beads, an arrowhead and a feather lanyard.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just been so blessed. And it\u2019s been like such an honor, because like them blessing me from my understanding, is like a huge sign of honor,\u201d Ray said. \u201cPositivity and the love is so much heavier than most communities I\u2019ve been in.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ray said he had been escorted with hazard lights flashing through Shiprock Thursday.<\/p>\n

Asked if people had shared their personal journey with mental health or addiction, Ray said, \u201cSo that lady \u2026 she had messed up legs, like she got out for a little bit \u2026 and even rode on a little scooter \u2013 lost two of her sons \u2013 to the causes that I\u2019m walking for. People shed tears with me and share their stories on the side of the road.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ray said he knew mental health and recovery was an important thing to walk for and that so many people are losing their lives.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t understand the extensive amount of how it\u2019s impacted people until I started this journey, and it was random people pulling over on the side of the road, sharing deepest, darkest secrets with me,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Kyndal
Kyndal Ray, recovery coach, takes a selfie with a traveler who stopped along the road to speak with him as he approached his stopping point, west of Kirtland on U.S. Highway 64 on Dec. 11. (Alx Lee\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

On his website, Ray sells T-shirts that have 90 names on the front and 90 names on the back, who have lost their lives due to mental health or recovery issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, whether they\u2019re on the shirt or the banner \u2026 the 180 on each edition stands for taking a 180-degree turn in the opposite direction from the things, taking the people that we love and care about,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s walking for the one\u2019s that are struggling to let them know that they do matter, Ray said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Journey supporting mental health awareness, recovery<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[799,28,1655,1774],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-24411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-farmington","tag-headlines","tag-navajo-nation","tag-shiprock"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24411"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24411\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24411"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=24411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}