“You guys are a part of history. Check it out,” Kelly Kem told the girls who joined her in meeting and supporting Elle Milner of Portland as she traveled through Halsey.
Kem, the Top Spot Riders 4-H Club, Calapooia Roundup and Rodeo Queen Leanna Whistler and a cheerleader traveled to Halsey Friday afternoon to meet Milner.
Milner is “coordinating for a flag to be walked across the nation,” she said. Mostly, law enforcement and fire departments will carry the flag; but a number of other organizations, including the U.S. Marines, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Lions and Elks have already been involved.
In fact, the flag wasn’t walked Friday. Marines, trading the flag off amongst themselves, ran the flag from Corvallis to Junction City, impressing the Top Spot Riders as they ran through Halsey. Milner, driving in a vehicle behind the Marines stopped in Halsey to meet the Top Spot Riders and Sweet Home representatives.
“A week after the terrorist attack, like everyone else, I was distraught,” 31-year-old Milner said. She was caught up in the patriotism that swept the nation following Sept. 11 and she started trying to figure out “what you could do to bring a nation together.”
Her solution was a flag that would pass through the hands of thousands as it crossed the United States, from Portland to New York.
Milner left Portland on Jan. 1. She plans to finish 4,300 miles later in New York City on Memorial Day, May 27.
She spends an eight- to 10-hour day covering 28 to 35 miles. A couple legs of the trip may be longer, and Milner plans to carry the flag on a bicycle over some of the deserted stretches. Through the Palm Springs area, a local bicycle club will carry the flag a ways.
Milner spent her first night in McMinnville, 42 miles from her starting point.
“I did 35 of it myself,” Milner said. In Oregon fashion, the rain was coming down sideways, but “everyone was out with big smiles.”
Her route continued to Monmouth, where she got help from the Northwest Civil War Council and the Oregon Pipe and Drum Corps, then Corvallis.
Milner is joined on the trip by her children, ages two and four, and her grandmother.
Response has been “amazing,” Milner said. “It’s fun, the time of my life.”
“This is so much a part of history,” Kem said to Milner. “We don’t know you, but we’re proud of you.”
“It makes me feel so good that people can come out and participate, so everybody, a month later, can look at it on the news and say, ‘I was part of that,’” Milner said.
Milner is an athlete and has competed in marathons and other sporting events, but crossing the country this way is new to her.
She will continue to California via Highway 101. She will head east across the south from Los Angeles, then travel up the East Coast.
At this point, Milner doesn’t know what will happen when she reaches New York City. Police and fire officials in Portland have contacts in New York and are organizing events for the end of the journey in May.
“I expect it to keep gaining momentum and get bigger and bigger,” Milner said. “By the time we hit New York, it’ll be huge.
“We really want to encourage people to come out and walk with us.”
Milner is especially looking forward to traveling through Oklahoma City, Okla., where Timothy McVeigh bombed a federal building, killing more than 200 persons in the early 1990s. That city has already faced grief and is well-known for its patriotism. She also is looking forward to taking the flag over the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and traveling through Washington, D.C.
Milner is self-employed in pre-paid legal service sales, so she was able to take the five months off that she will need to cross the country.
At this point, Milner needs sponsors. The first part of the trip has been paid, and her cell phone is paid. Milner also is raising funds for three charities, the American Red Cross, the National Organization for Victim’s Assistance and America’s Fund for Afgahn Children. Pledge sheets are available on Milner’s website, thepatriotline.com. She may be reached directly at (503) 701-8844.