FORDYCE, Neb. — After arriving in Nebraska last week, Eric Bendl could claim to have walked in 29 states to heighten awareness of diabetes.
On his walk, Bendl pushes a 6-foot-diameter canvas ball, painted to resemble the Earth, and is accompanied by his dog, Nice — who makes sure Bendl hews to the beaten path. Bendl pushes the ball to remind people it is time to fight the increase of diabetes in the United States.
"My mom died from diabetes when she was 54," Bendl said. "She was a dedicated state representative for ... Kentucky but never took time for herself. I'm making this pilgrimage in her name, but also to remind people to exercise and stay healthy."
Bendl inherited the ball from a woman who had no use for it anymore. He blew it up for his young son's birthday party, and friends and family pestered him about what he was going to do with it. Just having it wasn't enough.
Eventually Bendl got the idea of walking for diabetes awareness. After his son was grown, Bendl took to the highways.
He has covered more than 3,000 miles. He started this walk, his fifth, this spring in Sheboygan, Mich., and he decided he would walk until the snow flies.
"Now that I have left the East Coast, where travel was made for human passage, I can see why here on the frontier Plains the first settlers had horses," Bendl said with a laugh.
The landscapes here are very different, and for him, that's half the enjoyment. Sometimes he can hardly believe the beautiful sunrises, or views as far as his eyes can see.
"Last summer my son walked with me for 2½ months," Bendl said. "It was a wonderful experience, but my son only realized it after he was back with his friends."
Bendl was pleased with his personal best distance day this past week when walking south through the Dakotas. He covered 27 miles one day, but most days he's lucky to travel 10.
Early this walking trip, as he trudged through Minnesota, he thought maybe that was the worst state to go through — but then he turned south at Fargo, N.D.
For a month he battled the breezes of the Great Plains.
"I found muscles I never knew I had," Bendl said. "Some days I wasn't just rolling the ball but I had to take a three-point stance and push it down the road. I had a hard time keeping it between the ditches."
The winds almost did him in. Some days he pushed the ball through ditches because traffic was heavy, or the ditch offered a bit of windbreak as he walked.
"Last week the ball got away from me in the Dakotas and it hit a barbed-wire fence," Bendl said. "I had to stop and patch it. Now I keep it on a leash."
Bendl's favorite travel aid is his GPS: "Good People System." He does have an electronic device also, but out here in the Midwest it is not as useful as on the coast, where there is a town at every crossing.
With that in mind, Bendl turned off Highway 81 and headed southeast, using some county gravel roads where small towns were more plentiful.
Along the way, good people offer him assistance. For instance, he walks as far as he can in a day and then usually finds someone who will drive him back to his support vehicle — a purple conversion van.
He drives his van back to where he quit walking and spends the night. Meals and gifts are offered along the way, and some are even turned down. He tries to travel light.
He has an MP3 player along with a cellphone, and his GPS that he used only once, to get out of a jam. He learned to listen to classical music from his mother, although she was often too busy with politics to spend much time with him.
"I have listened to National Public Radio through the Dakotas because there weren't many selections on the dial," Bendl said. "I have to admit I can really appreciate the 'William Tell Overture' now since I walked to its beat in a stiff wind."
Bendl uses the example of his 84-year-old uncle who has diabetes but has learned to live and manage it.
"It's not about the miles. It's not about the money," Bendl said. "I know people make donations in my name. It's about taking care of yourself, exercising, eating right, keeping the disease in check and loving yourself."
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