Walk opens historical insight

Ron Cooper gets his hiking staff ready Thursday to walk another section of the Trail of Tears, this one inside Pea Ridge National Military Park. Cooper, from Lawton, Okla., is nearing the end of his journey to hike the Trail of Tears from near Chattanooga, Tenn., to Tahlequah, Okla. Cooper began his quest Jan. 17 in Charleston, Tenn., and has walked 780 miles. Cooper plans to finish his walk Wednesday in Tahlequah.
Ron Cooper gets his hiking staff ready Thursday to walk another section of the Trail of Tears, this one inside Pea Ridge National Military Park. Cooper, from Lawton, Okla., is nearing the end of his journey to hike the Trail of Tears from near Chattanooga, Tenn., to Tahlequah, Okla. Cooper began his quest Jan. 17 in Charleston, Tenn., and has walked 780 miles. Cooper plans to finish his walk Wednesday in Tahlequah.

Walking along the lonelier parts of the trail, Ron Cooper feels that he’s not alone.

Out of the sides of his eyes, just beyond his peripheral vision, Ron sees the Cherokee - men, women and children of all ages and conditions - walking alongside him, keeping him company, giving him strength.

Walking the Trail of Tears, the northern route of the 1836-1839 forced removal of Cherokee from their home lands in the east to government-issued Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), Ron’s feet pounded through mile 775 on April 12, as he walked through the Pea Ridge National Military Park.

Cooper, 43, began his journey on Jan. 17 in Charleston, Tenn., near Fort Cass, the last large interment camp.

He’s been on the trail 86 days, covering from 15 to 17 miles a day,camping at night with his wife in a camper.

Half Kiowa and half Commanche, Cooper grew up not knowing much about his heritage. That changed when, as a teen, he read “Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.”

“That pretty much changed my life,” Ron said. His grandfather was Kiowa and his grandmother was Commanche and theycouldn’t speak one another’s language so he didn’t grow up knowing the native tongue.

“They couldn’t speak to one another, so we didn’t know the old ways.”

Ron and his wife, Kristal, 39, are “full-time RVers,” she said, explaining that they travel around the country working various campsites.

“We’re on our way to Custer State Park in the Black Hills” of South Dakota.

The couple does not have children, but have “two cats we treat like kids,” Ron said.

The couple met as Blackjack dealers and have “been together seven years, married two years and three months,” she said. He grew up in Lawton, Okla., she grew up in Arizona.

The walk has exacerbated ailments Ron has always had in his feet, ankles and knees.

“Any pain I’ve had, I keep in perspective realizing it’s nothing compared to what (the Cherokee) were feeling.”

“It’s always a fascinating thing,” he said, “I feel like they’re helping me get through the struggle.”

Kristal said she knows when he’s had a good walk because he gets “that big stupid grin.”

“There’s a paradox in it,” he said. “I’m loving being out in nature, but there’s a hint of sadness in it.

“Being a native, you feel like you’ve lost something.

“It dawned on me one day that it symbolized the end - how horrible, to suddenly find yourselves aliens on your own land with someone else telling you how to live your life,” Ron said.

The removal was a tragic event, but one from which the Cherokee have picked up the pieces of their lives and rebuilt their lives, Ron said.

“I always hated the tribes fighting amongst themselves ... they would talk bad, fight. As I was learning about native history, I realized the biggest factor in the fact that we lost our landwas that they were not only fighting the white people, but fighting the other tribes.

That always bothered me.

“As I studied about the struggles they went through, I thought about the despair and when they were removed from their homeland.”

Although Ron’s journey hasn’t been as fraught with troubles as were the Cherokees 175 years ago, he has had trials. A dog drew blood when it bit him shortly after he entered Missouri. “I have pepper spray with me, but didn’t use it them. I do now.”

Ironically, Cooper and his wife were in Kansas, on their way to a Christmas job in Kentucky when they read about the Trail of Tears Conference in Kentucky. So, they crashed the conference.He made business cards and sought corporate sponsorship. Although that was unsuccessful, he met Glenn Jones, commissioner/chairman of the Benton County Historical Preservation Commission. Jones joined the Coopers on their trek through Benton County.

Ron was not an outdoorsman. He said he only took up backpacking three or four years ago. Overweight for most of his life, he lost 60 pounds the year before he began the walk and another 10 to 15 since Christmas.

He has been pleased at the response of people he has met along the way.

“The generosity of people is amazing,” Cooper said, recalling one place where a man let him stay in his home.

Kristal said it has helped to meet local people in each locale who know exactly where the trail is and helped them meet the landowners so Ron can walk the original trail beds.

He has learned a lot more about the trail and realized there were Cherokee, Creek and African-Americans on the removal.

Ron has a Facebook page and a website - www.Ron-HikesTrailofTears.com.

News, Pages 1 on 04/20/2011