It’s Memorial Day, often dubbed “the Gateway to Summer” … but please don’t forget the real reason we commemorate, NOT celebrate, this day. I had photos and a narrative all ready to go about my local treks this Spring.
Unfortunately, I missed two, perfect-weather Spring weekends of walking in larger parks, because my car was in the shop for two weeks. So, instead of long and fun-filled excursions, my feet found their way down those streets and paths close to my home and my heart as I explored the ‘hood and my favorite nature nook, Council Point Park.
I assure you the camera was clicking away on those treks.
But, as I sat down to compile my Memorial Day post, I decided to table those thoughts and photos for another time and focus on someone else, instead of myself. On Wednesday, I’ll spotlight those colorful Spring-y shots because guess what – they need no words.
Meet Travis Snyder.
A few years ago I wrote about the cross-country trek of Michigan-born musician Mike Posner, 31, who jumped in the water at Asbury Park at the Jersey Shore on April 15, 2019 before beginning what he called “The Walk Across America” which would end 3,000 miles and seven months later with a splash in the Pacific Ocean. I followed Mike’s saga on Instagram where he wrote about the people he met and often walked alongside him and had videos of his impromptu mini-concerts along the way. Despite the rigors of a self-imposed 20 miles of daily walking, Mike was well on the way to getting that goal accomplished in six months when he was “snake bit” after a baby rattler bit through his hiking boot, halting his long-distance hike while he was air-lifted to a nearby hospital, then recuperated at home before taking to the road again. I admired Mike’s stamina, but his goal, like mine, was a personal goal only.
Today, I want to tell you about Travis Snyder, a 38-year-old Marine veteran who lives in Holland, Michigan. This is the fourth year that Travis Snyder has trekked around Lake Michigan to raise money and awareness about veteran suicide, an effort he began after suffering from anxiety and depression after a tour in Afghanistan and then losing one of his military friends.
Travis did some research, discovered that there are 20 veteran suicides a day nationwide. He quit his job, started a GoFundMe page and paired with the Mission 22 organization.
Travis began his 2022 journey and eight-week mission on May 1st and tomorrow, May 31st, he plans to finish up the Michigan leg of his journey and head to Green Bay, Wisconsin …
… then he will be trekking the Lake Michigan shorelines in Illinois and Indiana. He expects to log 900 plus miles altogether. Whew! *
You can read more about Travis Snyder’s efforts on his Instagram site and GoFundMe page.
* OK, a little note about me as you may ask … as of today, I am nearing the 500-mile mark, but that has taken me nearly five months to reach that milestone.
Have a safe Memorial Day.
[Photos from Travis Snyder’s Instagram, GoFundMe sites and the Michigan News Network]
Linda Schaub
WALKIN', WRITIN', WIT & WHIMSY 
Very interesting post. A great tribute to our veterans who gave their lives for their country.
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Thank you Peggy. I was going to put Travis’ story at the end of my post, then decided what he is doing merited its own post. It is important to remember our veterans and the sacrifice they made.
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Travis’ story was very interesting.
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I thought so too Peggy.
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Cheers to Travis and will check out his link soon
Great Memorial Day post to read this morning, Linda
☀️🇺🇸
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Thank you Yvette – glad you liked it. I know Travis will be successful in his walk to raise awareness – his fourth “tour” on this worthwhile mission.
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I checked out his site – and what a great aim he has overall – to make a difference
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Yes, I think he will do well even if he does not raise the funds he is striving for, simply by walking, meeting folks, enlightening them about the problem of veteran suicide; all this will be an even better deed.
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Yes – and I read on his page that he added his support for domestic abuse recovery and sex trafficking intervention – wow!
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They publicized Travis’ walk and mission on my all-news radio station and I hope they publicize the effort on more news outlets in Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana as well to spread the word.
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This is most appropriate today, and I’ll look forward to your Wednesday posts.
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Thank you Anne – glad you enjoyed reading about Travis’ mission. I easily converted those photos to a Wordless Wednesday post about Spring in the ‘hood. Hope you will like it.
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Yay for Travis and all the people who served.
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Agreed! I’m sure he will make his goal and get the word out about his mission along the way.
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You are right about the distinction between commemorating and celebrating. This is a very interesting post.
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Thank you Anne. When I lived in Canada, we only had one day to honor our war dead and that was November 11th a/k/a Remembrance Day. So, when we moved to the U.S., it was a little confusing as they have two days regarding veterans here … Memorial Day for the war dead and November 11th to honor living vets and those currently serving.
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This is interesting to know. We also only observe 11th November here.
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So sad to know that there are 20 veteran suicides a day nationwide. Our veterans deserve to get much more help with anxiety and depression than we are currently giving them. Kudos to Travis for his extraordinary effort at raising awareness and some funds for this important calling. 🙏
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That rate of veteran suicides per day amazed me Barbara – how sad. It is a great effort Travis is doing and even if he does not meet any hoped-for goal, he is still on a mission to inform people which is good.
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What a wonderful worthy cause to publicize. I hope Travis gets more donations because of your post. I will make a donation after I comment. Good job on your miles, Linda. Are you behind last year’s tally?
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I thought it was a worthy cause too Laurie and so fitting for this Memorial Day holiday when we think of veterans making the ultimate sacrifice while on a tour of duty, or on a battlefield, but we don’t think of them years later contemplating or committing suicide due to what they encountered while in the service. I just looked and I generally only post my miles quarterly in my blog, but I am at 500 as of today and June 30th last year I was at 605. So I really need to push to get to that halfway-through-the-year goal by the end of June – so 105 miles in June it will be. It was 70 degrees with high dew points when I walked out of the house this morning; thank goodness for the wisp of a breeze!
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You can do it!!! I think you have done over 100 miles/month before, right? It was super hot and humid at running club last night too – still 87 degrees at 7:00 pm!!!
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You’re right Laurie … now with longer days I can start bulking up the miles and making the 100 miles a month. I hope to reach at least 628 miles by June 30th/Fourth of July weekend – that will be exactly half of my final goal. I’ll feel a little better about the second half of 2022 then. Oh that’s horrible 87 at 7:00 p.m.
We had a cold front today which got rid of this heat wave, but it was a severe storm. I held my breath as we lost power three times just before the bad storm began. They predicted it for days and I’m glad it’s over.
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Linda, thanks for sharing Travis’ story and the veteran suicide statistics. It’s alarmingly high; what they see and experience on duty are beyond normal people’s daily experiences. Inspirational person to highlight!
Congrats on your near 500 mile mark!
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You’re welcome Esther – I thought it was important for others to know about Travis’ mission and I had absolutely no idea that there were so many veteran suicides per day in the US. How sad!. Thank you – I crossed that 500-mile mark today. I try to set mini goals for myself. The half-way mark would be 628 miles by June 30th … that is a lot given this heat wave and we are having a couple of days of rain. Each year I think I won’t meet my goal, but this erratic weather is not helping at all. We have potentially severe weather tonight/tomorrow morning but I am not surprised as we got to 91 late afternoon.
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Congratulations on your 500 mark!! It’s been a few days since then, so you must be moving forward that 500 mark. I’m on my 50 mile mark…from last year?! lol Thanks goodness I don’t count my miles. Slow as a snail.
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Thank you Esther! I am now over and above the 500-miles – just another 700 or so more to make my goal. Every year I say I will not make it and I make it, but this year with the erratic weather, I just don’t know. Wish I could share some of our torrential rain we are getting tonight and tomorrow with your parched state.
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Your weather is dramatic and moody!! I wish we could have some of that rain. We had a major heat wave this Friday.
Fingers crossed you’ll reach your goal this year. 🙂
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Thank you for the wishes – this heat wave next week won’t be fun but I”ll get out early to get ‘er done. It was beautiful today. I heard about your heat wave. They mentioned on the news that they cut graduation short as it was held outside for UC Davis in California. Crazy weather. I think that heat wave Wednesday is originating from out west.
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That must’ve been one hot graduation ceremony. No shade and all that heat. They need to have umbrellas, mini fans, or have the ceremony in the evening.
It wasn’t as hot as yesterday but I’m nervous of summer weather that is to come. Inferno! Hope you didn’t have to bear too much of outdoor scorching while you were out.
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I am dreading Wednesday with its 94 (heat index at 100). And tomorrow’s severe weather. I am no fan of ice and snow but this very hot and stormy weather is not safe. They have cooling centers for those who do not have fans or air conditioners in this type of weather. I have to figure you have something similar since your weather is warm year around. At least I didn’t get sunburned like I did over Memorial Day – it was very cool and cloudy and I know you can get burned without seeing any sun, but I got sunburned on my forearms and the only part of my face that is not underneath a mask or glasses – my forehead was beet red.
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Oh yikes! Sunburns are painful, and you can get them in any weather. I wish I could give you some of our homegrown aloe.
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I am going to start wearing a hat and I put on a long-sleeved shirt after that … like shutting the barn door after the horse gets out. I used to use aloe vera gel that was in a tube I bought at CVS as I had an allergy to the formaldehyde in printer ink. Now that I don’t work on site, I don’t buy it anymore – do you make yours from an aloe vera plant?
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Linda, I just read an article about veterans committing suicide. In it the author noted that active service members also have a very high rate of taking their own lives. It’s good to know that it’s being brought to the attention of the public. What a blessing to have someone like Travis raise money and draw more attention to this!
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I had no idea there were 20 veterans per day committing suicide – that really surprised me Sabine. It is admirable what Travis is doing and since he suffered from anxiety and depression after his tour of duty, he “gets” it. I hope he raises a lot of funds, but more importantly, he visits each city and county along his route and talks about how dire the situation really is.
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I’m late to the party here, but this is a great post. Memorial Day can be wistful, but also a good time to remember many things. I’m not familiar with the work that Travis is doing, but what a good guy.
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Thanks Ally. I just learned about Travis this year, though it is his fourth trip around Lake Michigan. I agree – what a great way to enlighten people about the plight of some of our veterans.
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Good for Travis bringing attention to this. It’s heartbreaking to know that 20 veterans a day commit suicide.
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Before hearing the story about Travis, I had no idea of that statistic Susan. I don’t know how I missed learning about him before, as this is his 4th tour around Lake Michigan. That’s quite an accomplishment mile-wise too.
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It’s very ,very sad. And yes that’s quite a hike he does!
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I know I couldn’t do it Susan. We have a nice weekend, very cool weather – hope your weather is also cooperating.
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A lovely tribute to the vets Linda. I was surprised to read those stats….
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Thank you Joni – I was surprised to read them as well. Very sad.
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Not sure if I’ll be able to donate to Travis for this effort or not. Waiting for GoFundMe to open. Even if I don’t, though, I am happy to say that I have donated to a similar effort, through a military member in support of Afghan refugees, in the recent past. That’s one of the good things I’ve started to do for myself now that I am in a position to afford it and not have get approval from somebody else.
Also, as I will be moving to Travis’ home area soon, I’m sure I’ll have an opportunity to support his efforts in the future.
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It is a good effort and the organization/person where you donated sounds like a good cause as well. I hope they publicize how Travis is doing. I remember you said you were moving to the area – good luck with your move hbsuefred.
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It is good to read about Vets and those who support them. They did much for us and we owe them a lot.
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Yes, Travis’ trek is a great cause and I was quite surprised to read the stats on veteran suicide. It amazed me how many veterans gathered in Normandy today to commemorate D-Day; it was the largest gathering in two years since the pandemic began. I would like to see the memorial some day as it is very moving.
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Thank you for the reminder, Linda, to “commemorate” vs. “celebrate” Memorial Day. I am as guilty as the next person of not acknowledging the difference. We should be forever indebted to those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms.
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You’re welcome Dave … I am guilty in that I look forward to that first long weekend of the year too. No one in my family died in any wars, but like you, I recognize the sacrifice they gave. In Canada they commemorate the fallen heroes only on Remembrance Day (November 11th) so it was confusing to us when we moved here that November 11th was a tribute to current or retired service personnel only and Memorial comemmorated the war dead. [On another note – I wondered where your Thursday at noon post was this week and thought, (incorrectly as I just learned), you did not post as you were busy with wedding plans for your daughter. But I knew it was the final piano post. So I just went to your site and you had published a post. I discovered I was no longer following you. When I tried to follow using my e-mail address since clicking “follow” didn’t work, I got: “Your subscription did not succeed, please try again with a valid email address.” So WordPress is wonky and I’ll just check your site. I’m usually behind anyway. This happened with JP who was following me and twice WP “unfollowed him”.]
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Travis reminds me of a friend of mine who took part in a walk across America in the 80s. I can’t find anything about that walk online but it seems many people have used walking across the country as a means of bringing attention to a cause. This is an excellent cause.
500 miles? My dear friend, that is a lot of walking!
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It is a great cause Travis is walking for and shocking how many vets per day die from suicide. You are right about that Zazzy. I followed Mike Posner, a musician, who was from Michigan, but lives in California on his trek across the U.S. I followed his daily reports on Twitter. He had a friend with a van and the friend did not do any of the walk, just drove the camper van and they slept/ate there every night. Mike had people walk with him along the way, but then he discouraged it as sometimes he had to walk along a narrow highway. It was interesting to follow his trip. Because of his rattlesnake bite, hospital stay and his recuperation, he was set back about a month and had to cross mountain areas in the snow, making it more rigorous than planned.
I am happy to have reached 500 miles Zazzy – thank you! I have a goal of 1,256 miles (2,022 kilometers) by year end. I was just adding one more mile a year to my total, then a fellow blogger challenged me to walk as many kilometers as the new decade year (2,020 kilometers for 2020) so that added a lot more to my total. I probably should have left it as is as the weather is so much more erratic than when I started the walking regimen in 2011. So now I just add one more kilometer and call it done – when retired, maybe more as I can walk any time of the day. Now, on a weekday, if it rains or snows or is icy in the morning, then I don’t walk as I have to get to work, yes working at home, but I can’t always get the miles in. We have a big heatwave coming Wednesday and it will be 95 – ugh.
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