Spartan Hike - Day 20

Hiker, and co-founder of American Spartan Inc, Captain Tommy Muir, continues to keep us updated on the day-to-day of the 425+ mile Spartan Hike, via emails spent from his phone.

"Facing a modest 18 miles, we rose to a familiar SoCal sight this time of year, the marine layer. Knowing the sun would eventually burn it off and provide some much appreciated warmth, we started in on the only miles between us and our final day. For today's miles, we had added another hiker, one of our fellow instructors from the School of Infantry had driven north with his wife and daughter to join us for the day. As we hiked, he filled us in on the latest turmoil in the Middle East and on the debacle that has so fascinated America, the exploits of Charlie Scheen. Upon the completion of our hiking, his wife had scored us some mighty tasty fish tacos for the hunger today's miles helped develop. As we departed for our campsite, we thanked them for joining us, the tasy food and Rob's company on today's leg. Loaded into the vehicle and with John and Paul on lead vocals, we pulled onto the Southern California Speedway or as some call it, the 405, to skirt
through LA to our final campsite at Crystal Cove State Park, 17 miles north of our finish point."    

          Tommy Muir

Spartan Hike - Day 20

Hiker, and co-founder of American Spartan Inc, Captain Tommy Muir, continues to keep us updated on the day-to-day of the 425+ mile Spartan Hike, via emails spent from his phone.

"With no schedule to keep and zero miles on today's docket, we had the privilege of sleeping until we were content. The day was productively spent stretching, reading, stretching, playing cards, hydrating, stretching and cleaning out our safety vehicles. Deciding we had had our fill of pasta, we chose to head into Malibu for a nice dinner on our own dime. Upon returning to our campsite, everyone split in their own direction to call their wives and children or to listen to some soothing tunes, capping off a glorious and much needed day of rest and recovery." 

          Tommy Muir 

Spartan Hike - Day 19

Hiker, and co-founder of American Spartan Inc, Captain Tommy Muir, continues to keep us updated on the day-to-day of the 425+ mile Spartan Hike, via emails spent from his phone.

"We awoke on the morning of Day 19 to pale white ceilings from the vantage point of clean sheets and comfortable beds. Taking advantage of our situation, we all took another long hot shower prior to meeting at the vehicles. Smelling decent and with coffee in hand, we drove to our starting point and hit the trail for the days 21.9. Savoring the feeling of our newly cleansed skin, we were reluctant to resume our standard 4mph pace. But as old habits tend to die hard, it was quickly back to normal under the cover of overcast skies. Each one of us maintained that pace for the duration on legs that immediately let us know that they were tired yet still capable. Arriving at the campsite, we had a little wind taken out of our sails when we saw all the signs informing us that wood fires were not permitted in LA County as we had grown quite fond of the heat they provided us. Normally, we'd also rely on the fire to additionally provide the heat to cook our meals but Gunny and his wonderful wife had different plans for us. Lilly, a phenomenal cook and total team player arrived at our campsite shortly after we did, with loads of food and she and Gunny's two young children in tow. She had prepared a wonderfully filling meal of fresh pulled chicken stew over our choice of noodles or rice, two homemade loaves of bread and a pumpkin pie for desert. While the finishing touches were being be put on dinner, we enjoyed watching their three year old son and two year old daughter have a wonderful time playing in and around our campsite. The smiles on their faces were ear to ear as they were pushing around toy tractors and then taking turns pushing one another in a four wheeled cart. Just as we began enjoying dinner, the dark clouds that were way out on the horizon had moved overhead and confirmed our suspicions as they began to drop tiny little pellets of rain. What started out slow, quickly picked up and in no time we had our overhead cover in place, ensuring we'd be able to enjoy the meal. After finishing several bowls a piece, one by one we faded away into our tents for the evening where we were sent off to sleep by the all too familiar pitter patter of ran splashing off our tent."

          Tommy Muir

Spartan Hike - Day 18

Hiker, and co-founder of American Spartan Inc, Captain Tommy Muir, continues to keep us updated on the day-to-day of the 425+ mile Spartan Hike, via emails spent from his phone.

"Sleeping in once again, we awoke to daylight, cool air and cloudy skies. We made a fire for warmth and to boil water for shaving as the restrooms at the camp were only kicking out water of the cold variety. After tearing down and stowing our gear, we hit the trail for the shortest day of our trip at 14.1 miles with a couple new faces in the crew. 

The previous evening, a journalist and photojournalist from the OC Register had driven up to embed with us on today's section of the hike. With colder temps than usual due to the cloud cover not letting the suns warmth penetrate, we headed for Ventura. The miles went quick and painfree as we explained who we were, what we were out here doing and why to our newest hiking companion. Arriving at San Buenaventura State Beach, we were greated with a warm reception by a large contingent of the Oxnard Cavalry Chapel. 

The outpouring of support was truly overwhelming, they had bags set aside for each one of us to deposit our dirty laundry and immediately it was taken home to be washed by a member of their church. Several grills were going along with one large smoker as they were preparing a tri-tip steak feast for dinner. As that was slowly being cooked to perfection, they had plenty of other food for us to work on. A fan favorite amongst the hikers was a homemade salsa that had a perfect zing which was accented by fresh cilantro and avacado. For five hours, members of the church and local community came out to greet us, wish us well and donate. 

We truly couldn't believe the reception and were priviliged to meet several combat decorated veterans from the Vietnam War. We exchanged war stories, they thanked us for what we were doing and our service and in turn, we thanked them for their service. There's an unexplainable scenario that inevitably plays out when warriors of different generations gather and exchange stories, each generation who fought a different war tells the other how their battles were harder and their times tougher. Truth be told, either way war is no cakewalk but I personally feel those who've gone before at WWII, Korea and Vietnam definitely faced harder times than I did. 

All debating aside, there was no question that we were all truly happy to be in the presence of one another. At a perfect pause in our conversation, Jon, an active duty Navy Seebee who was heading everything up, called for everyones attention. Once it was gained, he turned things over to Adriana an Account Executive at the Ventura Beach Marriot a block over from the State Park we were at. She hit us with a round we never saw coming as she told us that the Marriot was donating three rooms free of charge to us.  

Awestruck, we repeatedly thanked her as we were smelling well beyond in need of a shower and we could definitely us a nights sleep in a bed. As the sun was fading out over the Pacific, a prayer was said in thanks for the many blessings bestowed upon all of us and for continued safety in everyones journey. We then enjoyed the mouth watering tri-tip, fabulous baked beans and fresh salad. Upon completing dinner, we continued meeting and conversing with members of the congregation. 

As things were dying down and we were getting ready to retreat to our hotel, Jon went far beyond anything he needed to do when he presented us with a donation check collected from members of the church. For ever in their debt, we thanked them for their compassion, support and their selflessness as we departed."

          Tommy Muir


      

We love being talked about!

Thanks for spreading the word Appreciation Always Wins!

Spartan Hike - Day 17

Hiker, and co-founder of American Spartan Inc, Captain Tommy Muir, continues to keep us updated on the day-to-day of the 425+ mile Spartan Hike, via emails spent from his phone.

"Facing only 15.1 miles today, we chose to sleep in and get a little extra rest. Still riding high on the previous day's accomplishments, we figured we'd have a nice sit down breakfast before we attacked today's miles. Upon completing breakfast, we drove back to the campsite to start the task at hand.

The main theme of our breakfast conversation was about how today's mileage was laughable when compared to the past 48 hours and that was the attitude we stepped off with. Our attitude and demeanor changed somewhere around mile 5.2 when we began our nice assent into what I joked was "Little Sur". From 5.2 to about mile 10, we were going up hill and our tired but still capable legs reminded us that all miles need to be respected no matter how short they may seem.

Hitting the hills did however provide some stunningly beautiful scenary. Our campsite for the evening was at Lake Casitas and there were several vista points along our route that provided epic views of the lake and the mountains that surround it. We got to the campsite with plenty of day left to enjoy and we set out to maximize it in a manner we enjoy, either fishing, reading, relaxing or running. As the sun started to set, we made a fire and prepared our dinner. Upon completion of the meal, we stoked the fire in an attempt to gain all the warmth from it we could as the temperature was falling fast."  

         Tommy Muir

Spartan Hike - Day 16

Hiker, and co-founder of American Spartan Inc, Captain Tommy Muir, continues to keep us updated on the day-to-day of the 425+ mile Spartan Hike, via emails spent from his phone.

"Having traveled the remaining 42 miles to our campsite in the vehicles the night before, we were staring down a decent drive to the days starting point which also meant an even earlier wake up. 4:30am comes exactly after 4:29am and that's early, real early and it was necessary to roost ourselves up at that time to get on the road by 5 so we were hiking by 6. 

There wasn't a happy camper in the group about the fact that we missed our morning cup of Joe the morning prior, so everyone had their eyes open this morning in an effort to not repeat the past. We spotted an illuminated OPEN sign at a donut shop as we flew past and it was quickly shouted out. In response came an immediate u-turn which allowed us to put a little premium in the tank prior to knocking down the 42 we were staring down. No one admitted it, but with legs that were a little more tired than usual we stepped off at a 4mph pace which we intended on keeping for the duration. 

Cutting out an hour for an interview the day prior payed off in a major way as we made the front page of the Santa Barbara News-Press' Sunday edition. We arrived in Santa Barbara somewhere around mile 28 and it was obvious that people had read about us in the paper. Our 4mph pace quickly slowed to a casual Sunday no where to go and all day to get there stroll as we were greated by an abundance of support. We talked to many individuals, got some high fives, were given several donations and even got a couple free scoops of sorbet. The icing on the cake was seeing this black Masareti that was heading in the opposite direction whip an instantaneous and highly illegal u-turn so they could give us an envelope with a donation and a book and DVD about great warriors in history. We thanked them as they sped off and then talked about how absolutely cool that scene was and how it felt like something out of a movie. 

Upon making it through Santa Barbara and Montecito, we resumed our 4mph pace and finished off the 42 miles before the sun faded away. We finished at our campsite and quickly made a fire for warmth, not dinner as that was being covered by an extremely generous lady. Sigrid had contacted Dan the previous day about bringing dinner to our campsite. She and her husband arrived around 6:30 carrying what looked like enough food to feed twenty people. They had prepared an ample feast of salad, steak, mashed potatoes, fresh strawberries, blueberries and rasberries and to top it off, a tray of oatmeal cookies. 

We talked with them for a little while, finding out that Sigrid's father had been a Marine, took a few pictures then we thanked them for their generosity and their support before they departed. As we were more than a little hungry, we quickly served the food and began eating. Our hunger was evident in the fact that the only words spoken during dinner were about how delicious the meal was. Upon finishing everything off, it was noticeable that we were moving a bit more gingerly than normal as we cleaned things up. Standing around the campfire full, happy and with fatigued leg muscles we felt good about accomplishing our mission of 90 in 48."

         Tommy Muir

Spartan Hike - Day 15

Hiker, and co-founder of American Spartan Inc, Captain Tommy Muir, continues to keep us updated on the day-to-day of the 425+ mile Spartan Hike, via emails spent from his phone.

"We awoke to find dark skies that were fortunately that way due to the time of morning we were looking at them and not the weather. Intending to take the first steps of our grueling 90 mile in 48 hour push no later than 6am, we quickly tore down our tents and stored our gear. Arriving at the starting point at 5:45, we were disapointed to find the adjacent 7-11 staying true to their name and being closed. Forgoing what everyone has come to rely upon as our prefered morning fuel, we hit the trail promptly at 6 as the sun was cresting the mountains in the distance. 

Reaching the bar we intentionally set near ceiling level was going to take two days of maximum effort from each one of us and this was evident from the first steps that were taken. Holding a 4 mph pace for twelve hours straight, we loaded into the vehicles completing 48 miles of the 90 on our plate as the sun was painting a beautiful portrait over the Pacific. We were aiming to take a bigger chunk out of the 90 than we did but for good reason we ended where we did. 

 Yesterday, Dan received a call from a reporter at the Santa Barbara News-Press informing him that they were interested in covering our hike. As that was our goal with the 90 in 48 push, we were more than willing to cut out an hour of hike time for an interview and photo op. 

Upon arriving at our campsite, hardly a word was spoken as we quickly set up our tents and started a fire to prepare dinner. We've become so fluid and due to expunging our only other dinner option on Dan's BDay, it takes us little to no time to prepare our exquisite pasta and marinaria with canned chicken sauce. Finishing dinner quicker than it took us to prepare it, we quickly did our dishes and everyone retreated into their tents to stretch and get some much needed rest."

         Tommy Muir

90 Miles in Two Days... Yikes!

Marines pass through Santa Barbara, marching 90 miles in two days to show commitment to wounded veterans

The volunteers of the Spartan Hike fundraiser are adding 70 miles to their 425 mile hike as they pass through the Santa Barbara area this weekend, to show their dedication to helping combat wounded veterans.

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. Feb. 25, 2011 – The six Marines of the Spartan Hike, a fundraiser benefiting combat wounded veterans, have decided to take on the ultimate challenge, as a devotion to their fellow brothers and sisters in arms.  They are adding 70 more miles to their 425 mile march as they pass through the Santa Barbara area on Friday and Saturday this weekend, totaling 90 miles in just two days.

American Spartan Inc is a nonprofit organization dedicated to assisting combat wounded veterans as they transition back into the civilian world with their injuries.  The Spartan Hike is the first fundraiser of the new charity, whose motto is, “Physically inspiring challenges.”

Originally, the Marines were going to march about 20 miles each day, totally 425 miles by the time they reach San Clemente on March 5.  The long, lonely stretch from Vandenberg Village past Santa Barbara had not been calculated in the hike, as they planned to drive through it.  That is, until their leader and founder, Sergeant Daniel Arcand, decided that they could not take the easy way through a difficult journey, because the wounded combat veterans they support do not have that option.

“I wanted to contribute to something aimed at helping the men and women of America.  They have sacrificed so much to keep my wife and children safe and I feel that this hike is a small thank you to them,” said hiker, Gunnery Sergeant Andrew Klatt.

The Marines will be marching 66 miles on Saturday, Feb 26 and 24 miles the next day, no matter what type of weather comes their way.  All hikers readily agreed to the additional miles, as they are committed to bringing awareness and support to the charity.  They will spend both nights at Carpinteria State Beach.

According to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count, 4,481 warriors were wounded in Afghanistan in 2010 alone. Living through combat is only the first step in an uphill battle for the injured service men and women. Support from family and friends is crucial and costly, as many surgeries take place overseas. American Spartan Inc. aims to provide financial assistance to the families, so they may be with their loved ones during this time.  Following the surgeries and military discharge, they seek to help the wounded as they transition back into the civilian world and continue their rehabilitation.

American Spartan Inc was founded and operated by volunteering, active duty Marines. The purpose of American Spartan Inc is to provide financial relief and moral support for wounded veterans and their families, with the Spartan Hike being their first large fundraiser.  Those interested in learning more about American Spartan Inc and the work they are doing for wounded warriors, can visit their website at http://www.americanspartaninc.com.

Spartan Hike - Day 14

Hiker, and co-founder of American Spartan Inc, Captain Tommy Muir, continues to keep us updated on the day-to-day of the 425+ mile Spartan Hike, via emails spent from his phone.

"The morning of Day 14 started out like many of our mornings a week ago, with the pinging sound of rain drops impacting our rainflys on their descent from above. As I packed my things up before coming out of my dry tent, I laughed to myself as we had joked that the rain would probably find us again in San Luis Obispo when it finally let up in Big Sur last Saturday.

Preparing for another battle with the elements, we quickly packed up and loaded our gear. We opted for a quick battery charge at Starbucks, dawned our rain gear and hit the road for today's 19.5. Facing strong headwinds and an even stronger steady rain, we fell right back into full storm mode and powered through. Along the route, we received a great deal of support and were even given a less than promising weather forecast. The word was that it was to be near record lows overnight with possible snow showers continuing throughout the next day. This obviously got mixed reviews from the group and we agreed that time would tell.

Weather or not, we were going to be facing a large challenge anyway as we had decided to add some miles to the journey. Originally, we planned on driving a 60 mile section of Hwy 1 as it passed through March Air Force Base into Santa Barbara and we had deemed it expendable. In an effort to gain more publicity, we had all voted to now include the 60 miles while adding zero days to the journey. Meaning, the total mileage would be 485 and we'd be knocking out 90 miles in 48 hours. So tomorrow looms large on our horizon regardless of what the elements hold in store."     

        Tommy Muir