58-year old Mike Mobley spent 63 days walking across the country.
From his home in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, he trekked 2,210 miles until he reached Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
With both of his identical twin sons in the armed forces, Mobley had a deep-rooted motivation for his mission to raise awareness and "show our military how much we appreciate and support their service." He called his endeavor Operation Hero Trek.
"I could have quit and gone home anytime I wanted to, but all I had to do was think about the men and women who are overseas who don't get to go home," he said in a Marine Corps report by Cpl. Andrew D. Johnston.
"I did this for them and they deserve the recognition for their service, not me."
His twins Matthew and James joined the military, the Army and the Marine Corps respectively, in 2004.
According to the Corps, Sgt. James Mobley is an infantry team leader with 2nd Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment, and was still deployed to Afghanistan when his father started his epic walk.
In a turn of good timing and coincidence, Mr. Mobley got to Camp Lejeune just the day before his son returned from Afghanistan on May 26th. The trek wasn't expected to end until this week.
Mobley's faster-than-anticipated pace may have been spurred on by the flood of well-wishes and donations he received from strangers inspired by his commitment.
"At one point this guy just came running up to me and handed me money for donations. He heard about the walk on the news or som thing...Just to be able to have complete strangers come out and support the walk renewed my faith in America."
All of the donations he collected are going to military charities, like the Wounded Warrior Project and Adaptive Adventures. His goal has been to encourage people to learn more about the troops serving around the U.S. and overseas.
"There was a time when our military’s sacrifices were on the front page of the newspapers," he said.
"There are still people overseas fighting and getting killed and all you see on the front page is gossip—human sacrifice has been moved to page 8."
Through the trek, he hoped to see America from a whole different perspective while stopping at various military sites along the way, and sharing his gratitude.
In turn, service members came out in force to support Mobley.
Marines from his son's battalion who weren't deployed joined him for the last 4.9 miles of the hero trek. And they walked together triumphantly until his journey's end.
Here's the route he planned:
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