Staying Fit
Bill Wallace returns home after biking 3,226 miles in 68 days.
Courtesy Bill Wallace
At the height of the Vietnam War, Bill Wallace, now 75 and living in Colorado, had received a draft deferment to attend college and escape having to serve. But when he heard that a high school classmate had been killed in the conflict, he abandoned his studies during his junior year so he could join the Army.
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As fate would have it, Wallace spent three years in the infantry, serving from 1967 to 1971 and being discharged as a sergeant, but he never made it to Vietnam. When he returned, he was shunned by those against the war and tried his best to cope with feelings of shame because the conflict was so unpopular.
Wallace’s father had been a marine in World War II, and his uncle, a pilot, had been killed during that same war. “I felt an obligation to serve my country,” he told AARP Veteran Report.
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Wallace went on to complete his college degree and settled in western Colorado, where he was a high school math teacher for 23 years and later a county commissioner, before retiring in 2019.
His commitment to his fellow servicemen is what then led him to get serious about a long-held dream: to ride his bike across America. He wanted to raise awareness about the challenges — including post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), homelessness and unemployment — that some veterans of the wars in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan face while assimilating back into society.
Wallace’s idea remained dormant until he met his partner, Diane Kelley, 70, nearly three years ago. “He talked about it a lot, and I could tell it was heavy on his heart,” Kelley, a widow and former sales executive, told AARP Veteran Report.
Bill Wallace stands in front of the Army barracks in Fort Huachuca, Arizona, in 1968.
Courtesy Bill Wallace
It was “his patriotism” and service in many forms that were key to their connecting, she added. Kelley’s late husband, John, served in the Navy during the Vietnam War, while their son Michael, 52, was in the Navy during the Gulf War, and her grandson Tristen is a Navy electronics technician. Another son Scott, 48, served in the Air Force.
In May 2021, Wallace began mapping out a route. The Coloradan had been cycling since 2009 and had found that it helped his recovery following a hip replacement. He started a blog to chart his journey and partnered with nonprofits to assist with fundraising.
A year later, he set out on his trek across America, concluding the cross-country expedition in 68 days, two-and-a-half months, and 3,226 miles. He cycled from his hometown of Berthoud, Colorado, to Atlantic City, New Jersey, and then from Oakland, California, back to Berthoud.
Kelley flew out every seven to 10 days to bring supplies and encouragement, and friends held a supersize American flag, billowing in the breeze, to welcome an exhausted Wallace home as he crossed the finish line.
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