Hiker winds up trek at Will Rogers Memorial Museum

Ron Cooper, who walked the Trail of Tears from Charleston, Tenn., to Tahlequah, Okla., stopped at the Will Rogers Memorial Museum and the iconic statue of one of the world‘s most famous Cherokee Indians.

 

Ron Cooper was just days from four months of finishing a hike along the Trail of Tears when he walked into the Will Rogers Memorial Museum Friday, April  22. Footsore and a bit weary, it was the first time he and his wife, Kristal, had been to museum honoring one of the world’s most famous Cherokees.

“He was proud of his heritage when it wasn’t popular” to claim Indian blood, said Cooper, a member of the Comanche Nation,. as he walked into the museum’s Will Rogers Heritage Room.

Not generally a walker and certainly not an athlete, the 43-year-old began his 835-mile hike Jan.17 at  Charleston, Tenn., site of a large Cherokee internment camp.

Walking as close as possible the northern route the Cherokees took during their forced relocation, Kristal drove with their travel  trailer, waiting for him to catch up at the end of each day. She drove him back to his starting point the next morning.

After working smoky casinos as a blackjack dealer, it was a refreshing change for the couple to be in the outdoors. They spent some time doing seasonal work — in four national parks —  before he launched this venture that officially ended in the Cherokee Nation in Tahlequah.

 

He chose the Trail of Tears because he wanted something more meaningful than just a walk.  Much of the trail is “off the map.” But often people gave him permission to cross their land to continue his journey .

Thinking of the Indians forced from their homes and the long cold winter trek, thousands dying, he accepted the pain from a bruised foot (in a pair of modern walking shoes).

He found that the various tribes that ended up in Oklahoma, including his own Comanches, are more alike than they are different. All suffered tremendous hardships and all left a legacy that is being continued and looks with pride on what they accomplished.

Ron and Kristal have been blogging along their route.