If you’re in the western half of Route 66 and see what appears to be a orange-clad Buddhist monk walking on the side of the road, it probably because it is a Buddhist monk.
The Arizona Daily Sun in Flagstaff caught up with Sutham Nateetong when he was in town last week.
The Thai Buddhist monk was resting his legs after walking some 400 miles from Santa Monica, California on his journey to the Statue of Liberty.
The two-time graduate of Thammasat University and Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok — where he received degrees in law and public administration, respectively — began his walk on March 1, he said, and plans to arrive in New York City in late June if all goes to plan. […]
Nateetong said the adverse weather has been challenging — extremely hot temperatures in California and Nevada and very cold ones once he reached Ash Fork and then Williams.
“At night I sleep at motels or in a tent,” said Nateetong, who has received gifts in the form of accommodation for much of his trip. “But if it is too cold, we get [a] motel.”
Nateetong’s Facebook page also revealed he was in Holbrook, Arizona, on Monday.
It’s not clear what exactly Nateetong’s path will be (it’s clear English is not his first language), but he’ll probably use the same trail as other peace pilgrims before him.
Nateetong is the latest person to walk coast to coast — much of the Mother Road — for peace. The most famous was Peace Pilgrim — a woman who walked about 25,000 miles over almost a 30-year period before her untimely death in an auto accident in 1981.
One of the most recent examples of walking Route 66 for peace was Swami Sankarananda, a former businessman turned yogi now based in Arizona.
(Image of Sutham Nateetong walking in the Arizona desert via Facebook)