A Dodge Center couple are planning a hike across Minnesota to raise funds and awareness for Parkinson’s Disease this summer. Andy and Erin Brose have family members affected by the disease and have made the decision to help generate funds for research through the Michael J. Fox foundation. Andy’s mother and aunt were each diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease about ten years ago and her uncle developed the disease from exposure to agent orange during his time in Viet Namn.
The couple enjoy hiking and camping and found this to be a natural avenue to pursue. The trek will start at Fort Abercrombie, North Dakota and traverse across Minnesota, heading up into the arrowhead region before turning back down to end at Jay Cooke State Park near Duluth. The route will be quite level to start out allowing them to acclimate to the hike before the trek encounters more hilly terrain. They will use highways, county roads and trails to complete their journey.
They plan to carry all their supplies in back packs, weighing over sixty pounds each. The route provides for fresh water stops a couple times each day, and they plan on packing ten days of supplies with them. A portable battery cell will power their laptop, cell phones and gps. Their small dog will be accompanying them the whole trip as well.
They plan to start the trip around the middle of June and hopefully complete before school starts in the fall. The goal is to cover ten miles each day and gradually increase the distance as they build their endurance.
Erin states that she has had a dream of doing a mission like this and figured there was no time like the present to realize it. Their goal is to raise $10,000 for the foundation to fight and find a cure for Parkinson’s disease. They will be posting their progress on a number of social media platforms.
