PROVO -- There's something eerily familiar about Danny Garcia, a Vietnam War veteran whose photograph has been taken with dozens of famous people and who started walking around the world three years ago.
If you've seen the 1994 movie "Forrest Gump," you know much of Garcia's story.The primary differences between Garcia and Tom Hanks' award-winning film character are that Garcia is for real, and he's walking for a cause.
"The bottom line is: Don't quit," Garcia said Thursday as he set out to walk through Utah County. "If you quit, you can't win."
Garcia started walking in 1996 to raise funds for needy children. Now he's in the middle of an around-the-globe walk for international peace. He plans to finish at the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia, where he hopes to organize a rock concert to inspire people everywhere.
"We want to have one night of peace all over the world at the opening of the Olympics," said Garcia, who has traveled several continents since a painful divorce three years ago led to what he calls his inspired calling to walk.
Garcia's walk from Mona, in Juab County, to Salt Lake City this week coincided with the annual convention of Young Living Essential Oils, a Payson company that sponsors Garcia. When the company offered to pay for him to come to Utah, Garcia took a break in his around-the-world schedule.
Garcia estimated he already has walked 14,000 miles, and he expects to log another 10,000 or so before he gets to Australia. The next leg of his journey takes him through Latin America before he heads to the Middle East.
Garcia established a foundation called Children of Our World, which can be reached at www.enespanol.com/our.world. He attributes his success to God, and he said he thinks of himself as an example of what God does to multiply one's efforts to help other people.
As a former U.S. Marine, Garcia participated in a fund-raiser for Toys for Tots in California several years ago. To raise money for the cause, he walked from San Francisco to Tijuana, Mexico, starting with just $41 in his pocket. Members of the Marine Corps accompanied him in Humvees, and that single trip grew into numerous walks.
"I didn't know I was going to walk all the way across the United States, much less the world," Garcia said. "It was just like the movie, 'Forrest Gump.' I could not stop."
Garcia now has about 400 sponsors who contribute to his walking trips and his causes. After he finishes his current walk at the Olympics next year, he's got an agenda for the future that doesn't include using his feet to get around -- at least not for a while.
"One thing I'd like to do is meet with Tom Hanks," said Garcia, who says he already numbers Pope John Paul II, several U.S. presidents and various professional athletes among those with whom he has forged relationships. Another thing Garcia would like to do is write a book about his travels.
On Thursday morning, he arose early at Payson's Comfort Inn with just one thing on his mind: putting one foot in front of the other. As usual, he had a Marine Corps van escorting him as he made his way along State Street under the hot sun. But he might as well have been alone.
"When you're on that road, you can't talk -- you can only listen," he said. "I love what I do.
"If you ever have a problem that you can't seem to solve, just start walking."