Jun 25, 2002 By Frances Borsodi Zajac 4 min read

The weekend after two hijacked airliners hit the World Trade Center in New York City, Rik Humboldt of New Hampshire rode past the city and saw the lights and smoke still emanating from the site. “I was supposed to have been at the World Trade Center that weekend,’ said Humboldt, 53, who was scheduled to take a leadership training course in New York City.

The course was moved to New Jersey, but Humboldt’s bus ride took him past New York City and the chilling sight motivated him to do something positive.

“I had a vision. I could see a line of people from coast to coast, showing how America is for everybody. We’re all nationalities right there in that line,’ said Humboldt. “I think how sad it is that somebody didn’t get the message that they’re invited to the party called America.’

Humboldt told his story in Uniontown Monday, a leg of a journey he is now undertaking from Boston to Los Angeles to map out a 3,500-mile route where he would like to see that continuous line of people stand this coming Sept. 11 from 1 to 1:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

“I saw this line of people as creating a moment of peace in the world,’ Humboldt said of the proposed event that he is calling Libertystand. “How inspiring it would be to people all over the world.’

To carry out this message, Humboldt is roller-blading across America. He wears protective gear with an American flag attached to his “Camelbak,” a device that is worn like a backpack, allowing him to drink water while roller blading.

Humboldt began his journey April 1 in Boston at the USS Constitution. His has already roller-bladed across historic Route 1 to New York City and Ground Zero, then through New Jersey to Philadelphia, Baltimore and around the Pentagon. From Washington, D.C., Route 97 and 30, he traveled to Shanksville and around the crash site of Flight 93.

He broke his ski poles on a metal grate bridge two days ago somewhere in Somerset or Fayette counties as he was traveling towards Uniontown. Humboldt said his local route went from Shanksville at Route 31 to Route 119 to Route 711 and then onto Route 40. This will be the route of Libertystand in this area.

He spoke while in the parking lot of Cherry Tree Square in South Union Township as he prepared to make repairs to his poles.

After stopping in Uniontown to repair or replace his ski poles, Humboldt will continue his journey along Route 40 and travel across Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and into St. Louis. He will travel Routes 44 and 66 to the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. Humboldt will then skate across the panhandle onto Route 40 towards Albuquerque, N.M.; Flagstaff, Ariz.; and across the Mojave Desert into the Santa Monica piers.

To undertake this journey, Humboldt quit his job as a chauffeur on Jan. 1 and went into training. Humboldt originally intended to travel alone, but was convinced to allow his son, Aureus Humboldt, 26, and Aureus’ girlfriend, Jessica Jackson, 25, to accompany him in a motorhome that is used as a support vehicle. Humboldt took a loan on his house to purchase the motorhome while Aureus quit his job in retail marketing and Jackson is on vacation as a teacher to make this trip.

“He’s been roller-skating since the early ’80s and progressed into roller-blading,’ Aureus said of his father. “He started training in February to make this journey.’

Aureus said another amazing aspect to this journey is that his father is roller-blading after suffering injuries on both of his ankles. Humboldt has a plate and five screws in one ankle from a roller-blading accident and his other ankle was severely dislocated in a rock-climbing accident at St. Croix in 1992 when Humboldt fell off a 30-foot cliff into the ocean and had to swim two miles to shore in shark-infested waters.

“That’s another story,’ smiled Humboldt.

At the moment, Humboldt is concentrating on lining up participants for Libertystand. The trio are encouraging people to call their cell phones to volunteer as mile leaders. Mile leaders would be responsible for finding people to stand in the line and acquire any local permits needed for the half-hour event.

The cell phone number for Rik Humboldt is 603-339-9300 and for Aureus Humboldt, it is 603-860-2806. More information is available on the Web site at 111.libertystand.org, which is now under reconstruction.

Humboldt believes people will participate in Libertystand.

“I’m sure they will. I’m expecting my national community to show up,’ he said. “Won’t that be something for people all over the world to see?’