It was the support of others that kept Jon Meier going.

The senior in religious studies completed a 24-day walk of more than 800 miles after being called by God to walk from just outside Ames to a peace rally and march in Washington, D.C.

Meier walked through three pairs of shoes and battled the weather, more than 14 blisters and close calls with passing cars.

“It was a constant struggle,” Meier said. “Eight days before I was done I thought, ‘I can’t go further.’ But I’d gone too far to turn back.”

Meier said support came in many forms. His parents walked with him for two days. Members of his church walked with him for 11 miles. Emily Bladel, an Ames High School senior, carried the U.S. Army backpack Jon’s father had given him for that 11 miles. Afterward, Bladel began walking everywhere she went in solidarity with Meier.

“I was trying to think of any way possible to help him and support him,” Bladel said. For more than a week she walked to work, church, basketball games — even the eight-mile walk to Ames High.

“It was a time for me to think about Jonathan and what he was doing,” she said. “When I was thinking about the horrors of war I felt really peaceful walking. It was really meaningful to me.”

Jon’s parents, Mike and Sally, walked with him from Ottumwa to Mt. Pleasant. His parents were surprised but supportive of Jon’s decision to walk to D.C.

“I think it’s great,” Mike Meier said. “I knew he could do it if he just caught a few breaks along the way.”

Beverly Reddick worked from Collegiate United Methodist Church in Ames to coordinate where Meier would spend each of his 26 nights in his journey. “It has been a privilege and a blessing to work with him in this,” she said before the second Ames bus left for Washington Friday afternoon.

Janet Stephenson, member of Collegiate United Methodist, also carefully followed Jon’s progress. “So many lives have been touched,” she said. She explained that several people with whom Meier had stayed called to check on him and his progress.

But to those who know him, Meier’s journey wasn’t out of character for him.

“I am impressed all around by his determination,” said Omar Tesdell, a close friend of Meier’s and founding member of Time For Peace only hours after Jon had arrived in Washington late Thursday morning. “He set out to walk to Washington, D.C., and he really did it. Jon just did it. And he has touched so many people along the way,” he said.

Tesdell, junior in journalism and mass communication, is also a Daily columnist.

Meier and Ramsey Tesdell, freshman in technical communication, remembered the moment Meier told the Tesdells of his decision to walk during the bus ride back to Ames.

Ramsey Tesdell, who called Jon Meier his brother, recalled, “I said you were crazy.”

“You said I was crazy — but that it was a good thing. I remember,” Meier said.

But, Meier said, “It wasn’t really crazy because it was something I felt called to do. I feel called to do stuff all the time, but never this monumental an action.”

Meier said his spiritual journey taught him a new way to communicate. “I learned to speak from my heart instead of my head,” Meier said. “It will take me a while to comprehend everything.”

Others said they learned from Meier’s walk as well.

“A whole lot of people opened doors to him. He inspired a lot of people,” said Julie Schubert, member of Collegiate United Methodist and Ames resident.

Schubert was there to greet riders of the second bus when it returned to Ames from Washington at about 1:30 p.m. Sunday.

“I can’t wait to get my arms around Jon,” she said as she waited eagerly with a handful of others. “We’re blown away — we’re amazed at his vision and his guts.”

Mike Meier said what he realized from his son’s cross-country trek was, “it just takes a catalyst. He was a catalyst,” he said.

In addition to jumping back into his role as a student, Jon Meier said he’s going to “reflect on this journey and start developing that inner peace, and becoming the change I want to create in the world.”