NORMAL - Rosemary Moews Scarbeary of Bloomington traveled by city bus and then in her motorized wheelchair to greet people walking across the country marching for peace.

"It's what I need to do," said Scarbeary as she sat in sweltering temperatures on the College Avenue overpass at Illinois State University Monday night, waiting for the arrival of five people making a cross-country trek.

Two of them, Ashley Casale, 19, of Clinton Corners, N.Y., and Michael Israel, 18, Jackson, Calif., have crossed deserts, the Rocky Mountains and now the Great Plains, all in support of peace and an end to the Iraq war.

Three others - Art Brown, Garberville, Calif.; Antonio Keis, Omaha., Neb.; and Isabelle Salmon, Seattle - have joined them along the way at various points. They left Monday morning from rural Mackinaw. Several others joined them for the day.

Local supporters, mostly from the Bloomington-Normal Citizens for Peace & Justice group, greeted them at the overpass, standing with banners and drawing some honks from motorists.

The walk, which has garnered national media attention, began May 21 in San Francisco and will end 3,000 miles later in September in Washington, D.C.

Casale started a Web site promoting a march for peace and sent fliers to colleges nationwide, but Israel was initially the only one who joined her and stayed.

The pair camp out or are given shelter in people's homes, along with food, drink and replacement shoes.

"People hear about us - they just show up (to help)," said Israel. "It has really built up my faith in human beings."

Wide range of responses

Responses by people have been diverse, Casale said, and not everyone is supportive.

Casale said she stepped closer to answer a woman's question in Danvers on Monday afternoon and was ordered away from her yard and threatened with a call to police. But just outside town, another woman offered the group cold water, and Danvers Police Chief Jeff Tapke stopped to check on their well-being after getting a call from someone worried about the intense heat and humidity.

Casale had been walking in sandals with the heels completely worn through until Monday, when she and Israel were given new sandals.

"Ashley has really tough feet," said Israel.

Casale said earlier Monday in rural Danvers the walk was more than a protest of the Iraq war, but was about promoting non-violence everywhere and sustaining the environment instead of destroying it through war.

She also said they did not have a support vehicle, or "sag wagon," until they got to Des Moines, Iowa, so they had to carry everything from San Francisco, including camping gear. The walkers were staying with local supporters Monday night.

"What else would I do about this?" said Salmon, who joined the trek after the seeing the pair in Omaha.

Scarbeary said she was on the sidelines and not an activist during the Vietnam War while she was in college, but she vowed to do something when the chance came again. She joined the peace coalition several years ago and has been to about a dozen events.