BELFAST – A U.S. war with Iraq – more possible with each hour, it seems – may have already ended by the time Liza Van Peski gets to Washington, D.C.

But political conviction trumps military expediency, the 37-year-old mother of two believes.

Van Peski estimates it will take six weeks to walk from the home she shares in Belfast with her husband, Jeff, and two sons ages 4 and 7 to the nation’s capital.

She was reached Sunday morning by cellphone in Brunswick, having walked through four counties since departing Friday afternoon.

“I really felt moved to do this,” Van Peski said.

“I, and most of the people I know, have done everything we can” to object to the war, she said, including contacting elected officials by telephone and e-mail. She and her friends feel they have not gotten their message across.

“It’s not at all clear to me that walking to Washington will get through to them either,” she said with a small laugh.

Her husband and sympathetic friends are creating a Web site, Peaceafoot.com, to chronicle Van Peski’s journey.

She plans to walk 20 miles each day to traverse the approximately 800 miles from Belfast to Washington, she said, staying at the home of friends or family along the way and renting a room in a motel when she must.

Van Peski has walked long distances before but has never undertaken this kind of trek, she admitted.

If war begins while she is en route, she doesn’t plan to stop. She wants to meet with Maine’s congressional delegation when she reaches the capital. She said people can support her by calling delegation members and asking that war be avoided.

“I don’t want to put any blood in my gas tank,” she said by way of explanation.

Van Peski has been on and off Route 1 as she heads south, she said. Most passers-by have responded positively when they see her sign, but there have been others who have shouted, “I support the U.S. military, lady.”

“I do, too,” she said. “I hope they all come home safe.”