This is me all set to go. I also had a waist pack that weighed almost as much as the luggage!
We picked Hannah up and headed to Novi. The event was incredibly well organized. Our tent # was E12 so the luggage went in the E truck and was waiting for us at camp.
Lots of excited walkers dropping off their gear. See how it was still dark outside?
Our photo op while waiting for opening ceremony. I'm holding down those butterflies in my stomach!
The opening ceremony was so beautiful and inspiring. It reminded us of why we had done so much hard work and taken so much time to get ready. As the ceremony progressed it was getting lighter and then right at the end the sun came up. Beautiful!
These women are all survivors of breast cancer. The one in front looks like she's still in chemo and was really emotional which made all of us even more emotional if that was possible. Look at how young some of them are.
Once the very moving ceremony was over we hit the road. We headed east on Grand River to Novi Road and south to Northville. Everyone had a spring in their step and the fast walkers were passing the slower ones (me) so they could hightail down the street. We figured that we weren't going to start out with wearing ourselves out and took it nice and steady.
I didn't take many pictures the first day because I was kind of overwhelmed. I was a little worried about getting lightheaded again and was still trying to figure out what to eat and how much. Plus we hadn't gotten much sleep the night before. But I wish I had taken pictures in Northville because it is, of course, charming with many impressive older buildings. Wes was at the cheering station there and I gave him a kiss and kept on walking.
Like I said before it was really well organized. We would have a pit stop with portable toilets, food, medical care and beverage stations every 2-3 miles. Sometimes it would just be a grab and go which were smaller stations with toilets and beverage stations. Then there was lunch which was sandwiches provided by Panera, chips and apples. At some of the stops the little cheerleaders from local schools had special cheers including the word "boobie". It was really cute and uplifting to have those little hands giving us high fives. I was proud to inspire them. There were also cheering stations they had set up along the route where our supporters and locals could come and cheer us on.
I digressed again. We left Northville and somewhere along the way had one of those yummy lunches from Panera. Hannah doesn't like Gatorade but was drinking water. I had been feeling a little lightheaded but was working through it. Thank God it was a cool breezy day unlike the 90 plus degree days we'd been having throughout the summer. Hannah ate a cookie and it hit her the wrong way and now in retrospect we think she probably was dehydrated because she hadn't been drinking Gatorade. So the afternoon was really rough for Hannah. I could see her arguing with herself and she probably should have gone to medical but she was afraid they would keep her and not let her walk. I told her that if she wanted to keep going we would do it together and take it slow. And that's what we did. We walked through Farmington which was gorgeous. We saw one of the walkers stopped and getting a tatoo there.
We were two of the last ones to get back at camp. It's a really lonely feeling when you can't see anyone at all behind you or in front of you. But she took every step and stumbled into camp which was at Rotary Park in Livonia on Six Mile Road between Farmington and Merriman.
One thing we were worried about was our ability to set the tent up but there were awesome high school football teams all ready to do it for us. We went to pick up our baggage but they grabbed it from us and had us show them our site. The coach told us to go and get our dinner and they'd have it all set for us when we came back. I chowed down on pasta and meatballs but Hannah couldn't eat. She drank a Sprite and gradually started feeling better. By late evening she went back and was able to eat some mac and cheese. Whew!
After I ate I had to go and shower. They had shower semi's which each had I think 8 shower stalls in them. It was nice because there was a little changing space before the shower so I could get dressed in private.
I assumed I would be so tired that I would sleep like a log once my head hit what I was using for a pillow (my bag). Wrong! I tossed and turned all night. The pad I had wasn't thick enough for these old bones. Plus I'm a country girl and big city noises were too much for me. There were planes flying overhead and trains wailing. I think I did a lot of dozing but not a lot of deep sleep.
Camp at night looking towards the dining tent.
Day 2
Morning had to come ready or not. Got up, ate breakfast. Hannah was feeling fine again and was already chugging the Gatorade. We decided that we had to be smart and pass up on all the sweets that everyone was trying to give us and stick to healthy food, including lots of fruit, salty snacks to help retain the fluid. And always the Gatorade. So we headed out back down Six Mile Road. It was a beautiful morning.
We met some cool Gumbies on our way down the road. Or I guess they'd be Pinkbies.
To be honest, I can't remember how we got to Plymouth. I think we went down Farmington to Five Mile and then we went to Newburgh Road where there was a cheering station. Then we headed to Plymouth. We went down Edward Hines Drive to a beautiful neighborhood along Riverside Drive to Ann Arbor Trail.
I know I was excited to finally make it to Plymouth. For one thing, getting to the Kellogg Park downtown cheering station meant we were halfway through the 3 day walk. Plus lots of our friends and relatives were going to be there. Plus the town itself does a fantastic job of making us feel welcome. They tint their fountain water pink!
It was great to have some place to sit that was not the ground!!! My two sisters, Connie and Ang, came to support me. As did my wonderful hubby and he even brought Tonks the dog who wore a pink bandana to support me. It was great to see everyone and to take a quick rest but we had to move on to the west side of Plymouth for our lunch.
Plymouth is beautiful too. Actually, Plymouth, Northville and Farmington are very similar which is kind of a "duh" thing to say. After eating our lunch it started to rain for a minute and then the sun came out. We headed back east down Farmer through Plymouth and just walked and walked for what seemed like forever heading back to camp. My ankle started hurting at some point and I was getting a little discouraged as we headed to the last cheering station. Then I spotted three people heading down the grass by the sidewalk and I instantly felt better.
Andy, Gayle and Kaitlyn came to support me. My step got lighter and I quit doing my internal whining. It was a great afternoon because of my wonderful family.
They took a picture of Hannah and me too.
We got back to camp and headed for the dining hall. It was another good pasta and veggies dinner. Very healthy. My favorite part about the dinners was that they had pop to drink so I could have a Coke Zero every night.
This is the dining hall. The only place in camp besides waiting for a shower or medical where there were chairs. Other than that it was the grass.
The skies to the west as I was having my pity party in the tent.
Hannah took off for the showers after dinner and I laid in the tent and felt sorry for myself. I had a bunch of new blisters and my ankle was hurting. I called my sister, Marcia, in Connecticut and she told me I could do anything I set out to do. It was almost like I was trying to grab at any excuse not to finish day 3 but I kept thinking about all the people who were supporting me both by contributing money and by encouraging me every step of the way. So I shook it off and headed for the showers.
After my shower I found out that an announcement had been made that there was a storm headed for us and we were supposed to batten down the hatches, cover up our tents with plastic that they provided, cover all our stuff up and head for the dining tent. We did and made it there just before the storm hit.
Just after we got there we heard a great uproar and looked out at pouring rain and hoards of walkers screaming and running for the dining tent. It was more than a little unsettling to be in that tent with the huge metal poles holding it up in a thunderstorm with lightning. But we made it through.
The celebration continued through the storm. This is the Kids Corp and one of everyone's favorite supporters along the route having fun on stage.
Many of the walkers decided to go to a motel I'm assuming because they were saying it was supposed to rain later on through the night. We stuck it out and it didn't rain again until next morning. I had a little less crappy night and only had to get up to use the bathroom two times instead of the four times the night before.
Day 3
In the morning we had to get our stuff all packed up and then take down our tent. They sent crew around to help. We got a late start out of camp because of that and because I had to get my ankle wrapped.
Taking down the tent.
The end of camp. This time we headed south on Farmington Road. It rained most of the day which was pretty depressing. At the pit stops the grass was all wet and everyone was soggy. But that was part of the deal: rain or shine we had to walk.
All along the route there were people who set up tables in front of their houses and gave us treats, water, Gatorade, medicine, cold wet towels. It was great. But there were some very special people who sort of covered the whole route.
This lady was my favorite. All three days she moved along the route and just danced to music with a big smile on her face to encourage us. There was also a guy in a van with his kids that he called the Kid Crew and they handed out treats. There was a guy who had a big tub of different over the counter medications like Tylenol and Midol. They spent their whole weekend supporting us.
Here are some precious little cheerleaders.
I decided that I didn't care how bad my blisters hurt I was going to ignore it and just keep walking. My ankle actually didn't hurt when I was walking. So I was good to go. It was a very long day and we walked along Hines Drive some more and through beautiful neighborhoods in Dearborn. The cops in Dearborn were awesome and there must be a rule that they be handsome because we were all oohing and ahhing over them.
I thought we were almost there when I took this picture walking along Michigan Ave. It was a long walk down to where we crossed to go in. Everyone was limping at this point.
Before closing ceremony they were trying to group the walkers together. These are the survivors waiting to go in.
We all marched down the middle of the field together with the supporters cheering us in. It was pretty overwhelming (like the whole weekend).
Some of the survivors raising the pink flag.
The end of the closing ceremony.
We headed for home, stopped at McDonalds for dinner because I didn't really care what I ate. We stopped at CVS for blister supplies, came home and I was in bed by 9.
Like I said, it was very overwhelming in every way and I think I'm still processing it. Thanks for reading this and for all of your kind words and support over the last 8 months. Now I have to finish up my last 11 counties but that won't be for at least a couple weeks while I work on these blisters.
