March -Day Two

I ended up waking up at 6:15 so I did manage to get about 3 hours of sleep. I moaned and groaned my way out of that sleeping bag and tent and the first few steps were tender. But once I got a little warmed up, the walking was easier.  We then rushed to dress and went over to the diner tent and got our breakfast by 7:20 and a crew member came over and said the buses were leaving at 7:30. That only left us with 10 minutes to wolf down our breakfast.

We got on the second bus and headed out the highway. It seemed like we travelled forever and as we went up and down each hill, you could hear the groans amongst everyone on the bus thinking about what we had to walk back up over. There was one incredibly long steep hill and at the bottom of it the driver stopped. She had gone too far and had to turn around and go back. Well the entire bus cheered as that meant we didn't have to walk up that steep hill.

So by the time we got to our starting point, the other buses had already arrived and people had started to walk. Kim and I didn't stretch right away as we weren't warm, so we headed out right away. When we got to pitstop #1 - again there were only 2 out-houses and we waited in line and stretched then.

It was a lovely walk as the scenery around us was beautiful. We were right in the foothills of the mountains and the trees are already starting to turn color so it was nice. Unfortunately I didn't have my Nikon with me or the pictures would have been much brighter and with better color but there is now way I wanted to carry that weight around with me. Unfortunately I didn't take a whole lot of pictures the second day.

We had rain, hail, sunshine all through out the day. They had handed out rain ponchos when we got on the bus first thing in the morning so when it started to rain, I took mine out and put it on. Kept me warmer as well as dry.

In addition to the school buses, there were what they called sweep vans and there were six of them. They travelled from the front walkers to the back walkers and travelled with their flashers turned on and drove below the speed limit to keep the traffic slower as they passed us. These vans also shouted out encouragement along the way - they actually were a LOT of fun and kept the mood good. This particular stretch of highway wasn't too busy except with cyclists and a few motorists with their bikes strapped on heading out to do some mountain riding. But on Day One, that highway was very busy and a couple of times a few cars passed vehicles and roared up behind me in the lane nearest me and scared the living daylights out of me - my hair even moved. Those roads are winding, steep and lots of traffic - those drivers were what I call "idots".

Kim and I walked 25K that day. The entire route was 38K but at one point we got a ride between pit stops because she ended up getting a big blister on one of her feet and we got a ride to where the medics were located. She got bandaged up and we continued to walk. But towards the end of the day, where there were only 10K left, she was in pain again and my hips felt like they were seizing up. Since I had the cold full blast, didn't have much sleep the night before, I was pretty wiped out. So we opted to take a van back to camp early and rest up for the third and final day. I wanted to be able to walk the remaining 27K.

On Friday, we both ended the day with hot spots on the pads of our feet and on Saturday morning, I choose to put on moleskin on my feet and Kim figured hers were fine and she didn't need it. Well she did, cause she got blisters and I didn't.  Turns out, on Friday night, they ended up sending about 20% of the folks home because they couldn't continue on with the walk. It ranged from severe blisters to other injuries. I suspect it was the folks who didn't prepare for this walk. There were a LOT of folks limping by the end of that day from blisters.

When we got back to camp we found our tent pretty wet but our bags were dry because they were under the tarp. Unfortunately quite a few people had left their towels strung along the fence or in the trees and they were soaking wet. Fortunately the camp had an over sized dryer and these folks could dry their stuff. We went and showered, and then headed back to our tent to semi-pack as we had to have everything ready for first thing in the morning to be packed into a truck to take to our finish/pickup point. Then we went for dinner. It was chicken, rice, veggies and again bread.  After we ate, the sun finally came out so we walked around a bit to sun dry our hair (I had gone to bed with mine damp the night before - probably didn't help the cold much). I need to walk to get the kinks out. I have NEVER seen so many people in pain all in the same place. We were all walking the same way - tenderly :).

After our hair dried, we went to bed. I have no idea what that nights entertainment was going to be but I heard drums right at about the time I fell asleep - likely around 8:00. I was exhausted. Oh and I had shoved Kim's jacket and vest under my hips and back and that tiny little bit gave me enough pressure relief that I slept much better (or rather passed out from exhaustion).

To be continued........