I am on a roll... Day 1

I didn't want to leave anyone hanging on the 3-Day adventure, so here is the dirt on Day 1 of the 3-Day.

Day 1 – Talk about early, we get up at 3am (really it should feel like 6am to us) to get ready for Day 1. It is rough, but we know it will be worth it. It is pitch black and, to my dismay, cold when we arrive. We have the quiet before the storm as we unlock our trucks and setup our signs. Soon a flurry of walkers arrive – bag after bag we pass along smiles and good wishes to get their day started.
We then get the pleasure of cheering on 4200 walkers as they start their journey. It is no less than a parade, with teams sporting special hats, shirts, and themes. Just a few of the many we saw:
“Walking for Boo-bees” – complete with wings, antenni, and a striped vest.
“F**k Cancer” – The man that leads this team lost his wife to breast cancer last year. They walk in honor of fight as well as many others.
“Twin Peaks” – The even had their own flag on display in camp!
Then there were teams whose name I didn’t catch, but their attire stood out among the crowd: the ladies with the pink “dingly bobbers” head bands, the group with “smiley face” headbands, and many who more big foam pink flamingo on their hands.
We clapped, yelled, whistled, hooted and hollered until we didn’t think we could anymore… and then we kept clapping and yelling some more. If this brave group of people were going to walk 20 miles today the least I could do is cheer for 20 minutes. One woman emerged from the building already overwhelmed by emotion, as so many of them were. She looked me in the eye and I impulsively stepped forward to give her a quick hug. She looked at me, smiled, and went along her way; I never saw her again. There is so much hope and love and caring wrapped up in this weekend you could feel it in the air. It is truly amazing.
We head back to the trucks, pack up our signs, and start our caravan to camp. The site is small compared to twenty-six 24-foot Uhaul trucks that we go in groups of 3 and 4. This is when being truck Q is not the most thrilling spot in the line up. It was sunny and gloriously warm, so we tanned out arms and enjoyed the breeze. If it weren’ for sitting on blacktop I would have though we were at the beach. Finally our turn came and the moment arrived to get our beast out on the open road. Candi is the fearless driver and I am the trusty navigator. The trip will be interesting, as we have no idea where we are. (Now I know how the out-of-towners felt in DC in 2004). We are successful and safe (despite a crappy transmission) and make it to camp. We discover that we will be camping in a park on Mission Bay – gorgeous! It is a bit windy, which we find out later can be a challenge.
After the joy of unloading four 24’ trucks (at least there are 7 of us working together) we head to a team meeting. Out of the corner of my eye… what do I spy? It is a tent (without the required bag inside) caught in the wind, flipping end over end… heading towards the bay! Not let me take a moment to tell you ~ I don’t run ~ I walk… I can walk quite far in fact. But running is not my forte. But in the sense of duty and the lack of a desire to wade into the bay after the tent there I went; hauling arse after this tent. Six inches away and what graces me? An extra little gust that keeps the tent just out of my reach as I lunge for it. I hear Bill come up behind me… he is better at this running thing than I am. We gain on the tent, reach out, and snatch it from the wind’s hold. Heavy lifting and wind sprints… it is going to be a great weekend.
As the walkers arrive, tired and aching, we help them find their bags and assist them in putting up their tents. My favorite statement remains to be: “It is black and has wheels” (mind you, so do 50 of the bags we drug all over creation today). Once everyone is settled in we go to dine on penne & sauce, garlic bread, salad, and berry cobbler (yea… this camping stuff is rough). They have speakers thru out the evening and one announcement includes the amount of money raised by the walkers and crew. 10.2 million was raised by approximately 5000 people ~ how awesome! Exhausted and ready for bed we layout our sleeping bags in our truck and pass out. Remember all that hydrating we were reminded to do? I won’t dispute that it is a good thing to do, but once you are done sweating there is only one place it can go… and I was up twice that night. Hobbling to the port-a-john is SO much fun! It was a chilly night in the truck and morning sunshine was well greeted.