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My Tentmate and Walkmate, Minoo, and I pause for a picture
while waiting in line for registration on Thursday at the Stockyards in
Fort Worth. Minoo, what did you get me into? |
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After a wait that seemed like
an eternity, we are finally almost inside the arena to view our
45-minute safety video! Stay Alert! |
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Our team, James and the Mammo Mommas, do some
serious carbo-loading the night before the walk. |
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Team Spirit! Our team at the Avon Breast
Cancer 3-Day opening ceremony at Keller. |
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Let's boogey! Susan and Barbara dance around
to stay warm. |
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Looking toward the stage at the opening ceremony. |
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Another view of the stage. |
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A ring of life formed by survivors of breast cancer
moves down the center of the crowd. |
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Our teammate, Linda, is in the ring of life. |
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Here we are, 2400-strong, at
the very beginning of the 3-day walk leaving the field where the opening
ceremony was held. |
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On our way to Grapevine on
the first day. At the top of a long "hill." |
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We made it to
Southlake!!! Our first town after Keller!!! |
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Need to document this first
milestone - reaching Southlake!!! Still able to smile and wave for this
picture... |
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Arriving at Carroll
Elementary School. |
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Carroll Elementary School
students cheering us on. |
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Minoo and I arrived at Camp
Comfort, Meadowmere Park off Lake Grapevine, around 3:00 PM. The
first day's total mileage, according to James's GPS device, was around
18 miles. |
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Home sweet home! Tent
City, Grapevine, USA. We found our tent already set up by some
very kind people. Where is that shower?! |
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After a nice hot shower in
cramped quarters we are ready to hit the dinner tent and have some hot
chocolate and pasta! |
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Now that we are smelling
fresh, let's take some pictures and tour the camp. Here are the
shower trailers and portable sinks. |
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Here is the dinner tent in
the background. |
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From now on I will salivate
whenever I see the Denver Airport. |
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The pink leis are part of our
team uniform, as was the pink visors and green bandanas. |
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A receiving line forms to
welcome the last walkers into camp. |
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The team getting together to
feast on pasta and recount the day's sweat, blood and tears. |
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Second day of the
walk!!! A short bus ride brought us to Carrollton. Some clowns
gathered at one of the pit stops to lend us a cheer. Our
motivation for walking fast today is to achieve a decent shower position
to avoid long lines. |
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The second day was
hard. Almost there!!! Addison Circle pit stop. |
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This is Minoo's first time
putting up a tent. Her SECOND time sleeping in a tent (the first
night being the first time). We camped at Campbell Green Park at
the corner of Hillcrest and Campbell in Dallas. It was a hot and
muggy night. We were around 1400 in leaving camp in the morning and came
into camp around 540th. The day's mileage was around 19 miles. |
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Woken up by some crazy
neighboring tents who started packing at 5 AM, we reluctantly start
pulling up the tent stakes around 6:30 for that last day of hoofing
it. |
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Pack up our bags one more
time. The idea today is to walk leisurely so that we don't make it
to the destination too early. |
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Signing each others' T-shirts
at breakfast on the last day. Here Sheree and Rhonda sign James's
T. |
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Here Pascale is signing a
teammate's (Tricia?) T-shirt. |
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Minoo getting into the
signing fervor. |
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The loudest sweep van in
operation on the 3-Day. |
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James and the Mammo Mommas
cheering on the walkers at one of the pit stops on the 3rd day.
Since the goal today is to just make it to the end, we take our time at
pit stops to make sure the team stays together. The downside to
this is longer lines at the Porta Potties. |
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Fast forward...Can this be
true?! We made it!!! Actually we've only made it to the
holding area here to wait for all the walkers to come in for the short
walk to the closing ceremony. |
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Minoo resting her feet after
three days of hard work. Gatorade anyone? |
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Donning our navy blue
long-sleeve (hot!) victory T-shirts, we gathered for the last mile to
SMU campus. |
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Being cheered on by the
Harley motorcycle crossing guards. |
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Yes, that's what it was all
about! |
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Cheering the survivors as
they walk into the closing ceremony. |
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A very emotional moment. |
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Here at last - the completion
of the 3-day walk. It was physically and emotionally exhausting
but extremely gratifying. Dallas area walkers raised a net of over
$2.5 million!!! Here's to three days of non-stop Gatorade guzzling,
Porta Potty wrestling, and tent snoozing. |