Day 2 begins! We got up around 4:30 and headed for breakfast. As usual, it was great: eggs, oatmeal, yogurt, juice, coffee. The weather looked beautiful, but we kept hearing people talking about rain. Apparently Jeff had said at last night’s announcements that it was going to rain all day. Noooo!!!!! How great was it NOT to have to pack up our tent!!! Pretty darn great. We headed out around 7. It was warm enough not to have to worry about wearing just a T-shirt and shorts.

Hooray for the traffic guards. There was the one who told bad jokes: “What’s the difference between roast beef and pea soup? Anyone can roast beef.” “How many men does it take to make popcorn? One to hold the pan and three to show off by shaking the stove.” The “How YOU doin’” guy. And who can forget the sad, lonely who appeared throughout the route all three days, holding up signs for his wife: “Honey, please come home. I’m willing to change. I’m very tired and hungry.”

Yay, Highwood! People, presumably businessowners, lined the street handing out water and encouragement. Beautiful morning. No rain! Eating, drinking, peeing, walking. Met Mimi Kaplan’s (founder of Y-Me) daughters.

Time for lunch. Would the Day 2 Lunch Curse make a third appearance? No! I was actually able to eat. Had a veggie sandwich, chips, apple, cookies, and pasta salad. Nattie shared a piece of her turkey with me. Saw Priya!! She had been swept yesterday due to dehydration (even tho she drank a lot) and had both knees taped. Still, she looked great and was in good spirits. Go, Priya!

Loooong afternoon. That’s Day 2 for you. The weather was mostly great, except for a few hot stretches. Ugh, that long, boring grind along the tracks in Glencoe. But it’s worth it to wind up at the Glencoe cheering station! Mom was there, along with a BUNCH of other people. So great. We love you, Glencoe! We stopped and talked for a while with Mom, then headed back out, reinforced by Glencoe love. We passed a few lemonade stands, more cheerers, more people with signs, people blasting their car radios for us, and my favorite: the guy who set up a misting hose in his front yard so passing walkers could cool off. THANK YOU!

Then, Day 2 took a turn--literally--from previous years. Instead of walking through Skokie and ending up at our campsite at Old Orchard Middle School, we walked through Winnetka to New Trier High School. This was to be our last Pit Stop and “pick-up” site to take us back to North Chicago. Due to the number of walkers, the Skokie campsite was unable to accomodate us, so, we were bused back to our Day 1 campsite. And let me tell you: It was GREAT! There was a huge crowd cheering us in, including Mom, Dave, and my brother Karl. YAY! We stopped and talked with them for a bit, then hopped on a deliciously cool bus. No setting up our tent, no rain, no wet sleeping bag. OK, actually my sleeping was still kind of wet, but who cares. What was really cool about coming into camp on Day 2 was the fact that there was a crowd of walkers cheering in the buses!! It felt kind of funny, like, yay!! I just rode a bus! but it was still a neat experience.

We decided again to eat first and didn’t even bother going to our tent to pick up our shower stuff. Just went straight from the bus to the food line. Good dinner! Tofu stir-fry, carrots, salad, roll, and pecan pie. Oh, my god. The evening entertainment was HILARIOUS and GREAT!!! Have you ever been to a karaoke bar? Have you ever been to an outdoor karaoke bar with 6,000 exhausted, slap-happy people? There’s nothing like it. Somehow, people found the energy to perform: We got the white guy doing “Baby Got Back” (complete with backup singers), a very talented version of “The Greatest Love of All,” which had the audience waving plastic spoons in the air, a hilariously cute young woman doing “Material Girl,” as well as awesome and/or funny versions of “These Boots Are Made for Walking,” “New York, New York”--only with the lyrics changed to “Three Day, Three Day.” The coolest part? The fact that the audience, a mob of exhausted, blistered, sore, and hungry walkers, continually got to their feet to cheer on the entertainers.

The not-so-cool part? Natty B was going to perform “I Hope You Dance,” but she was unfortunately cut off so they could start evening announcements. Darn it!

Oh! Cold front! Once again, we were still in our T-shirts and shorts, and suddenly a cold wind began to blow. It would’ve taken approximately seven years to get to our tent, grab warmer clothes, and come back, and we didn’t want to miss the announcements, so we sat there and froze. Still, the karaoke had given us our second wind--we were having a GREAT time.

Jeff’s announcements were funny as usual. He made references to invisible stakes that came with our tents, showed us how to fold up our tents, and asked us to please empty all the liquid in our bottles (Natty thought he said “bowels”) before tossing them out. He talked up the bus ride to our “drop-off” point the next day, and described Closing Ceremonies. (“Young mothers, your husbands WILL be there holding out your babies for you to take.”) At this, Natty commented that Dave would be there holding up Kilbey. The familiar “MASH” theme began as medical announcements were made: Only 7 transports and no admittances for both days. Huzzah!

On to the Top Ten List:

10. Whaddya mean I can’t pee on a tree?

9. The tent doesn’t come with a remote?

8. Uh... which way to the beer tent?

Sorry, I missed number 7!

6. Do not lood good in pink

5. Wouldn’t dress alike unless it involved sports

4. Look at causes for expulsion as fastest way to camp

2. Refuse to train because can’t work thru the pain

1. Can’t follow directions.

Then we listened to two young women who were walking for their dad who died of breast cancer, and a young man whose fiancee had died (and been in the survivor circle last year). Very sad and moving.

As we made our way back to the tent for our shower stuff, we saw the last bus of walkers come in...at 8:30!!! The cheering crowd was HUGE by this time, and we joined it. One woman stumbled as she stepped off the bus, and the crowd went silent. Then, when she recovered, the crowd went wild!!

Oh, SO nice (da) to have the tent already set up!!!! Still, it took us a while to get everything together and make our way back to the showers. The lines were pretty long by this time, and I was seriously considering NOT showering. But, ugh, my hair was so dirty, there was really no choice. Once again, tho, we were entertained by the people we enountered in line (Hi, again, Jessica!), who kept cracking us up with their speculations on why people were taking so long in the shower. Who can forget the mournful chant of the woman behind us: “I just want to wash my parts. That’s all I want to do--wash my parts!” Or, the woman who more succinctly said, “Tits, pits, and ass, that’s all you need to wash!” Finally got in there and promptly dropped the SAME pair of underwear on the wet floor AGAIN! Fastest shower ever.

We stopped in the remembrance tent on our way back. There were so many emotional and moving messages written on the sides of the tent, as well as messages to Maggie Daley. We didn’t get into our sleeping bags till almost 10--well past “lights out,” and people were still talking and giggling. Once everything seemed to finally quiet down, we heard some guys walking around, asking what was going on. SHUT UP!!! Someone finally explained what we were doing there, to which one responded, “Hey, we just want to talk to the ladies!” Ugh. Oh, and can I just make one little comment here? We REALLY appreciate the honking cars. It really motivates us to keep on walking. But honking at our tents in the middle of the night? Not so motivating. Thank you.

Despite the distractions, I did actually sleep pretty well.