3 Days of My Life

Day Zero 2000

Woke up kinda nervous, but did my yoga tape and felt fantastic. The plan: we all meet at Annette’s and then Elma will drive to Anderson Park Football Stadium in Kenosha: the Day Zero site and the official start to our 3-Day journey. Everyone participating in the walk has to register at Day Zero. Walkers can stay overnight at nearby hotels so they don’t have to make the trip twice, but we chose to drive up and back in one day, and sleep one more night in our own beds.

We planned to leave by 8:30 so we could get in and out as quickly as possible. Good sign: it is a beautiful day. I was the first to arrive at Annette’s, followed by Candus’s friend Pam whom none of us had met. She’s nice! Not surprising. Candus and Elma arrived next. Hugs and excitement. The drive was fun. Saw a big motorcycle gang at one of the toll booths, and Elma said they were 3-Day volunteers. Sure enough, we saw Avon logos and flags fastened to the backs of their motorcycles! She said we’d get to know them pretty well over the next 3 days; they are the ones who ride from intersection to intersection along the walk route stopping traffic for us. Woo-hoo! There’s the Wisconsin border! Ugh. Someone said, “We’re walking home from here!” We parked and got in line for registration.

The line moved pretty quickly, tho I didn’t mind at all standing around, watching all the other registrants. I had been e-mailing with a walker from Oak Park named Susi, and we had hoped to find each other at Day Zero. She’d told me she’d be wearing a big butterfly balloon, but she obviously wasn’t the only one with that idea.

Registration went very smoothly, we got our walker tags that we will wear around our necks, our pink registration bracelets that we have to wear at all times, our green bracelets that label us vegetarians (shorter lines for food!), and some other info. Then on to the line for the safety video. The lines for everything seemed long but moved pretty quickly. The video is mandatory; no one can participate in the walk without seeing it. And they told us, several times: “ONCE YOU’RE IN THE AUDITORIUM YOU CAN’T LEAVE!” Actually, you could leave, but you couldn’t get back in, so you would have to stand in line and watch it from the beginning. The video was great: so moving and funny all at the same time. It really got me motivated. Chills! Excited! Wow! Then all the warnings: Do this...and you’ll die. Do that...and you’ll be dead. All this was necessary, but of course cracked us all up. The video was about an hour.

Filed out of the auditorium and then to the tent assignment line. Since there were 5 of us, one of us was going to have to bunk with a stranger. Annette, the sweetie, stepped forward and volunteered to be that person. Elma and I are together; Pam and Candus are together. But all our tents will be right next to each other. And...that was it! We were home by 3:15.

Dave was mowing the lawn when I got back, and I told him all about it, waving my various identification bracelets excitedly. Did all my last-minute stuff, including packing (!!!) and made chicken stir-fry, which I tried to eat a LOT of. Mom came over after supper, and we went out for hot fudge sundaes. She gave me 2 power bracelets: aventurine for success and goldstone for good attitude...I’m all set! She left, and I wound down a bit—more than ready to be alone and relax. Slept well from about 10 to 2, when I woke up feeling completely rested and EXCITED! Watched part of The Man Who Would Be King till Dave got home.

Home

Day 1 2000