Day 2

It’s only the second day but it feels like day 200. What I mean is that i feel like I never stopped the last walk. I got right back into the groove with ease. Our situation has been camping in the same spot for the 2nd night in a row, this time with rain in the forecast. I wasn’t worried because I know my tent and my gear very well. I was a little worried for some of the others but thankfully the rain never came down hard. We all actually woke up very early. We headed back to the spot where we left off at yesterday and we were walking by 930. That’s about an hour and a half later than I usually like to start but it is early in the journey and we are all learning how to go about with this experience. I am learning myself also, as this is very different from my last walk. We got underway with the plan to walk until 4 pm and/or hard rain came as rain was in the forecast and we had Shea offer to take me back to our support car later on but it had to be by 4 pm for logistic’s sake. I would’ve been happy with 10 miles at first. Once we started walking, and enjoying each other’s company and learning each other’s personal paces, I knew that we could easily handle 15 miles and we set that goal as a team. We had some pretty easy walking today since a lot of it was on a bike path where we didn’t have to worry about traffic but occasionally we had to walk over some bridges with 4 foot shoulders while trying to avoid head-on traffic going 60+ mph. Thankfully, our team understands that safety is a top priority and we all followed a good protocol of wearing safety vests, walking in single file, and paying full attention during the short stints of waking on the side of the roadways. We were very visible so anyone paying attention would see us and avoid us and we were attentive enough ourselves to be able to quickly dodge any driver who may have not been paying attention. Thankfully there were not any close calls. 80% of the day was spent on pathways that were clear of traffic and we really enjoyed those times to talk to each other and walk without worry of car traffic. It wasn’t easy but we fought our way to our goal. Our film crew did a great job capturing some great footage of us walking. Unfortunately, a drone camera fell victim to the windy skies. The ocean now possesses a piece of the “Anything For A FIX” film’s equipment. Between my car and their drone we are already down a pretty penny in this trip. Thankfully they are both insured and won’t stop us from finishing. We all went out to eat for dinner at a nearby beachside tiki hut. We had a great time and we met some lovely people who picked up most of the tab of the walking crew. It’s only day 2 but we haven’t spoken to anyone who hasn’t been affected by addiction and/or this opioid crisis yet, and we have talked to a lot of people. Our dinner was great and we really got some good bonding time in. We went back to the campsite and hung around while having so much fun. We didn’t have a fire due to high winds but we sat around a lantern and had a similar experience. Completely out in the Florida Keys with no one around us for miles. A night I’ll always remember. Rain eventually fell and we had to all retreat to our tents. We have an easy walking day (10 miles) planned for tomorrow, along with running some errands. 2 days in and we’re going strong. We have a lot of challenges ahead and a lot of adjustments to make but I’m so happy that we have so many awesome people involved and I have a strong feeling that we will all make it to the end, no matter what happens.