We woke up at 4 am to try to beat the heat. We loaded up our carts for the day while the sun was coming up. We walked to a nearby gas station and got breakfast. We were walking before 6 am and it was already hot. This is supposedly the last day of the heat wave. We wanted to reach the New Hampshire state line today. That was our goal. One last day of Massachusetts. We were about 12 miles away from the coast, where we were hoping to pick up an ocean breeze for the rest of the day.
Our views were beautiful, but the conditions were a challenge. The humid heat wave brought in some funky bugs. Green flies were nipping at us all day. We were sweating constantly before 7 am. We had a good shoulder though. We walked through marshlands that had miles of natural beauty.
We entered the town of Newburyport. It was really pretty. We stopped for lunch even though it was only 10 am. We grabbed a sandwich and headed over for some shade to eat. We talked to some locals in the area and they all thanked us when they heard about our cause. You never know how people will react when you tell them that you are walking for overdose awareness. This walk has been a learning experience for us as well. So many people are affected or just simply agree that it is an important cause. Every now and then we get an ignorant comment but it is very rare.
Newburyport was nice but we were hot and had to keep moving. We crossed a bridge over the Merrimack River. Then we had a 5 mile bike path taking us into Salisbury. It was nice and fairly shaded. As we were getting close to the shore, we were surprised by our friend Dorothy who came out to walk with us. I felt bad because it was so hot but she was ready to do whatever it took. Amazing.
We rested and cooled off a little and then headed into Salisbury Beach where we tried to engage with people. It was a little difficult though. Most people were distracted by all the things to do around them. We were able to talk to a few people though. It was easier to engage with people in the neighborhood that we walked through after we got off the boardwalk.
We finally made it to the state line and took pictures and everything. It was so hot that we wanted to get in some shade quickly. We walked across the street to a gas station and sat in the shade while eating ice cream and drinking gatorade. Stick and I waited there while Lindsay went and picked up our support car from a ride that a friend of hers offered.
We thanked Dorothy for coming and toughing out the heat with us. I was so proud of her and thankful to finally have met her.
Stick and I saw smoke coming up from a nearby pile of mulch. We ran over to pour water on it and stomp it out before it ignited into flames. We found sign of a cigarette butt or anything else. It was so hot that the mulch just got fire. Crazy.
Lindsay came back and we loaded up our gear and drove to her friend’s house. Dan and Grace and their two children Zack and Abigail. They are awesome and their house is amazing! They live a very healthy lifestyle and it is inspiring. We played a game of soccer and then we couldn’t take anymore of the heat. We all went inside to cool down and then had a great dinner with food from their garden. Then played puzzle games until it was bed time.
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