I was awake and ready before Stick was up for the first time on the whole walk I think. He didn’t sleep well and that was why. We started off slow but he gathered up the strength very quickly.
We had a killer hill in our first couple of miles. The good thing was that we didn’t have to carry all of our gear with us. We left it all back at the campground and only carried the daily essentials.
Near the top of the hill, a man came running out of his house and asked to speak to us. We stopped and chatted with him for a few minutes. He was awesome. He had seen us walk by in Newburyport, Massachusetts. How cool that we would walk right in front of his house in another state weeks later! We headed on and continued the day and he drove out to us a few miles up the road to give us popsicles. It was veyr kind and they were really good. It was getting hot out!
We made it to another huge hilltop and stopped for a break. We were hot and needed to cool down. We found some shade and sat down to hydrate and rest.
A young boy and his guardian came walking up and asked about our walk. The boy was very interested as the woman listened closely to what we were saying. He had great questions about the walk and knew exactly what ‘overdose’ meant. We talked for a while and right as they were leaving, the woman said quietly to me that her daughter almost overdosed earlier this week. I lost it. I fought back the tears until they left but they flew out as they drove away. I am glad we all met. I hope something positive comes from it.
Down the road a bit a car pulled up and a young girl came wildly running out to come and pet Domino. Her great-grandmother came up to us and told us that she lives down the hill and for us to stop for a shade break under her maple tree. We told her we would love that.
We walked down and I was googling what a maple tree looked like lol.. then I saw the little girl waiting for us at the mailbox. We stopped in and they had a nice chair set up for us and cold drinks. The girl was so excited. They lived on a huge farm in a great location. There were all kinds of animals. The girl wanted to show me all of them. So of course I got up and walked around while she showed me the farm.
We went back over to the shade and she asked why I was walking and I told her about my sister dying. She gave me a hug. It was so sweet and meant a lot. I didn’t have to explain what overdose was to her either. She knew. She was 10 years old.
Her great grandmother was very sweet as well. She did a wagon train trip in the 70s and remembered how kind people were to her so she wanted to spread it back. I will never forget them.
We made it to Ellsworth (which I named Hellsworth due to the steep slope of the hills) and pushed through town. People were waving and smiling at us as we rolled along. Many people would shout, “hey I saw you on the news, keep going!” It was great.
We were headed out of downtown and going to the walmart where our car had been parked for us. About a mile before the walmart, a car pulled over and two women about my age got out. The driver had seen us walking and went to get her friend to come meet us. Her friend had lost her husband to an overdose 8 months ago. We stepped into some shade because I knew this was going to take some time. Time we always have for these types of encounters.
It was a very powerful conversation that ended with tears and a hug in lieu of words as there aren’t any words that could end a conversation about grief. I can’t even describe how much this meant to me and how much that I could sense that it meant to her. I am just thankful that we were there for each other. I love to think it was my sister and her husband who made it happen. Ya never know…
We made it to our car and our friends Karen and Stephen were there waiting for us. They brought us food and we went to eat it and chat for a bit. They gave us some really exciting news that I can’t talk about yet. I am looking forward to when I can though!!!
We then drove our car back to the KOA campground and settled in for the night. I went right to bed.
It was awesome to meet you in my small town of cherryfield maine to share our loses and to know your travel help spread awarness ! Prayers of safe travel ! Thank you again from Brendon’s mum Karen