We woke up and were all excited to get going. We headed to our starting spot. A rite-aid parking lot where we had permission to gather. There were so many people! It was amazing. People of all ages came to walk the final mile with us. From 2 to 102. Seriously, there was a 102 year old woman who came to walk with us. She was being pushed in a wheelchair but still, amazing!
We gathered around and took some photos. We did some interviews and mingled. Then we all started. We had a police escort. One in front and one behind us. We blocked one lane of traffic. People were coming out of their businesses to clap for us and wave. One woman ran out of the Subway to give us some gift cards. Another woman chased us down to give us some BBQ ribs from their food truck. Our names were on the sign at the main gas station in town. I was so impressed with this town. It felt really good to finish this way. Everyone there knew exactly what this walk was all about and they came to support us.
We turned and came to the big sign where we were declaring our final steps. The sirens were going off and the people were cheering. We slapped the sign and popped bottles of champagne. I felt bad that I got champagne all over the very nice sign but it was ok. It was granite and a little rain would take care of it.
We stood for photos and interviews and lots of hugs and even some donations. I was so proud of Stick and Jessie. I was proud of myself too. I had to overcome a lot of crap early on and I grew a lot from the experience. I feel one step closer to being ready to open Freedom to Grow.
We hung around and the crowd thinned. We decided to go walk to the edge of the country. Literally, walk until we reached the official line for Canada. We had to have an escort from the border patrol officer. He was nice. We walked to the line and that was that. We couldn’t walk any farther north in the United States. We made it. Done.
We said goodbyes and thank yous to everyone and then headed back to the house to get some rest. I laid down for a nap and the film crew came over to interview Stick for the last time. Then we all got ready for the high school awareness event.
This was huge. Our last call of duty on the East Coast Overdose Awareness Walk. The town of Fort Kent opened up the high school gym for us to have an event in. We had a great panel of speakers. Local parents who have lost children, a doctor, a person in recovery who runs a treatment center, a state senator, and two crazy guys who walk a lot.
There were about 80 to 100 people who showed up. It was interesting though…. I have been to so many of these little overdose awareness gatherings and most of the people who attend are usually already affected and know everything already. This time, it was basically the entire community. This topic had never been brought up in this town at all. Here we go…
The first speakers were the parents that had lost 2 sons …. {please allow me some time to settle in from all of the chaos. I will finish this and update as soon as I can. I also plan on continuing the blog too as I know that I will still be living an adventure of progress towards a big goal everyday. Thank you for reading.}
Congrats! Very uplifting to see that you made it all of the way!