It started Thursday night. Lexi got in and we immediately headed down to Hyannis. Shockingly, we were even a bit early for our dinner reservation. We found this restaurant last year and really enjoyed it, so headed back. And...the real bonus was that it was a gorgeous night, so we were able to eat outside. Which would have been awesome had we not almost been killed. Seriously. As we are sitting outside, enjoying our dinner, a guy with crazy dreads, pants down to the bottom of his ass, sunglasses and some crazy hat comes by listening to the most profane music (if you can call it that...more like rap that was more like just shouting) I've ever heard. Like, stuff that you'd never dream of saying or ever wanting to hear (which is impressive for me to say for those of you who know what kind of mouth I can have at times). And, he just stood there! Like, for a long time. With the music as loud as it could go. I don't know who I felt more scared for - Lexi and I or the poor 80 year-old couple sitting next to us and closer to him. He ended up doing that 2 or 3 times until finally the wait staff forced him to leave. Don't worry. We made it.
The next day was the start of the walk. And, it just so happened to be one of the hottest and most humid days we have had all summer. Last year (or maybe the year before?), Lexi suffered from some heat stroke. Not sure how given that she lives in freaking Houston, TX. But, it happened. So, I was rather obnoxious all morning insisting that we drink lots of water and Gatorade.
Well, right before lunch, I started to feel a bit light headed. Here we are...before the beginning of the end...
I thought that maybe I needed to eat something, so I had some lunch and then started walking again. Except, now, I felt like I was going to puke and pass out. So, I stopped at the next rest stop to rest a bit and Lexi and our new found friend, Dan, kept going. I still wasn't feeling all that hot, so I got driven to the next rest stop to meet up with them. This routine happened one more time until, finally, at the next rest stop, we decided that I just needed to quit. So, after a few tears of disappointment, I was escorted to the med tent. Where I laid for an hour. And, still no improvement. I remember seeing the nurses all whispering to each other and the next thing I know, I'm being whisked away in a stretcher via ambulance to the hospital. But, not before Lexi snapped a picture!
So, we get to the hospital and I'm told I'm going to "room" 7-A. Turns out, 7-A is a sticker on the wall of the hallway, so I'm parked in the hallway. All was fine until in came 7-B. Julie. Julie is an alcoholic and most likely a drug addict. As it turns out, Julie visits the hospital every day and has a crush on most of the security guards there. Julie went from really mean and scary looking to really sad to really defensive to really freaking comical. By the end of the night, we were BFF's with Julie. Or, as we like to refer to her, "7-B." Not only were we BFF's with 7-B, but we were also BFF's with Nancy. Or, as we like to call her, Nance. Good ol' Nance works for the MS Society and is in charge of going to the hospital and taking people back to camp if need be. So, Nance hung out with us for a while and also got to know 7-B. After a bag of fluid, an X-Ray, and an EKG, they chalked it up to dehydration (I could have freaking told you that) and sent Lexi, Nance and I on our way. We bonded that night over a grilled chicken sandwich from Wendy's and went straight to bed. Talk about a long freaking day.
Thankfully, the next day (and, for that matter, the next 30 miles) were not nearly as eventful. We did keep it a bit slower than we typically go, which killed me. But, really? There was no rush (something I have to remind myself of daily now that I'm a New Englander). We spent all of day 2 and 3 walking with our new friend, Dan. I kept waiting for him to get completely sick of our constant rambling, but as it turns out, I think that he thought we were pretty funny. Or, ridiculous. Or, both.
And, look who we saw on the walk the next day! It's Nance!!!!
All in all, it was another great walk and a great weekend of sister bonding....even if I will never live down the fact that she has walked 400 miles and I've walked 388.
