So there we were, about 90 of us ready to embark upon a 28-mile walk over the next 2 days. The kids were buzzing with energy, and the parents were simply praying for energy.
After loading up the buses and vans with sleeping bags, food and coolers, we headed for the Natchez Trace. The bus let us off near Tim McGraw's and Faith Hill's house/mansion/farm/plantation, and we started our walk. The first 7-8 miles was pretty much all on/beside the parkway. It was warm, and the pavement reflected the heat right back at us. I don't mind the heat, but some of the parents were feeling it and not too fond of it.
We broke for lunch at around noon, not too far from the Judds' properties (Naomi, Wynona and Ashley), although an Ashley sighting was not to be. As we ate, I watched about a half-dozen 10-and-11-year-old boys do things that boys that age will tend to do: fight, wrestle and throw food on one another. They spent about 20 minutes hurling grapes (one at a time) at each other. One of the moms had to step in when an apple came close to it's intended mark (someone's head), so they had to find other ways to amuse themselves.
After lunch, we got a light rain shower which cooled the temperatures quite a bit. We hit the wooded trails for the next 10 miles. Every child seemed to have a disposable camera, and I'd love to see the prints when they are developed. Most of the shots were either of roadkill or horse manure (suitable for framing, I'm sure). I hope to post a few of the pictures later in the week. I decided to get up at the front of the line about midway through the afternoon hike, right behind Mr. Parks, the teacher who was leading the expedition. About a mile or so into this portion of the walk, we started to cross a creek. As Mr. Parks started to take his second step onto a rock, he stopped suddenly. I thought he had slipped, but he actually came close to stepping on a copperhead in the water. He wisely decided to go up the creek a little ways and cross there.
The scenery in the woods was beautiful. There were several streams with small waterfalls, and the sound was very relaxing.
As the afternoon went on, it started to heat up again and the humidity rose. About a mile from our desitnation, my lovely bride stepped on a loose rock, twisted her ankle and scraped her knee. She bravely hobbled the last mile and said she was alright. As we rode back on the bus to the middle school where we were to spend the night, the bride's ankle tighted and swelled. But I have to give her credit, she's pretty tough when it comes to injuries. Fortunately, she was able to ride back home with another parent. When I talked to her that night, she had the ankle elevated and iced. (She'll be getting x-rays done sometime today. One of our friends on the trip is a nurse, and she said that it appeared to be just a sprain, but that she should have it x-rayed just to be safe.)
When we got to Hillsboro Middle, everyone's shoes were caked with mud so we had to remove them before going into the gym. This is where my "stupid/not-thinking" injury occurred.
After fueling up with pizza, salad and brownies with icing, we went back to the gym for about 2 hours of pin dodgeball. So there I was with no shoes on. I brought extras but couldn't get to them without completely unpacking my sleeping bag and other stuff, so I just went barefoot. I am not a barefoot kind of person - ever. Even at home, I don't go barefoot. So I spent the next 5 hours barefoot. The gym floor was made of a hard rubber, which was great on bare feet. At the end of the night, it felt like I had taken course sandpaper to the bottoms of my feet. Nice feeling!
As for pin dodgeball, I'm a fan. After the first two games, I finally got the hang of it. As I said last week, there are a bunch of good kids there at Moore. And there's nothing like beaning a good kid with a ball during the game. Hey, they got me a few times, I got them a few times, so it all evened out. I think I sweated more during the game than I did all day on the trails. Which lead to a problem, because.....
There were no shower facilities there at the school. So a few of the teachers and I took turns and used this giant sprayer-type sink to wash off in. The water was cold, but we didn't care. Even though I wasn't completely clean, it was good to wash off part of the days' sweat.
The next morning, Mr. Parks woke everyone up ala Ty Pennington with his powered megaphone. Actually, he didn't really wake the parents up. To wake someone up, they have to have been asleep. And sleeping is almost impossible on a gym floor, even with a sleeping bag underneath you. We had breakfast (one of the moms, who will definitely get a special reward in heaven for this, brought sausage balls) and waited for the rest of the parents to arrive. The bride, now injured, would ride in the support vehicle for the day.
Friday's walking was a little less inspired. Walking 18 miles the day before, along with getting very little sleep, tends to do that to you. Even though it was noticably quieter on Day 2, we still had alot of fun. There were fewer horse manure pictures taken on the second day. About half-way through the morning hike, I noticed that 3-4 boys just ahead of me were picking flowers. I started kidding them and said, "Aw, that's so sweet that you guys are picking flowers for each other!" One of the boys turned around and said, "They're for your daughter!" Sure enough, when we stopped for a break, Sara brought this bouquet of wild flowers in a water container to the bride to hold. (The bride could more easily hold them in the van.)
After lunch on Friday, the last 3 miles of the trek was on the Trace beside the road. The last mile, Heartbreak Hill, is about a 35-degree incline. A couple of kids and parents ran that last mile. Since I had nothing to prove, and since I didn't want to die, I decided to walk it with the majority of the parents.
On the bus ride back to the neighborhood across from school, several kids fell asleep. Several talked and sang songs. We arrived in Dallas Downs at around 2:35 and waited for everyone to assemble there to walk the last 1/2 mile. As we crossed the street to go back to school, all the kids and teachers from school were on the sidewalks cheering and welcoming us home. Pretty cool. One of the parents made slushies for everyone, and there were cookies and cupcakes waiting for us. We gathered our things and headed home.
The best thing about getting home for me was the shower. For Sara, it was being able to play with Amanda, even though they spent the whole trip together. They were running and playing, and I was getting more tired just watching them. After my shower, I got on the couch to watch TV and to wait for the bride and Sara to shower before going to Cracker Barrel. (Meg already had plans; her social calendar is much more full than mine.) I fell asleep while watching Seinfeld. Nice little nap. Just enough rest to get my energy level back so that I could eat.
I can't say enough good things about the teachers who organized the 4th grade walk - Mr. Parks, Mrs. Clark, Mr. Alvey and Mrs. Selfe. They spent alot of time and effort on this adventure, and they're to be commended. Also, along with the parents who went on the trip, the moms who got the pizza for us on Thursday night and who prepared breakfast for us on Friday morning did a great job. That was no easy feat!
Would I do the walk again, now that I know what it's like? Absolutely! However, since it's only open to 4th graders at Moore, and since Sara's our youngest, I don't think it will happen. And that's a shame.....
No comments:
Post a Comment