Walking Home From Canada
Jan. 15th, 2010 02:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jayfurrAs anyone who's been within a stone's throw of my livejournal or Facebook page lately knows, my wife and I are trying to raise money for the fight against breast cancer. We're doing a teddy bear raffle (http://www.furrs.org/raffle.htm, if you're interested), and that's gotten some interest going (thanks, y'all!), but nonetheless, sitting here in my hotel room in Arlington, Massachusetts (I get to go to all the exciting winter destinations!), I just had a genuinely stupid thought, something so over-the-top benightedly dumb that I thought "hey, that'd probably really get the donations flowing, if only out of a sheer morbid fascination with the Grand Guignol idiocy I get up to when I'm bored."
The idea?
If my wife's Breast Cancer 3-Day fundraising total reaches or exceeds the $2,300 minimum between now and March 21, I will walk home from Canada IN A SINGLE DAY. I will arrange to be dropped off at the Canadian/American border crossing in Alburgh, Vermont and I will walk 60 miles home IN ONE DAY.
There is no question that I can do it. Last November 1, as a result of horribly bad weather shortening the Philadelphia Breast Cancer 3-Day by two days and turning the final day into a 15-mile walk, I decided I owed it to myself and to my donors and supporters to walk the remaining 45-mile distance in a single day. Stretching it out in bits and pieces over several weeks would have been no test at all, so I said "45 miles. One day. Got to do it."
And I did. Started at 4 a.m., walked 22.5 miles from my house to a public park in Colchester, Vermont, then did an about-face and walked home. Took me about 16 hours if I recall. I was fine afterwards: one small blister on one foot, and otherwise, just a bit tired.
So 60 miles shouldn't be much harder: I'll start at midnight the first Saturday or Sunday that I'm in town and the temperature is predicted to be above freezing the entire 24-hour period, and I'll get Carole to drop me off at the US Customs station at Alburgh and head on home. I expect I'll get home late that evening after walking through the night and all morning, afternoon, and evening.
My intended route can be seen here: http://tinyurl.com/canada-to-home
I should probably get a sign or banner printed up to carry with me that'll tell people in cars going by what the hell I'm doing so they'll stop and donate, too. Couldn't hurt.
In the song "Alice's Restaurant Massacree", Arlo Guthrie reminded his audience that "If you wanna end war and stuff, you gotta sing loud."
Well, if you wanna end breast cancer and stuff, you gotta GO THE DISTANCE.
And I will. Y'all help my wife get to $2,300 or more between now and March 21, and I'll hit the road.
To donate:
Please feel free to forward this message, or a link to this message, to anyone who might be interested in helping out. Everyone deserves a lifetime! Let's find a cure for breast cancer!
The idea?
If my wife's Breast Cancer 3-Day fundraising total reaches or exceeds the $2,300 minimum between now and March 21, I will walk home from Canada IN A SINGLE DAY. I will arrange to be dropped off at the Canadian/American border crossing in Alburgh, Vermont and I will walk 60 miles home IN ONE DAY.
There is no question that I can do it. Last November 1, as a result of horribly bad weather shortening the Philadelphia Breast Cancer 3-Day by two days and turning the final day into a 15-mile walk, I decided I owed it to myself and to my donors and supporters to walk the remaining 45-mile distance in a single day. Stretching it out in bits and pieces over several weeks would have been no test at all, so I said "45 miles. One day. Got to do it."
And I did. Started at 4 a.m., walked 22.5 miles from my house to a public park in Colchester, Vermont, then did an about-face and walked home. Took me about 16 hours if I recall. I was fine afterwards: one small blister on one foot, and otherwise, just a bit tired.
So 60 miles shouldn't be much harder: I'll start at midnight the first Saturday or Sunday that I'm in town and the temperature is predicted to be above freezing the entire 24-hour period, and I'll get Carole to drop me off at the US Customs station at Alburgh and head on home. I expect I'll get home late that evening after walking through the night and all morning, afternoon, and evening.
My intended route can be seen here: http://tinyurl.com/canada-to-home
I should probably get a sign or banner printed up to carry with me that'll tell people in cars going by what the hell I'm doing so they'll stop and donate, too. Couldn't hurt.
In the song "Alice's Restaurant Massacree", Arlo Guthrie reminded his audience that "If you wanna end war and stuff, you gotta sing loud."
Well, if you wanna end breast cancer and stuff, you gotta GO THE DISTANCE.
And I will. Y'all help my wife get to $2,300 or more between now and March 21, and I'll hit the road.
To donate:
http://www.the3day.org/goto/carole
-- and for what it's worth, if you donate $50 or more between now and January 31, you'll also be entered in the Vermont Teddy Bear raffle I mentioned above.Please feel free to forward this message, or a link to this message, to anyone who might be interested in helping out. Everyone deserves a lifetime! Let's find a cure for breast cancer!
