Night Shift

It's 6:45 AM and I don't have much time to write because we're leaving at 7:15 for mass at 8 (after that I'll be zonking out), but I just got back from my first night on night shift! It was a whole different ballgame than day shift- as I was expecting. My group left at 8:30 PM to drive out to where we left off Friday afternoon. On the way I realized that I forgot my sneakers! : 0 whoopsie! So Scott and the day shift gang drove the RV out from the Retreat Center where we had been staying for the weekend and met us at the first mile marker (they're the best).
Curt and Margret are super fast walkers and no one likes to walk with them because our sorry behinds can't keep up! So the two of them walked the first 5 miles and Miriam, Brad, Kate and I waited in the van for the RV. We started our walk around 10:15-ish after I unsuccessfully tried to keep everybody awake for the hour and fifteen minutes we were waiting for the other walkers. We were a little groggy but excited to walk in the dark- there were some clouds in the sky but we could see tons of stars because we were walking by big open fields and there were no lights for miles. The weather was really nice too (until the last 5 miles when it started raining) which was a huge relief because most of last week was rainy for both day and night shift; a few poor night shifters ended up getting sick because of the rain and cold weather.
The thrill of walking in the dark wore off preeety quickly (for me at least). The miles seemed longer and it was hard for us to walk while tired. It wasn't so bad overall though and we ended up getting in 30 miles (we each walked 15!). It's raining now so I'm sure I'll sleep like a baby today and be well rested for tonight's walk.

Some of the places we've walked through so far:
Seattle (kickoff)
Snohomish
Munroe
Gold Bar
Skykomish
Steven's Pass (through the Cascades)
Leavenworth
Wenachee
Waterville
Wilbur
Davenport
Spokane (our shift last night walked from Davenport to Spokane)

We've been walking on Route 2 through Washington because it's illegal to walk on the interstate, but we're getting on 90 soon and heading for Coeur d'Alene, Idaho after Spokane.

That's all folks...I'm tired. Goodnight!

(Written Monday morning after walking Sunday night)