Walk Blog: Alice Gerard (Lake Mills to Cottage Grove)

By Alice Gerard
July 26, 2008

Mosquitoes that managed to sneak into the tent that I shared with Mary and Helene enjoyed a feast. In the middle of the night, I awakened to the drone of a mosquito that was ready to dive bomb me. In the dark and without my glasses, I swatted ineffectively in the air, covered my face with my arms, and drifted back to sleep.

Five o’clock in the morning seems to come awfully quickly.

It was time to go to the public showering facility near the bike path. Tim drove Mary, Helene, and me there. I enjoyed a hot shower and emerged, feeling human again.

Back at the campsite, we welcomed Huihwa, Mark, and Mike, who are going to be part of our group for the weekend.

After packing up the tents and deflating the mattresses and eating breakfast, we were ready to begin our day’s adventure, walking from Lake Mills to Cottage Grove.

We were driven in the bus back to the park, where we had ended yesterday’s walk. The park had been decorated by the nineteen teams participating in the Relay for Life. The Relay for Life theme in Lake Mills was a kind of groovy sixties theme. One of the teams had decorated its area with old vinyl record albums that had been painted with words and peace signs and all sorts of images associated with the 1960s. It was all very colorful and very cute.

The Relay for Life participants were still walking around the path at the park’s perimeter. The path was lined with luminaria in paper sacks, all with handwritten messages. Some honored cancer survivors, while others memorialized those who had passed away.

Yesterday, when I was watching the Relay for Life people set up for the big event, which raises funds for the American Cancer Society, I met a woman who was folding light purple t-shirts for cancer survivors participating in the event. She told me that she was a substitute teacher who, four years ago, had been diagnosed with breast cancer after a routine mammogram. She was immediately referred to a surgeon. She is now in remission. Two years ago, she served as the honorary chairman for the Relay for Life.

When I listened to this woman tell her story, I couldn’t help but think of a story that I had written for Alt Press (an alternative newspaper in Buffalo that isn’t printed anymore but can still be found on line). Doug Rokke had come to Buffalo to talk about the effects of depleted uranium on people. He said that he was a warrior and that he had been in the military for quite a long time. He was also a scientist, and one of the jobs that he and the team that he led was given to do was to figure out how to clean up depleted uranium from an area.

This was during the first Gulf War.

He said that it was impossible to clean up depleted uranium. He himself suffered terrible health problems from exposure to depleted uranium. He said that depleted uranium exposure resulted in increased risks of leukemia and other forms of cancer. Exposure to depleted uranium has resulted in the deaths of many Iraqi children.

Before long, however, we had walked away from the park and toward the road that would take us out of Lake Mills. We walked past lakes, where people were getting their boats ready for a day outside. We left the city and walked past fields of corn and beans. We walked past cows standing around. We walked past horses, running in pastures. I was especially delighted to see the horses. When they ran, they looked graceful, with their long legs and their manes flying.

The sad part of the walk was seeing all of the road kill. We were startled to see a deer almost suffer the same fate when it ran across the road, directly in front of an automobile. Fortunately, the driver slowed down and the deer was able to make it across the road, still alive. The driver and passenger of that car had terrified looks on their faces, as did the walkers who witnessed that incident. Shortly after the car left, another deer bounded across the street. Mercifully, there was no traffic at the time.

As we walked, we experienced a variety of reactions from passing motorists. Some smiled and waved. Others flashed peace signs and cheered. One man gave us a negative review and offered us the thumbs down criticism. Another man stopped his pickup truck and questioned what we were doing. He had the impression that, if we opposed the war, we were opposing the troops. He said that he had been in the military for several years and that we were negating all of the sacrifices that he had made in the service of his country.

Huihwa, Dan, and Joshua told him that we did indeed support the troops. They told him that we could oppose the war and support the troops at the same time. We want the troops to come home and the veterans to get all of the benefits that they need.

Huihwa, Dan, and Joshua said that they would like to continue to talk to the man.

“I don’t know what more we could say,” said the man.

“We want to listen to you,” they said.

The rest of us continued on our walk, while Huihwa, Dan, and Joshua talked to the man, who really just needed someone to listen to him. Later, I found out that the four of them had a good conversation and that they had made a good connection with this man. After about half an hour, Joshua left on the support bicycle, and the man drove Huihwa and Dan back to the rest of the group to continue the walk. By this time, the man was smiling at all of us.

That is what this walk is about… talking, listening, and making connections.

We had a bathroom break at a house near a church. At the church, we had lunch.

Then, we continued walking, on and on, for mile after mile. It was a very long walk, without much shade. As we entered Cottage Grove, my foot decided that was a good time to have a cramp and go on strike. Huihwa and I were able to get Tim to pick us up in the support vehicle and take us the remaining two miles to Dennis’ house, where we were to enjoy a dinner.

We spent a relaxing evening at Dennis’ house. It is located in a subdivision in Cottage Grove. The person who built the subdivision was a teacher who was a big horse racing fan. There were streets named for race horses, such as Alydar, Citation, and Secretariat.

We then scattered to host families and tents outdoors to spend the night.

Tomorrow, we will walk with a large group into Madison.

See my blogs at www.alicesgrandadventures.blogspot.com or at www.closethesoa.blogspot.com/