By Fran Dunaisky
I did it! My scooter may not have liked the hills in Bear Mountain, or the rocks on the trails, but I did it!
Sixty miles with 3,000 walkers. It was the largest group of warm, kind, wonderful men and women I've had the privilege of meeting in my life. There were young adults and even an 84-year-old man. There were survivors, surviving families and people walking so that they would never have to live with breast cancer affecting anyone in their lives. We were like one big happy family, taking care of each other, talking, sharing our stories, crying, laughing, hugging and kissing. And when I needed help with my scooter they were there – to push me uphill, carry the scooter up a rugged flight of stairs or lift it over a rail along the road, and then walk in the road around me so I wouldn't be alone.
The weather couldn't have been better! The sun shone on us all three days and kept us comfortable. Well, OK, the nights sleeping in tents could have been a lot warmer. You should have seen the tent city, with over 2,000 tents! Imagine all 3,500 of us (there were about 600 terrific crew) being fed in an orderly fashion, kind of mess-hall style. And the food was much better than your average fast food, hot when it was supposed to be and really good!
There were port-a-potties wherever they were needed, and they were always clean. Where did we shower? – in huge 18-wheelers equipped with stall showers and dressing rooms and supplied with soap and shampoo (Avon, of course), and very patient people waiting on line for their turn. Huge trough-like sink set-ups were at each camp for washing and for brushing our teeth. There were mirrors for combing our hair and big electric heaters to dry off and warm up quickly.
The scenery was magnificent in most places. The trails through Bear Mountain were full of trees tuning into beautiful palettes of fall colors. The streets of some of the small towns were full of people
