OK gang - forgive the blog headline. A guy's head can turn to mush after 150 miles of walking!
The Blue Ridge Mountains in April were beautiful alright, but nothing like the beautiful oasis the skyline of Charlotte provided. It was good to finally arrive Wednesday at our first major city since leaving Asheville over two weeks ago. And the crowd on The Green Uptown could not have greeted us better. There is a real momentum in the air these days. The Charlotte media came out to cover Kathy and me arriving – WSOC-TV, KATT Radio, and 96.1 FM among them. The video with this post captures our day quite well.
On stage, an eclectic mix of community leaders, sports personalities, Charlotte Bobcats cheerleaders, local Charlotte types, you name it, greeted us warmly and asked for stories from the road. Our rally was a fun-spirited event.
That night we all went to the final Bobcats game of the season, our campaign video was played on the big screen, and Kathy and I were introduced at center court, all while basketball legend Michael Jordan sat just feet away. Now all this was pretty cool... but you know me. My sights are already on the lights of Winston-Salem, just four to five walking days to the north.
That's how you do it here on a 600+ mile walk. You don't think about the distance. You take it a week at a time and a major city at a time. You do the math: 12-mile days times 6 days per week of walking equals more than 70 miles a week. It adds up, doesn't it? And with any luck we'll see you in Winston-Salem on Tuesday for another rally!
The Million Step March pulled into Charlotte today, and we have some early photos to share from the huge event at The Green Uptown.
First up is Kathy Higgins, joined by Fred Whitfield (left), president and chief operating officer of the Charlotte Bobcats, and Mark Richardson (right), president of the Carolina Panthers.
Then we have Gary Marino taking a culinary lesson in fruit juice drinks from Heather Tidwell. Heather is a chef-in-training in the culinary arts program at the Charlotte campus of Johnson & Wales University.
We'll have much more to share from the Charlotte events.
After 100-plus miles on "The March," we finally took a big right hand turn and headed south toward Charlotte. All things considered, the walking effort is going well.
Just one issue: THE WEATHER? This is the only state I've ever worked in where the weather forecasters are actually right! When they predict rain, it's rain. When they predict sun, it's sun. I'm from Boston, of course, where we are down to three seasons officially: fall, winter and road construction.
So it's downpouring and we're walking on farm roads – but I'm wearing a plastic poncho (which is very slimming) supplied by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina as well as my trusty blue "urban sombrero." It's a blue nylon and Velcro hat I bought at Gaylan's Sports Store back home, and it's been with me ever since on every walking campaign we've done. Add to this already impressive "road warrior" wardrobe an iPod, cell phone and headset, and I'm a high-tech urban cowboy.
We are looking forward to the event on the Green in Charlotte on Wednesday and our Bobcats Arena event that night. Kathy and I are holding up fine and getting stronger by the day. I haven't had time to search for a scale so I won't be doing any "girth announcements." But I do feel great and I know I'm losing weight. We've also had great people on the walk so far – interesting and fun people. Life is good on the Million Step March.
Kathy, Gary and the other walkers on the Million Step March team aren't hoofing it alone. Wherever they are on the road, lurking somewhere nearby is the big Million Step March tractor-trailer rig.
Since not everybody gets a chance to come out to one of the events on the road, we thought it would be a good idea to give you a virtual tour. Our videographer, Rod Rich, put together this quick look inside the truck.
At some Million Step March events, the truck will be home base for cooking demonstrations and a look at how we might work - and work out - in the future. See for yourself through the video tour, led by Gary and Kathy.
