Day One - we have launched!
- kimballkatej
- Jul 4
- 2 min read
7.4.25 - How to even begin to describe the beauty of today??? We gathered at the temple for a send-off party that featured the excited loved ones - friends, family, community members - all with their incredible joy and energy and best wishes for our journey. People came with their big hearts and their well wishes and their questions about just how are we going to do this thing? It was a powerful good send-off that included a temple blessing for the walkers and original songs written and performed by the Raging Grannies.
And then we began to walk.
So many people joined us on this first day of the walk - some for the entire stretch (some 17 plus miles), others for smaller segments of the journey. People anticipated where we would be and joined up along the way. Car horns honked their approval and people waved from their windows, their yards, from over their fences. We had a wonderful surprise as we came around the bend on Camp Creek Road - a woman holding a sign that read: "SO PROUD - You Got This!!!"
Some walkers stopped along the way to soak our feet, or our whole selves, in the cool waters of the river that flowed alongside us - we got soaked by kids with water guns whose mom had had enough, and so we begged "get us instead!" and they obliged... our second blessing of the day, that refreshed us for the next leg of the journey.
And then we came around another bend, and there was Joan, waiting to guide us on a short-cut trail alongside the canal to our final destination of the day, the McKenzie Valley Presbyterian Church in Walterville, where they rolled out an incredible welcome for our crew complete with great food, company, and decorations for the Fourth of July, and where we received our third blessing - a gift from the pastors, a gift from the congregants, and a gift from the tradition of pilgrimage - a reminder that we are here to connect, learn, grow, spread love, and be of service to something bigger than ourselves as we make our way. Plus, some very good pulled chicken!
Here are a few images from the day:
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