A Trip to the Past

On Saturday, they bussed us off the island. In school busses. Man, I remember them being a whole lot bigger when we were kids! LOL

I had sent a couple of texts to Pina and Saundra, trying to connect with them for breakfast so we could get on the bus together. I never got a response. This ended up being the pattern for the weekend. Two weeks after the Walk, I was sitting in the living room doing my homework one evening and I got a text. It was from Pina. I ended up getting about 15 texts, one after another. They were all the texts she had sent to me all weekend long.  I’d never received them. We still haven’t figured out where they those two weeks between when they left her phone and when they arrived on mine.

I got in line, thinking I’d see them somewhere along the way but I never did. I was on the first bus of the morning. We piled in and headed on our way for another day. Saturday’s route had us starting in Emeryville, walking up to Berkeley and all around the city, and the back to Emeryville to catch the bus back to our pink tent city temporary home.

We were a lively group, especially for so early in the morning. A group near the front of the bus started a rousing chorus of, “The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round” and we continued until we couldn’t remember any more verses. Then we moved on to other campfire songs. We entertained ourselves well. Along the route there are signs with white arrows to show us which direction to Walk. Some of them have hot pink signs posted with humorous and encouraging notes. The first one we passed when we started on the trails said, “Who Let The Walkers Out?” As I’m sure you’ve guessed, that started another sing-a-long, complete with woofing and barking.

It was quite amusing, crossing the footbridge as we approached Berkeley. So many people in the passing cars and vehicles honked at us. I imagine we are quite the sight in our pink tutus and boas and costumes, a long, long line of Walkers, cheering and talking and singing, and always carrying the flags.