|
|
|
Diane Heavin's Diary - April 17th - Day 10/11 Refreshed and ready to rock and roll…
Well, maybe not exactly, but I do feel 100% better and we have the day off. Yeah!!
Yesterday we started off once again in the Gobi desert—complete with a dust storm. It was quite windy and the sand picked up and got into everything…even my camera. So it’s not working as well, but every now and then I can get it to turn on. I’ve got a new one on the way and I know you’ll be glad because the pictures sure add a lot to my blog.
So as we’re driving out in the sand in this huge bus we’re thinking—how stupid is this, we’re gonna get stuck. Not only did we get stuck, our police escort vehicle and ambulance did, too. You can just envision the sight…all these men standing around trying to figure this one out.
We kept walking and when we finished they had dug the vehicles out. But not before Toyah Willcox, UK actress and rockstar, had a little fun with it.
After our morning adventure it was off to lunch. It was quite a pleasant stop. We had fresh, mostly cold, healthy vegetable dishes prepared at a local co-op farm. The bread was our favorite. Too bad we couldn’t get seconds—we gotta keep the weight on.:-) Newcomer Andrew Gaze, an Australian and former San Antonio Spurs basketball player, was like us in the beginning—eating only rice, not welcoming all the odd delicacies. You should have seen his face when we got back on the bus and gave him one of our treasured snacks from home—beef jerky. Oddly enough, he’d never tried it before. He loved it! Our treats have become quite valuable. Becky gave Robyn Walker a couple of Toblerone white chocolates—you’d have thought she just gave her a million bucks.
At this point we were a couple of hours behind schedule, so we skipped the museum visit and headed straight to the next location where we would walk along the beginning of the “Silk Road.” This was the ancient silk trade route through China to Persia and Russia. It was a spectacular site with many large sand dunes. The setting looked like it came straight out of a movie.
Next and last stop—which by the way didn’t start until 4:30 p.m.—was our grand finale of an 8 kilometer finish. That’s what they told us anyway—it changed several times once we arrived. We ended up walking and walking and walking for almost 3 hours at a very fast pace. Becky and I and just a few others led the pack. If we’d known up front how far it really was we could have coped. But it was quite cruel and frustrating to reach what we thought was the finish only to be told, “Just two more kilometers,” several times by our Chinese guides. It turns out we walked about 15 kilometers and didn’t get back to the hotel until about 8:30.
As if all this wasn’t enough, the entire bus ride was a jarring, bumpy, tossing experience. The funny thing is that Becky’s pedometer clicked and counted every bump—we earned an extra 10,000 steps today and we’re taking them—we deserve them!
In the hotel parking lot I gathered my things and told Becky I’d wait for her outside the bus. The next thing I know, someone’s yelling “Diane, your friend has passed out!” I dropped my stuff and ran for the bus and there she was—not looking too good, but she hadn’t quite passed out. Apparently she had a reaction to the heat and it got the best of her. I helped her off the bus and got her to her room. Some lovely people, Bronwyn, the podiatrist, and Michaela Greene, an Australian businesswoman, helped us carry our stuff and helped me to make Becky more comfortable. (Olivia was right there too, along with many of the others.) Becky’s legs had turned beet red and were quite swollen. What a trooper—and I might add she has a funny sense of humor. All she was worried about was getting put on the B Bus. I told her that the B Bus was only for infectious diseases. We had a good laugh. I’d have joined her if theyd made her go—I’m taking the Curves vitamins after all and I believe more than ever that they have been my saving grace.
Speaking of grace—I just have to mention the shirt Becky wore yesterday. As you can see in the photo of her below, she wore the pink “God Made Me…Curves Maintains Me” shirt. She wasn’t sure about the reaction she’d get, but several people came up to her specifically to read it, and said they loved it. Amy Sky asked for one just like it to wear on a morning show interview in Canada on April 24! (Hey Jenn – would you please send Amy a shirt ASAP? Thanks!)
And now we’re back to the present. I’m sitting here next to Becky and she’s alive! She’s well, but I’m going to make her rest the whole day with her legs elevated. Extra prayers needed. :-)
Tomorrow we travel the entire day. We catch two more flights—we’re hoping for a Starbucks in the airport. Little blessings!
I’ll write again as soon as we hit the ground—it’ll probably be a couple days.
 
Walkers discussed in the above article
|
Andrew Gaze
|
|
|
Total Sponsors: 30
Sponsors Today: 0
|
|
Becky Frusher
|
|
|
Total Sponsors: 37
Sponsors Today: 0
|
|
Bronwyn Cooper
|
|
|
Total Sponsors: 22
Sponsors Today: 0
|
|
Diane Heavin
|
|
|
Total Sponsors: 2308
Sponsors Today: 0
|
|
Michaela Green
|
|
|
Total Sponsors: 69
Sponsors Today: 0
|
|
Robyn Walker
|
|
|
Total Sponsors: 21
Sponsors Today: 0
|
|
Toyah Willcox
|
|
|
Total Sponsors: 74
Sponsors Today: 0
|
|
