The Breast Cancer 3-Day: Getting There

I should probably start my 3-Day adventure story with Day 1, but since I can't leave any detail unmentioned, I think I'll actually begin with the events leading up to Day 1. Vikkie and I flew into San Diego on Thursday morning, November 8, on a flight that was supposed to leave at 7:55 a.m. We arrived at the airport in plenty of time, and soon after checking our bags we wandered over to our gate and began going through the very minimal security line at KCI. As we were putting on our shoes and waiting for our carry on bags to be scanned, Vikkie starts telling me how she has unknowingly and accidentally, on multiple occasions, carried "illegal" substances and/or items (like tweezers and hand lotion) through security and onto planes. As she was bragging about getting away with her contraband, her body language apparently indicated she was trying to hide something, because the security guard flagged her purse as one that needed a good going through. With his rubber-gloved hands, he started carefully removing each item from the bag, with clear instructions to Vikkie that she wasn't allowed to touch any of her stuff that he set on the table. He found a few liquid items that needed to be "baggied," but after a short time seemed to be getting to the bottom of the contents. Unfortunately, one of the last things he pulled out of Vikkie's purse was (drum roll, please) a pocket knife. Oops. Obviously, she didn't realize it was in there--it was given to her husband Brett at some recent family gathering and then soon passed off to her for safe keeping. Unfortunately, that was the exact reason she couldn't just have the security guard pitch it--because it belonged to Brett's grandfather and had sentimental value! So, Vikkie had to leave the gate and head out to the self mail station so that she could mail the thing home. As I was standing there waiting for her to return, with all of her stuff and my stuff in tow, I heard the flight attendant's voice on the loudspeaker: "If passengers Kim Loochay and Vikkie Wysee would please come to gate 34 immediately, our flight to San Diego will leave on time." Ack!

I ran to the counter to beg the attendant for mercy, telling her that I had to wait for Vikkie because I didn't know if she even had her boarding pass to get on the plane or if it was stuffed away in the bag I was holding. I ran back to the security counter, trying to peer back through the glass outside the gate to see if I could catch Vikkie's eye to let her know I was going to get on the plane and save our seats (ah, I love Southwest). I couldn't see her at all, so I had to just stand there with all our stuff, knowing that a whole bunch of people were waiting on us! A few minutes later Vikkie appeared at the front of the security line, and I passed along her stuff as she put her shoes on and then ran back to the gate to let the flight attendant know she was on her way. Thankfully, the flight wasn't totally full, so we still found two seats together and didn't get too many dirty looks from the passengers who were waiting, who hopefully didn't realize we were the people who were delaying the takeoff.

Ironically, as we approached San Diego I happened to look up at the seats in front of us and noticed that the occupants were holding some 3-Day materials from the website. What are the odds that they were sitting in the row right in front of us!? I suggested that since Vikkie was definitely more outgoing than me, she should introduce us as fellow walkers, which she did by saying "Excuse me, my friend was just eavesdropping and she heard you all were doing the 3-Day as well." Nice. Regardless of her tactics, it was nice to meet some fellow people from KC and be able to see their familiar faces out on the route during the weekend!

Since we gained 2 hours on the way it was still pretty early in the morning when we arrived in San Diego. Although our original plan was to take the train up to our hotel in Encinitas, we ended up calling a shuttle service. We decided that lugging our huge bags onto a bus, then onto a train, then onto another bus to get to our hotel wasn't worth the money we'd save doing so! We made it to our quaint little hotel by 10:30 or so, which was very cute on the outside and looked liked it had been recently remodeled. Our room, however, did not appear as though it had been remodeled in about 40 years. The remote control was about the only thing that looked like it was relatively new. Big is the new small, apparently. Thankfully, it was only for one night, was relatively inexpensive and was fairly clean.

After dumping off our stuff in our room we headed west on foot, since we knew we were within walking distance from the beach. We walked just a couple of blocks uphill until we came to the last street parallel with the coast, where we could see the ocean, but couldn't get to it without cutting through someone's backyard. The houses along this street were kind of interesting, because some were tiny and run down, while others were absolutely gorgeous. We were making wild guesses about how much they must cost, and later confirmed that our guesses weren't too outlandish when we found a home that was for sale: $3.5 million.

After walking a few more blocks to the south we were able to find a beach access area with a switchback path down the steep bluff to the beach. We decided to come back later after finding something to each for lunch. We walked down to the main drag (Highway 101) and walked past lots of shops and restaurants until we found a cute local place where we ate some "Chipotleish" burritos. We asked the restaurant cashier where the downtown area was, hoping to do a little shopping to kill some time during the afternoon. He directed us "about 6 blocks" south, so we started walking. We passed lots of little shops (although the most abundant businesses along the highway were, by far, hair salons and chiropractors, interestingly enough) but never really came to any stretch of stores that felt like a downtown. After walking 8-10 blocks, we finally decided that maybe the Encinitas downtown must not be much to look at, so we headed back west to go to the beach.

As we walked toward the ocean again, we came across so many beautiful flowers and plants that were just so unlike anything we see here in Kansas. How fun it must be to have flowers blooming all year round! Although the day was quite cloudy and chilly, the ocean was still so beautiful. The bluffs that tower over the beach in that area are very scenic, and the vastness of the waterfront just never ceases to amaze me. We had a nice leisurely stroll along the beach for a mile or so until we came back to the public access point we'd passed by earlier in the day. We climbed the bluff back to the road and headed back to our hotel. Although it felt as though we'd already had a very full day, when we got back to our room it was still only around 2:00!

Since we still had several hours before dark, we contemplated taking the train back into San Diego to find something to do, but since the train station was two miles away, we decided that lounging and relaxing would be a better option than walking to and from the station. We watched a little T.V., then headed back out on foot to look for somewhere we could buy magazines or some other relaxing reading material. After checking out a little fruit market next door, we ended up walking at least a half mile to the nearest 7-11 to pick up some water and entertainment. It seems ridiculous that we walked like 5 miles on the day before we were scheduled to start our 60!

We lounged around for another hour or so reading mags and watching the tube, then walked a block or so up the street to a little pizza joint where we each had a big slice for dinner. We picked up some ice cream on the way back to the hotel and proceeded to pig out once we got there, figuring we'd burn most of those calories in the next few days. Although it was only about 8:00 by this time, it felt like 10 to us and we were pretty pooped out since we'd gotten up extra early! We watched a little more TV before hitting the hay around 9, which was great because we had to get up before 5 the next morning to begin our adventure! I'll get to that story very soon!

(Honestly, I have to admit that the sheer length of this post is quite frightening to me. Seriously, how did I manage to take the events of one day, a day that was a precursor to the main event, and turn them into a novel? It's insane. It truly takes detail orientation to a new level. I promise in the future I'll try to be a little more concise!)