We arrived at the Grand Canyon with a ton of excitement and a massive amount of organizational tasks ahead. The first stop I insisted on making was to the Back Country Office. We went in to say hi and meet in person, Mark Wunner. He is really one of the key folks who helped this adventure grow into what it was. Although I faxed over the campsite request on New Year’s Eve so it would be the first application seen in 2014, there were no guarantees. Not only did he connect me with the Superintendent but he also paved the way for me to work with the head of Xterra. That’s the company who takes reservations for the bottom over a year ahead of time. The thought of being able to get anything at Phantom Ranch was inconceivable; but somehow through the flexibility of the staff and infectious spirit of Anthony and his wish, we were able to secure 19 spots at the bottom. We were excited to meet the man who was such a huge support. Of course he was wonderful, humble and said he simply “just loves doing his job and making dreams come true”.
Next, we headed over to the Livery barn to coordinate and drop off all the gear. This was the only part of the trip that was frustrating and challenging for me. I remained calm and tried to remind myself how absolutely lucky we were. I was also thanking the stars above I had my talented production coordinator, Dee Dee McGee cracking the whip on everyone. We had to weigh each duffle and stay within 30lbs and specific dimensions. I had given everyone a weight limit after taking out 4 duffels for food and 1 for medical. We had purchased 360lbs altogether. I figured if everyone stuck to the limit of 15-20lbs we would make it work. It was way more complicated than that because I miscalculated that some of the duffels had such awkward items in them such as sleeping bags, they would not actually be able to be stuffed to the maximum capacity of 30lbs. This little oversight left us quite a bit of gear unpacked. With only an hour left to the cut-off point, we were under the gun and had to add some mules which affected the budget. I was frustrated I had spent all that time obsessively planning and it still wasn’t right. But I quickly put the problem into proper perspective, accepted the costs, and moved on. The one person that did get it right was Tony, our chef. I couldn’t believe how great he did for very little budget. He pre-cooked, froze and fit all his food for us at the bottom on his 4 mules! That was amazing! Also Tupac, our medic, was able to fit a whole mini medical triage on his back complete with IV’s, precautionary heart support and general first aid (this will be so impressive later on when you hear how he wore it while also carrying AC).
After checking into our hotel we headed over to Maswick lodge to meet the whole team for dinner. Seeing everyone from all the different teams finally together in the same place was totally overwhelming. Linda passed out the shirts she had made and Carol made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for our day packs tomorrow. We got to finally meet Ryan, our videographer for the documentary. The boys nicknamed him the bug eater based on his participation in “Out of the Wild” on the discovery channel where he cooked up a variety of vermin in order to survive. He made the boys feel comforted with his survival skills however we all agreed that hopefully we wouldn’t need to rely on them for this particular trip.
We also met some more of the volunteer’s family members who made the journey up so they could be part of it. There was also a whole new group of guys that were friends with Todd from Scottsdale Fire Department who drove up just to see if there were any last minute tasks unassigned. That was unbelievable to me….and very helpful. We had not really figured out who was going to carry the 20lb pack with Anthony’s ventilator in it. Dee Dee and I were prepared to carry it and switch off but that plan wasn’t ideal. She and I really needed to be light and free to keep up to the carriers and care for AC on the trail. Darrell, our team leader for the firefighter group, called me over and introduced me to Wade. Wade was a young man I had never met who just drove up because he heard about the adventure and wanted to help. It was decided Wade would carry the ventilator pack all the way down and then hike back out making sure he didn’t take up any unplanned space. That still chokes me up just thinking about it.
I got up and made a speech to all the firefighters, pro-hikes, friends, family and strangers who had gathered for our son. I don’t remember what I said but I will never forget how I felt. It was truly indescribable. I think I said something to the effect that when Anthony got diagnosed, we felt so alone and so very isolated. But now we know the truth, we are not alone, we are part of a beautiful village and we love our village. Everyone was emotional as several different folks got up and spoke. Lastly, Carrie, our chef’s girlfriend, asked if she could speak. She said she didn’t know Anthony but was so honored to meet him. Carrie explained that Tony had been on the river trip last year with AC and had come home profoundly affected by him which in turn, affected her. She was so emotional she asked if I could read a proverb that she had brought.
“We are all visitors to this time, this place. We are just passing through. Our purpose here is to observe, to learn, to grow, to love…..and then we return home.” – Australian Aboriginal Proverb
There was not a dry eye and it was a perfect way to end the evening. Now all we had to do was put aside our excitement and nervousness and try to get some sleep because tomorrow we would be setting off on a Daring Adventure, one that was about to change all of our lives forever.
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