When I left my house around 8:45 that morning, it was so foggy it may have been misting. Very damp. I grabbed a chocolate milk and pumpkin muffin (mmm) at the Corner Store by my house and booked it the (nearly) mile to the bus stop. Luckily that street has no hills.

I left extra early to make sure if I got messed up somewhere en route that I still had time to make it. My bus arrived at Union Station downtown and I went to figure out how our subway line works. (We only have one, the other 3 rail lines are above ground) When I checked the ticket machines I saw that my day bus pass was good for rail too, so I went to the trains. I passed a sign that said you must have a ticket beyond this point, walked down a flight of stairs... and got on a train. No gates, no booth, nobody checking for a ticket. There were no barriers at all on the other end either. Apparently Angelinos are so honest that they just assume you have paid for one. How refreshing.

I've decided I really like subways. I really, really do. My favorite thing in London was the Tube and I dig other systems I've used. And today I decided subways rock. The whole underground tube in earthquake land is still really stupid to me though.

One more bus and I was nearly there, with an hour to spare before it "began" and two until the actual walk. I spotted an Arby's a major intersection before the one I needed and hopped off for lunch.

As I was waiting for my food, ComfieCozyClay called me and told me she was on her way. I enjoyed my lunch and she met up with me there. It took us all of maybe ten minutes to discover we both knew SparkleShorty, which was very amusing as she lives in NC. I told Sparky last night that I had talked someone into going to the walk, but didn't mention a name. How funny.

On the GuluWalk website the location is listed at the Ugandan Community Church. When I googled the addy last night I found 2 churches listed there... and one was Korean. There is no signing or listings anywhere that this is an Ugandan Church. Comfie didn't believe me when I told her that was the place... until we saw all the orange shirts. LOL

We got our sponsor sheets and donations and went to register. The only thing was... there was no registration. At all. They had a petition thingy to sign (like the letter you can sign on the website) and some shirts for sale, and some kids you could sponsor, but no registration area. We asked someone and they actually had to ask someone else. They seemed a bit confused and disorganized. I got my shirt and rubber bracelet so I could be orange. Comfie ran into berkley. 3 Clay fans, woohoo!

The crowd seemed mostly like college kids, some Ugandans and probably people who go to that church. There were more than a dozen children of all ages, strollers to early teens. As we set off at around 2:40, I saw a man on the sidewalk read all the shirts and ask what the GuluWalk is, and one of the college kids told him about it. I hadn't thought that we'd be answering questions for people, but I thought that was cool. Later someone even asked me.

Berkley isn't a very strong walker, so we quickly ended up far back from the crowd. There were a couple of girls who seemed to have been assigned the tail end, so there was a small group of us. We walked and walked and kinda wondered why we hadn't seen anyone on their way back yet, as the route doubled back on itself. As we approached the midway point park, we noticed at the Army Reserve base there is a production sign indicating that they were filming Earl in there, plus a very large biker picnic (in the park, not the army base). People were doing some tricks down the street... wheelies, standing up on the seat, standing up while doing wheelies... it was all there. Cool.

We found the orange shirt brigade at the back wall of the park at a stage with a band setup. Someone was speaking, I don't know who it was. There was someone from World Vision there talking about Uganda and the conflict and trying to get us to sponsor kids there. Some of the speakers were from northern Uganda, and they were by far more compelling. One asked all of the children to get on the stage so we could applaud them for walking and also to demonstrate visually just who was being affected most in the war. And how.

We were told how the children are taken from their homes and some of the mental abuses they use to brainwash these kids. They are physically and emotionally abused until they break down and do what they are told. They are forced to kill, and then when they do they are told that they can never go back home, because nobody will love them now. They are told not to be afraid in gunfire, because the bullets will bounce off of them. And they believe it all. The Ugandan speakers did not want to point fingers or assign blame (you should have done this, he should have done that - think FEMA) and that now all they wanted was for the war to end. All they want is peace. We were thanked deeply and repeatedly by every person from Uganda who spoke. I felt the deep sincerity of these messages of gratitude.

After several speakers, a christian rock band was introduced named Godspeed, who were introduced by a girl as "these guys all go to my church." She also told us the one thing she wanted us to take away from today was a love of Jesus Christ (or something like that), which I thought was odd because I'd think the one thing they wanted you to take would be "help stop this war to save these children" ... but maybe that's just me. Anyway, if music is playing I have to cellcert someone, so I called Sparky, as I thought she would enjoy them.

A few songs into their set I was beginning to wonder if they were going to keep us there all night. The granola bar in my purse started speaking to me, and the sun was beginning to set. Although they had bottles of water and granola bars at the church, nobody brought them to the park. Comfie, who does lots of walks and such, went over to one of the organizers and gave her some friendly tips on what could be done better next time.

Comfie had overheard me at the park telling Sparky that the thing was lasting so long I had totally missed the last bus that would get me closest to my house (I could still get cose.. I'd just have a longer walk at the end.) and offered to drive me home, which was very nice as she doesn't live in quite the same direction I do.

It was now getting close to 5pm and we were only halfway done with the walk! The website has said the whole thing should last two hours. There were still people left to speak but we decided to head back early. Comfie hadn't eaten in a long time and this walk was going to end in the dark if we didn't go soon.

On the second half of our walk, a car pulled up near us and asked us if we wanted a ride to the end. "No thanks, we like the walk. We want to finish." A woman and two men really seemed to want to give us a ride. They were very friendly and all wearing GuluWalk stickers. She told Comfie that she heard her give her advice and they were all good ideas. We talked to them a bit and they were very nice and friendly. The woman introduced herself as a reporter, with her cameraman and engineer. I think her name was Elizabeth Espinosa with Fox.

They had just returned from Gulu three days ago. It was sometimes hard to hear if there were cars going by but I think she said the story was for Good Day LA (which is Good Day or Good Day Live everywhere else) She told us there might be a bit about the walk tonight and/or tomorrow night on the news and that we should write to the station and let them know we want to hear more about this story because it's hard to get them to believe that anyone wants to hear about it. She started getting Comfie's email so she could let her know when it would air.

Well, say "you should email the station" to a Claymate and a light kicks on. LOL Comfie said, "Actually we are big Clay Aiken fans." They ALL gave the all-too-familiar "CLAY AIKEN?!" shocked response, which I'm realizing is the regular way most people react when finding out. (At least around here) Lisa knew. She said, "You guys are a powerful force." We agreed. I added, "Clay was in Gulu earlier this year as an ambassador with UNICEF." Lisa was shocked!

"Clay?"

Yes.

"In Gulu?"

Yes.

"Clay was in Gulu?"

Yes.

She looked impressed.

THEN.. (get this)... she told us that she really liked his work with Autism. SHE KNEW, we did not mention it. She also said she was there for the Anomaly and she interviewed him and Faye backstage. She thought he was really nice.

They offered one last time to drive us to the end but we kindly refused. The engineer told us we were good people. Awww. Comfie and I finished our walk with something quite fun to talk about. We both hoped she'd go back and Google Clay's trip. We wondered if she'd try to contact him.

When we got back to the church, the finish-line, we were met by one guy sitting in a chair talking to a girl. He looked up and said "You made it." That was pretty much it.