December 11th had finally arrived and we were actually going to do this thing. I had gone to bed with some real anxiety. What if something happened? The day before a co-worker asked if we were walking through a particular section of town I asked why? He said that it was pretty dangerous. I had not even thought about that. I looked on Google maps and sure enough, we would be walking right through the area. He encouraged us with the comment that as long as it was during the day, we would probably be alright. I felt so much better …

We had planned to walk to Old Town Scottsdale that first day. We picked a local hang out, Patties on 1st Avenue, to end this day. We parked our cars in the free parking just a couple of blocks from there that morning. My brother picked us up to drive us out to Fountain Hills and drop us off. Our starting point, was the intersection on Shea in Fountain Hills where the welcoming waterfall is. We set up the pic just as we had done a few months prior. The biggest difference were the clothes! The surfer pose was really just done so not to block the wall name.

It was a fantastic morning, as most winter mornings are in Phoenix. It was in the lower 40s as we began.

The view from Shea Boulevard looking south at the start. The first few miles were going to be gradually downhill.

The mood was pretty upbeat. Scenery was great. The McDowell Mountains were to the north. Dave took this picture. It was my best impression of the cactus I always remember seeing on the cartoons when I was a kid in the 60s. I actually thought they grew with a limb on each side, like that.

Yes, I planned exhaustively for this walk. Here were the directions of Day 1, quickly written our that morning using Google maps. This planning approach was not well received by either Dave or Chrystyna. Thinking back on it, I am surprised they showed up that morning.

Scottsdale is truly a nice area. We were enjoying the first 3 hours of the walk. As lunch approached, we stopped at an AJ’s Fine Foods grocery. The walk was going well but it was about this time I started to feel sensitivity on my feet developing. I couldn’t believe these new shoes that were so light and flexible were apparently causing blisters.

The tone of the walk was also being set as Dave and I were in constant banter. Poor Chrystyna would put up with this for another three days. The conversations included stories, past jobs, sexist humorous comments (often making fun of our exaggerated experiences) and philosophizing. We made a bet as to who would fall first. Thankfully, no one actually did, but Dave would come closest with a stumble on Day 1. He tried to qualify it because he was walking backwards. NOT recommended.

One of the coolest perspectives as we were to notice is the views of Camelback Mountain as we progressed. Here is one of the first ones from the McDowell estates area. The second is later in the day along the Arizona Canal bordering condos as we approached South Scottsdale. This famous Phoenix landmark ultimately put the Valley Walk in perspective that it is a BIG valley. On Day 4, we viewed Camelback and Piestewa and realized how far we had gone.

Chrystyna catching Dave and I in another debate. Dave's not listening.

This was passing through a golf course on McDowell Ranch later in the afternoon. I was kneeling because my knees and feet demanded it!

Less than an hour or so from the end of Day 1, we realized we hadn’t checked in at work. We had told them we would send a picture or two updating our progress. It was nice to know we had support and interest from our co-workers. Although they thought it was a crazy idea, they wanted to know how it was going over the four days. I told them to check my Twitter account as I was tweeting the hike in real time under the hash tag #valleywalk. Twitter was and is too weird for them … they are the ones that just don’t get it, yet.

I think it was about 3 P.M. when we got a text or call from Thomas from work asking if Dave was still alive … or maybe if Chrystyna was ready to quit after being in our company for that many hours. Anyway, we sent them the picture above.

That is Dave on the left, me in the middle snapping the picture, and Chrystyna – attempting her best cactus pose. This was one of the fun things we did as the walk progressed – shadow shots. We tried to get one each day.

Day 1 came to a close at Patties. It was a great start. Any anxieties were gone and we were looking forward to the coming days. We celebrated with a cold Irish beverage, Guinness. It was to become the official drink of the Valley Walk.

We marked the end of the first day with the posting of the Valley Walk Dollar inside and high on the wall right of the bar at Patties. We had covered a little over 15 miles. Patrons found our story unbelievable. They asked, “You just walked from Fountain Hills?!” – “And why are you doing this?” or “Is this for charity?”

After one of the regulars listened in, he immediately sent us a tequila shot in congratulatory fashion. It was after that we realized we better get going. We were to meet back there to start Day 2 at 8 A.M. It was about 5:30 P.M.

Day 2 would bring one of the best sight seeing days as we headed west, ending in downtown Phoenix.

To see all my posts on the 2009 Valley Walk, you can click the category link Phoenix Valley Walk 2009.

All my pictures of Day 1 can be seen here: Valley Walk Day 1 Pictures.