Categorized | Volunteering

Day 7: Lovato half way round the island

Angelina Lovato is due to finish her second 240-mile trek Monday, June 7 at Konawaena Elementary School. (Hawii 24/7 photo by Karin Stanton)

Karin Stanton | Hawaii 24/7 Contributing Editor

Angelina Lovato has completed half her mission. That means she only has another 120 miles to walk!

Lovato is walking around the Big Island – for the second time – to raise funds for special needs students in the Kona area. She’s been starting her daily 20-mile treks before 6 a.m. to take advantage of the cooler morning temperatures.

By midday Wednesday, she had conquered those nasty gulches north of Hilo and was looking ahead to the Hamakua Coast.

She expects to arrive back at Konawaena Elementary School sometime around midday Monday, June 7.

Her husband Randy is pacing her in a van, taking care of her blistered feet and accepting donations along the way.

From the Special Needs Kids Hawaii website:

Here’s the word from our walker at the halfway mark: “Oh, my God, I did it!”

Of course Angelina still has 120 miles to go, but now every step brings her closer to home and you can already hear the excitement building in her voice. By the time she hits the dry side again and starts seeing those signs pointing to Kailua, she will be positively ebullient.

The message she left Tuesday evening was the shortest so far. Angelina was tired and ready for bed even though it was only 5:06 p.m.

She and Randy are the guests of “Aunty Anita” and “Uncle Bill,” a.k.a. the Politanos, who live that side with their son, John. But I didn’t get much else because Angelina was unusually short on details.

There was no blister report (which I am hoping means her toes behaved themselves), and no mention of what she ate. She did report that she and Randy started before sunrise again with the van lighting the way.

Still, even though her words were few, her feelings came through loud and clear. Angelina sounded strong, content and grateful to be so far along.

This latest 20-mile trek went from Glenwood past Keaau, through Hilo, along Bayfront, over the singing bridge, past Papaikou and clear through to Onomea. That’s a whole lot of turf to cover in one day. Tomorrow it’s three gulches and, if this year is like last, a great deal of wind to contend with.

The day ends with a visit at the home of the good folks at Hawaiian Orthotics Prosthetics Enterprises who custom made Angelina’s walking shoes.

— Find out more:
www.specialneedskidshawaii.org

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

 

Quantcast