We got up at 4:45 AM, had breakfast, packed our lunches, cleaned up the kitchen and the gym, and packed our gear.  Kathy slept through breakfast and will be taken to Grand Island to recuperate from the flu.  Ed requested to be left in his tent. We were ready to March at 6:30. The Gear truck and the Kitchen truck stayed until everything was cleaned up and packed up. I left at 6:30, departed Kearney, and rode 14 miles to Gibbon in 2 hours. The Moonlight Marchers were already at Davis Park. Some were in a big tent that they had carried; some were spread out in the Park in their sleeping equipment. The cornfield north of the park was demolished. The corn had no leaves or tassels.  We learned that 4 days ago there had been giant winds, hail, and a tornado. There were houses in town that had windows broken out.  We’re lucky this wasn’t our campsite the evening the storm came through.

By 3 PM in the afternoon there was a planning meeting with only 8 people present. It was not clear to me what exactly we were talking about—objectives, strategies, tactics. It seemed as if with every objective suggested we were to describe what would be required of the Marchers. There was no hard copy made. At 5 PM we had a camp meeting to learn about the rest of the March through NE. After dinner we had a meeting on fundraising. Ed conducted the meeting. We will have a rest day in Grand Island, so we will do some door-to-door canvassing to raise money for the March. He’s asking for volunteers. I’ll volunteer and see what happens. There were clouds and thunder overnight but it didn’t rain on us.

MON Jul 14

Since the March was only 15 miles today, we got up at 6 AM. Lala made pancakes for breakfast. There were 2 different kinds: chocolate chip and mulberry. As we were packing up it began to sprinkle. The sprinkle got everything wet and then it quit.  As the day went on the clouds rolled away and the sun came out.  We got on the road much later. I got out of Gibbon at 8:30 and reached Wood River by 11:30. Wood River is a town of about 1600 people. I checked all over town for WiFi connections but there weren’t any. We set up camp around a baseball field. After dinner we had an all-camp meeting. It took an hour for us to go over the in-camp issues. Then it was bedtime.