The morning of February 11, 2016 people saw two senior girls doing the unexpected: walking, instead of driving, to school. Megan Brandes and Mackenzie Franco both own cars and are perfectly capable of driving, and usually do since they live about a 20 minutes away from Lewis-Palmer High School. But, these two decided that they wanted to walk to school at least once before graduation.

“In Advanced Geography, we were talking about our carbon footprint, and Ms. Edmundson talked about a boy she used to know when she went to Lewis-Palmer. She said that he walked to school and back, and he lived near where I did. I thought it sounded like a fun idea. So I asked Mackenzie if she would [join me], and she said she would. I also thought it would be really fun for my senior year; and once I heard the idea, I had to do it before I graduated,” Brandes said.

Together, Brandes and Franco woke at 3:30 in the morning to prepare to leave. They were on the road by 4:00 am, bundled in as many layers as possible, with provisions in hand, to fight against the low temperatures of a February dawn in Colorado.

“We each had on about four layers worth of jackets, very warm pants and shoes, and had brightly colored hats on. Megan brought a bunch of food for us to eat on the way. We also had flashlights to walk in the dark and show cars ‘hey we’re here on the road,’ and our phones to play music along the way,” Franco said.

The two girls said they enjoyed the walk, as it gave them time to catch up. The two had planned on the journey taking approximately 2 ½ hours, but it took them nearly three to walk the 8 miles from Brandes’ home to Lewis-Palmer High School, due to unexpected complications.

“We were on Hodgen, almost to Highway 83, when we were talking when I see something move out of the corner of my eye on the road. So I’m like, ‘What the…?’, and I shine my flashlight at it, and we see that it’s a medium-sized black dog! I know you’re not supposed to pet random dogs; but I had to get the dog out of the street, so I picked him up and started to carry him,” Franco said. “Megan looked at the dog’s collar and saw that his name was Max. Megan called Max’s owners to tell them, ‘Hello sir, we have your dog. Sorry that it’s almost 5 in the morning…’ Apparently this was Max’s second time escaping their house within the same week after his surgery.”

The girls stayed with Max for almost 20 minutes waiting for the owner to arrive. After he retrieved his dog, the two girls continued on their way, quickening their pace to compensate for lost time. As it turns out, they had plenty of time. They even stopped at Expresso Americano for a cup of coffee to help warm them as they continued on their journey.

The pair finally arrived at the school at 6:50 a.m., fully awake and quite pleased with their decision to walk to school.

“The experience was awesome. The walk gave Megan and I time to catch up on everything, and we were able to get some pretty good exercise in as well. Our legs were burning for a few days… We got to watch the beautiful sunrise as we walked to school. The only downside was the sore muscles afterwards, but I had no complaints on the way to school,” Franco said.

The girls’ already plan on walking to school again together. Brandes and Franco both agree that the perfect time would be the last day of school, ending the year with a bang. On that day, however, they want to make the trip both to Lewis-Palmer and back home again. This is a rare experience both girls truly enjoyed and hope to repeat soon.