Prior to the event John and I send out emails to our lists, agreed to have our pictures on 7000 flyers that were plastered around Long Island, mentioned it on the radio and as an added incentive I challenged people to a race up the wall. We even had free passes for our VIP list of friends. Every detail was accounted for except one...Mother Nature.

On Friday I got in my car to leave for the expo. As I got in I got a text message at 3:51 p.m. that read, "Subject: Storm Alert – Winds, rain/snow and floods expected." It was from the Westechester.com website. I had never gotten a message like this...so I wanted to check its validity and who better to ask then my downstairs neighbor and friend, Wanda.

Wanda not only knew about the storm but she had more details. "Girl... we're supposed to have a Nor'easter. The worst storm in 25 years. They are saying don't leave your house". I looked outside, the weather was beautiful... the infamous calm before the storm. I thought about going to the supermarket to get some batteries but thought the lines were probably horrendous - you know people always doing their last minute panic runs to buy eggs, milk and bread. (Which cracks me up. What are they making... French toast?)

Anyway, Wanda agreed to get some spare batteries, and we filled up our tubs with water. As I learned from past storms up here, when the lights goes out we are without water since we have well water pumped to us via electric pump. Satisfied that I did my Girl Scout best to prepare, I headed to the Expo.

At 5:30 I arrived. Pat, the PR ninja from Basedow's office was already there. She helped me set up my booth space which consisted of my books, my Guinness world record plaque, business cards, brochures, photos, sample of shrunken cup from Titanic, Ripley's T- Shirt, Ripley's book and some other items. I snapped a picture.

Since people were just coming in I felt the urge to go play. You know the Capo adventure spirit kicked in and it said, I needed to climb the wall at that very moment. Now just so you understand the thirty-foot wall (owned by the Great South Bay YMCA) is portable. It gets wheeled in, lifted up by crane and people scale its four-story height.

No one was around except three marines, two in fatigues and one in dress uniform. I asked them if they were going to climb as well. They politely said, "After you ma'am. We'll cheer you on. I wasn't sure if they were being polite or they knew something I didn't know. After all these are our brave fighting men. Why weren't they willing to climb the plastic wall? I inspected the wall on all four sides making sure there were no boobie traps. It looked fine to me. Just as I finished signing the "you can not sue us if you get hurt form", a 6 foot 2 inch guy wearing a Harley Davidson shirt comes up to the booth.
"You going to climb?"
"Yeah." I said, "And you?"
"Yup. Piece of cake. I'll l race you".
I'm thinking this guy is a full foot taller than me. He can reach the bell at the top just by standing on his tip toes...okay that's an exaggeration but definitely much easier than I. But the Capo spirit made me say, "Okay, sure Harley man...you're on."

So now the pressure was on. Female vs. Male, midget vs. giant. Loudmouth vs. fast talker.

Donna and Barry were standing by, a crowd of vendors started to gather, John, the wall provider shimmied up the wall with my camera to catch the whole thing. Glen was at the bottom getting me into my harness.

We began. Harley man climbed up one side, while I climbed up another. I stopped to snap pictures, which isn't the best move when you are racing. While climbing I happened to be on the side that had a huge protruding rock you had to get over. I could barely see over it to search out the next foothold.

Tried as I could, I couldn't reach the next peg to get over the hump.
People said, "Let go!" But I refused.

Meanwhile Harley man was getting higher. I kept looking around for other pegs, but I was too short. Then I heard his bell ring. Defeated for the moment. I came down. They applauded anyway and patted me on the back.
"Nice try fast talker."
I smiled, "I'm merely taking a break."

Being known to be relentlessly relentless.
I turned to Glen, "Can I give it another shot?"
He smiled, "Sure can."
Determined I looked at the wall and the bell at the top. I said to myself, "Capo you are getting up that wall. There's no quitting." I started to climb real fast. The marines were cheering. Again I stopped for a Kodak moment. Someone yelled, "Hey you may get the record for climbing the wall the fastest." Just as he yelled that I got to the top and rang the bell for everyone at the expo to hear.

At that moment of glory in strolls John Basedow with his public appearance woman, Carlene. John hears the bell looks up, smiles and says, "Why am I not surprised to see you up there".
I laughed, "Hey, I'm adventure girl on the show for a reason".
Then I slid down.

Before I head back to my booth to sign autographs I stopped at two nearby booths. One, a booth called BioSector2 that showed a damage liver and told you of all the harm drinking can do. Two, a wellness consultant booth with products by Nikken. I'm a sucker for all the homeopathic gadgets. I always think there has got to be alternatives to healing besides drugs. At this booth they had a pair of feet outlines on the floor. These insoles had some advanced magnetic technology in it. To prove their power, this guy, John tells me to hold my arms out and he pushes me off balance. Then he has me do the same things but this time standing on the soles. The magnetic feet supposedly align my energy and I am able to resist the push better. It worked which was really cool.

Then Gina, who was also in the booth, put this Tri-phase sport bracelet on me. I was particularly interested in this because it uses magnetic, infrared technology and Negative-Ion Technology (the same technology that the hospital is using on my mom to speed up her wound healing.) She gave me the bracelet to wear for week. I will wear it and report back to you guys on the results.

After my playtime was over I went over to my booth. I loved the position of my booth, next to my good friend John...

and also next to this guy that was doing a cooking demonstration. The smells of his booth would wiff by us and then of course I would get to sample everything, my favorite being the corn bread that was moist and delicious.

Once back at the booth, an announcement was made by Brian Vitko aka Mr. Entertainment with his booming wrestler like voice, "Ladies and Gentlemen, the fast talker and fitness guru are in the building and ready to sign autographs." I felt like Elvis.

Small crowds started to gather. John and I barely got to speak to each other because he was busy signing autographs and telling people how his products transformed his body and I was signing autographs, telling stories of my adventures and encouraging people to live their dreams.

We had a blast talking to everyone and their enthusiasm was contagious. Barry and Donna made the rounds making sure everyone was happy as well.

On Saturday despite the warnings of torrential downpours and locusts, I came back. Unfortunately most people were in the supermarket stocking up on French toast supplies. A couple of the Capo update and Myspace fans braved the storm warnings and came out. Those brave fans got a chance to be on the John Basedow TV show as we were taping an episode that day. People do love the spotlight. We got a kick out of it.

At midnight the rain started.

On Sunday, the highways up by me like the Saw Mill River Parkway, Taconic Parkway and route 9A were closed in sections due to flooding. People in certain sections of Westchester were being evacuated from their homes.

Needless to say, I wasn't able to make it back to the Expo on Sunday.

All in all it was though it was a great weekend, I met many people, signed a bunch of autographs, learned things about healing that I didn't knew existed, tasted some great food, was near close friends and climbed a wall. I did learn one thing though, that despite the best efforts to put forth the Health, Beauty and Fitness efforts, no matter how great the event, the weather will always win out. Face it... if Mother Nature says you are going to have a bad hair day there's nothing you can do about it. Which just proves one thing: never argue with a mother.