Gonna do another quicker write up like last week. Not as many details involved. It was a rough week for me mentally. Had a massive depressive episode that got triggered out of nowhere and it shut me down for a few extra days.
I started staying in Laramie another night, waiting on my shoes that never arrived. Once Monday morning hit I started getting on the phone with UPS and Altra. Altra said the never deliver shoes “general delivery” which is where I have them sent to a post office to pick them up. They sure as hell did it in Nebraska. After hours on the phones I was told to let them get returned to sender then give Altra a new address of an actual place I’d be and they’d remail them. As if I have knowledge beforehand of where I’ll be. This situation delayed me doing my laundry so I ended up staying another night in the hotel.
On day 129 I managed a whopping three miles to other side of Laramie. Had a great breakfast, visited the Wyoming Frontier Prison museum (where Butch Cassidy was once jailed) and then began to walk but it was like someone dropped an anvil on me. I just felt “off” mentally. There was a part of me that wanted to start walking but I just…couldn’t I guess. Can’t really explain it. So I got a room at an Econolodge and thought I could rest it off. However I woke up the next day on day 130 and felt the same if not worse. I just booked another room and laid down all day. If there was a positive I finished Yellowstone and am all caught up now.
Day 131 and I knew I had to do something. I packed all my stuff up the night before and said no matter what we get hoofing. I smoked the first 14 miles out of the gate in great time and was feeling good. Then the winds came. Y’all weren’t kidding about Wyoming winds. I did the first 14 miles or so in about 6 hours with rest breaks in there, my last seven took about 3/3.5. I got to a truck stop (that has an Indian reataurant) and grabbed dinner and camped under an overpass. Thankfully Dirty Mike and the Boys didn’t pay me a visit. There was a high wind warning overnight into the next day so I wanted to protect my tent poles.
Woke up on day 132 and the goal was 18-24 miles to get to a rest area and camp. This proved to be a fools errand, because the gusts already at 7-8am were up to 70. I couldn’t push up the on ramp hardly at all, and went back to the underpass to wait it out, or try to. I ended up getting 11 miles to the next interchange/off ramp and camped at the lowest/wind shielded area I could find.
Day 133s goal was Elk Mountain, Wyoming. A very small town and about the only thing in 60 miles between Laramie and Rawlins. It was a 22 mile walk that had a lot of up and down. I’ve acclimated to elevation now, but going up a good grade will still get me pretty winded, and this happened a lot. I got into Elk Mountain (with surprisingly Good reception as I watched the first quarter) around 5:53 and came to the Elk Mountain Trading Company, the only restaurant around. The owner was switching all the signs to closed and she saw the dejection on my face and decided to let me come in. I ordered two dinners, bacon cheeseburger meals as this was the last “real” food I’ll have till Monday and the first I’d had since the Indian restaurant/truck stop. As I went to pay I realized she didn’t take cards. The owner gave me the receipt and said I could mail her the cash when I get to an atm, I was floored. I made my way to Elk Mountain Cabins where I’d had a room for the night. I talked for a long time with the owner Lou and she said she’d take the cash to the restaurant and pay for my food, and she also donated the nights stay to me. We talked about how bad mental health and suicide is in Wyoming, which to me is due to the relative isolation here.
In the last two weeks I’ve taken 5-6 zero days and another that was only three miles, coughed up way more than planned on hotels (and food, because that’s how I medicate), but I’ve also been re-taught the lesson that it’s never going to be “perfect”. It’ll never be the perfect time to start, go, or keep going. You just have to go. Move forward, and keep doing it, and eventually youll clear the dark and find the path.
Hoping to to 25 miles a day or so so I can get outta these winds in the next two weeks lol. By next weeks catch up, I’ll be into triple digits for mileage to finish. That’s a strange feeling.
Much love y’all!
-Joe
