A day late, after I got to my hotel last night I went unconscious. This past week was certainly a rebound over the previous one mentally. Had a few “kick in the dick” days, but I marched through the best I could. Surprisingly great phone reception along I-80 in Wyoming allowed me to catch the majority of the game during yesterdays walk as well.
Without further ado…..awayyyyy we go.
Day 134-This was a fairly uneventful walk. Got a later start than I would’ve preferred. Talking to the lady that owned the cabin that I stayed in, and just trying to get going when inside in general slowed me down. Walked about 22 miles, and got to an off ramp/interchange. Watched the first half and let of the 3rd quarter of the most offensive offensive performance in the Niners/Broncos game and set up my tent on the concrete just outside the lines at the interchange. Decent nights sleep, sometime late (or early) I heard what sounded like an animal inhaling near the tent, no shadows and with minimal traffic (and a farm nearby) it could’ve been further away than I thought. Right before I got up for the day I also heard what sounded like a gunshot. But it didn’t sound super close by either.
Day 135- Had a pretty solid day, although boring (this IS Wyoming after all). Covered 25.5 miles from my previous campsite to the Brickyard Inn in Rawlins, Wyoming. The owner Ruth donated the room for the night, which was fantastic. 25 seems to be the max I can crank out daily with the lack of daylight (and allowing for food and rest during the day). I didn’t eat much after a gas station chicken sandwich and a couple other things in the morning. This causes me to wear down big time at the end of these longer days. Ordered two dominos pizzas and a sandwich when I got to the room. Ate the sandwich and almost an entire pizza and refueled as best I could.
Day 136- Another late start, the Brickyard didn’t have laundry, so I had to wait for the laundromat to open, then to finish my stuff. Also stopped at a little Cafe on the way outta town for a breakfast sammich, a green apple smoothie then picked up a lunch sandwich to go for later on. All of these items were amazing. Met an older electrical foreman who is in the area helping put up new power lines and we talked for a few, he kept reiterating “I could never do that”. I think that’s an issue with us as humans in general is that we preemptively put limitations on ourselves. Walked about 21 miles and with no overpasses or interchanges I just hauled my stuff about 30-40 feet off I-80 and threw down camp at dusk right there in the sagebrush. Got a decent nights sleep again. There’s something I love about being in the sleeping bag when it’s 35-45 outside. Just fantastic sleeping weather, for me anyway. Lol.
Day 137- Shorter day than I wanted, a 20 mile walk from my off road campsite to Wamsutter, Wyoming, an oil town. Saw a TON of pronghorn, even in the town itself just chilling, walking/darting around and eating vegetation. Went to the post office to mail home an old pair of shoes and some trinkets I’ve collected along the way, (I’m not terribly handy or crafty but I want to create a mount for the shoes I went through during the walk). Talked to the clerk at the post office and she gave me $25 to grab lunch at the only real restaurant in town and had some delicious Mexican food (and an apple chimichanga for dessert). Despite my budget and better judgement, knowing I wouldn’t see civilization again for 72 miles I got a room at the local inn and decided to let my body recoup some more. Met a man named Toby who does construction along the walk. He’d seen me throughout my walk in Wyoming along I-80 and decided he had to stop and talk so he didn’t miss his chance. He felt compelled to he said. We discussed his brothers death to overdose/addiction his own battles with alcoholism and my journey. He donated a couple bucks (just recently bought some shirts as well) and we had a Fiji water toast alongside the road. He got teary eyed when we talked about things and he was talking about what I was doing. These things happen at the most opportune times on this walk.
Day 138- Let the shitstorm (no pun intended) begin. A fairly easy walk, I covered 21 miles from Wamsutter to another overpass. Walked past the second part of the Continental Divide, (Wyoming has a giant hole in the docks, the Great Divide Basin), and rain and storms were moving in. So I stopped a little early when I found an overpass. Trying to avoid excess moisture, and being electrocuted, I was brainstorming (rimshot) ways to camp under the overpass. I initially was going to cowboy camp on the incline, just kinda standing up sorta, but when I looked at the ground I noticed there was enough room off the side of the road for the tent. So I cleared out some trash, put the tarp down and set the tent up. The night past and I didn’t get struck by lightning, and not much water got in…or so I thought. See this is what I mean when I say im not an outdoorsman. I didn’t realize the area I put my tent, was a low point, and all the rainwater overnight had drained into this ditch. My tent bottom was submerged, my bottom sleeping pad was mostly submerged as well. So I got up and started going through ideas to both walk, and dry things out. The rain for the day was luckily missing me. The tent I knew would dry out easily it’s essentially a plastic tub bottom and a mosquito net; the sleeping pad worried me…until something worse happened. As I was picking the stroller I knocked my sleeping bag into the ditch full of water. So I spent as much time as I could on the next days walk, trying to dry it out.
Day 139- As stated above this day got started in an inauspicious manner. Soaked gear in tow, I began walking. The storm systems that rolled through brought about a 20 degree weather change so it was chilly. But the sun popped out multiple times and it rained little. Stopped at a rest area and had some homemade chicken sandwiches, and continued on. After about 21 miles I stopped in a little area called Point of Rocks. They had a Conoco station with a cafe inside. It’d been 36+ hours since I’d had hot food so I partook. Inside I met a trucker who’d lost her son to suicide a few years earlier. She wished me safe travels, as did the cashiers at the gas station and I hit the road. I wanted to get a few more miles on to an overpass I saw on Google Maps, because the more I did today, the less I’d have to do tomorrow. As I was a mile into the 3.5 or so to finish my day, the skies opened up. A bad thunderstorm came through. Lightning on all the high cliffs around me I was a bit unnerved. But I couldn’t go backwards, just keep…going…forward. I was soaked every where except my chest (cheap Walmart poncho covered SOMETHING). A 59 degree or so thunderstorm is miserable. But the storm moved through and the sun was set so I had to keep going. I missed the overpass somehow because it wasn’t nearly as big an overpass as it looked on Maps, in fact it just had a little dirt road going under it, which I’d missed in the dark. I was walking by just a headlamp on a service road for I-80 between 80 and the Union Pacific railroad tracks. I kept pressing forward, my anxiety was on 1,000. It’s dark, I’m soaked, I’m in the wiiiiide open spaaaaaces (thanks Dixie Chicks) and I’m miserable in general. Finally, craving hopeful warmth, I found what appeared to be fairly level ground off the side of the road, sort of off a railroad access drive (or what looked like it in the dark). Hurriedly set up camp and hopped in the sack. I hopped in the sack still wet, both me and the sleeping bag to an extent, the sleeping pad on bottom still soaked (I use two because my hips and pelvis need a bit more cushion with everything that they’ve been through from my motorcycle wreck). I got inside the sleeping bag all the way and tried to let my breathing help dry things out. I nodded off a couple times, finally after a few hours between my body heat, hot stank breath the majority of the innards of the bag seemed to dry out some. Covered about 25 miles total today.
Day 140- Woke up and it was in the upper 30s as I broke camp. I was going to head to Rock Springs, Wyoming today and grab my last two pairs of shoes from the hotel I had them shipped to…or so I thought. Since the hotel is a business, FedEx didn’t even attempt to deliver the shoes. I didn’t want to lose a day/day and a half waiting for them. So I’m calling FedEx later today and returning them to Altra and refunding them. It’s the second time in I think 2 weeks that I’ve been shoe-screwed. I’ll just stop in Salt Lake City and buy my last two from a store there in person. They’ve got a few Altra dealers out that way. It was a beautiful walk after the weather warmed up, not much climb, met a stray dog along the way I wanted to bring with me, and got to see most of the trouncing of the Scarlet Knights, (Schiano is a man child, after that I wanted Day to put the 1s back in and air it out, or at least try to get Chop to the 6th touchdown). Got into Rock Springs, a cool little looking down set down in a valley, and got to my room. Ordered some sushi, and some Arbys to recoup some calories, and get my sushi fix. Knocked out another 25 miles got a full nights sleep for the first time in a long while, and now I’m ready to go west young man.
All in all a successful week. Not without it’s challenges, but I handled them as best I could. Which was to learn from them (don’t park in a ditch on rainy nights and maybe change clothes before bed when you’ve just been stormed on), but the bigger thing I’ve noticed in hindsight, was my reaction to things out of my control. The shoe thing had me miffed for a second, not wanting to lose travel days as I’m on both a time and budget schedule (it’s going to be tight finishing money-wise), so losing a day is not something I want to do much of, if any, for the remainder of the trip. Ideally I can save at least one rest day to see and visit Lake Tahoe (even though it’ll be cold) when I get there. So I adjusted, made a new plan, and kept going. As Gunnery Sergeant Thomas Highway would say, I “improvised, adapted, overcame”. Same thing with the rain soaking my things and the thunderstorm I didn’t die in. Yeah they sucked, but learn the lesson, and move forward. What good does dwelling on it do?
Have a great week yall! It looks like a good week weather wise right now for me as I will pass into Utah within the next week or so. Gonna have some longer spans in between civilization for a few, but I’ll manage, like I always do.
Much Love! And GO BUCKS!
-Joe
