I thought I was doing pretty good, only a minimum of cranky mean stressed me and I've been trying to be very philosophical about everything. I've hiked one long trail before and whatever happens will be some kind of adventure.
Needless to say I probably shouldn't have only ended up getting 1.5 hours of sleep the day I leave home but at least I'm not hiking yet, plus the slightly OCD gear geek in me really wanted all my boxes and instructions to look pretty and a gear list to actually exist for this mess (it's officially up and on the CDT gear tab if interested).
Either way I had lovely support for my send off. Ruth and Jonny you guys rock. Traffic was thankfully missed and I spent almost as much time waiting for my plane as it took to actually fly from the bay area to Tucson.
Either way I had lovely support for my send off. Ruth and Jonny you guys rock. Traffic was thankfully missed and I spent almost as much time waiting for my plane as it took to actually fly from the bay area to Tucson.
The plane ride was uneventful. My neighbor was 100% engaged in his phone frantically texting and emailing while we still had service. Being naturally nosy I was of course curious. I lost interest but a hospital room caught my eye. It's strange how much of life you can see unfold over a strangers shoulder staring at an iPhone. I recognized everything, the ventilator, the IV pumps, even the scd's on her legs. She looked like she was even younger than me. And I watched her dad slowly zoom in on photo after photo of this young girls face. Meanwhile the folks behind me were talking about the importance of work life balance and how much more trouble their bodies become as they have aged. I am so glad I'm not working this season, and while I have no idea if I'll make it to Canada I'm so glad I'm trying.
Okay enough sappiness. On almost no sleep I stumbled out of the airport and into the blazing sun. A few wrong turns (why do I go to the second floor to find a pedestrian walkway outside?) I was finally off.
8 miles through Tucson in 84 degree weather. Welcome to pavement and the joys of road walking. I was doing fine until almost 6 miles in. I've been babying my foot and haven't really trained at all over the last few months and figured this afternoon would be a bit of a test. And wow was I dragging. I took a 5 minute break but the side of the highway wasn't the most pleasant and I dragged myself the last 2 miles to the hostel I was staying at.
Peeling of my sweaty socks I collapsed on the couch. Dinner sounded good but I couldn't imagine walking the 1.2 miles to the grocery store. So I stumbled around not really doing anything until I finally opened up my resupply (for the first section of my hike) and inhaled some food. I was feeling better and was downing lots of water. The flying and hot walk had definitely left me on the dehydrated side.
With my food supply rapidly diminishing and a sure bet that the local Safeway would have tasty choices like cheese and avocado I finally left the hostel after 7pm. I then managed to get lost while stubbornly refusing to turn around after finding myself repeatedly at dead ends due to train tracks and highway overpasses. 4 some odd miles later I finally found myself back at the hostel with far more food than I'll need for this section. This is why I like mailing myself food, grocery resupplies are such a stressful challenge for me.
Sitting in the nighttime breeze with my feet propped up I can say that in hindsight I probably could have made a few better choices. So lessons for the day, my physical shape isn't so hot. Breaks are your friend, avoiding them makes the walking even worse. I'm also way out of touch with eating and drinking in heat like this. Drink more and up the number of snacks. I'm exhausted and I think it's probably a cool hostel filled with interesting folks but bedtime sounds so much better.
Tomorrow is a walk to Greyhound and then onto Lordsburg, New Mexico and Thursday is the big day!
Sent from my iPhone
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