This installment is late coming out. I’ll described the day’s events below, but first let explain my tardiness. No elephants. No dogs chewing up my iPhone. Nothing that elegant. Mine is sheer bad judgement. You see, I decided that since I had a zero day tomorrow and a nero today, I should get caught up with my COVID boosters. I was one behind. I reasoned I didn’t want to get sick on the trail. The host at the AirB&B, Jon, that Sally booked for me hiked the first 300 or 400 miles of the CDT this spring (how’s that for trail magic!) and was eager to help me in anyway he could. When I mentioned a COVID booster, he called the drug store about 6 blocks away and found I could walk right in. So, about 3:00pm on Tuesday I got my “jab”. I figured I’d be sick Wednesday and raring to go back on trail Thursday. What could possibly go wrong?
Wednesday came and I had completely forgotten I had gotten the booster. I borrowed a bike and rode to town doing errands. About an hour later I started feeling woosey. I was meeting D’Anne for lunch. Uh oh. Not gonna be good company. I had purchased some Tylenol on my errands and they helped me get through lunch. Riding home I felt awful. I went to my room and went to bed after assuring my pack was ready to go (about 3:00pm). That night was horrible. I woke at 2:00am with my arm absolutely killing me. I didn’t want to wake the hosts so I took hot showers to dull the pain and moved my arm all over as instructed by the CDC via the Internet. I finally snuck downstairs and grabbed an ice bag out of the freezer. I never did fall asleep again. Should I stay another day at the B&B or suck it up and get on the trail? This is not one of those you decide adventure books. I decide. Suck it up.
Jon had offered to drive me up to Rabbit Ears pass above Steamboat Springs to the trailhead. We picked up D’Anne at here hotel and a CDT hiker hitching along the road, Quiet. All the way up I was questioning my decision. When Jon drove off and I put on my pack I knew it was wrong. I felt awful! But, soldier on. We did 21 miles that day. But more on that later.
Back to Tuesday. I had 21 miles to walk to get to Rabbit Ears pass where I would start to hitchhike to Steamboat Springs. It was all road. The first 10 was on dirt or gravel, the last 11 on highway. It started out slightly downhill and stayed that way for about 6 miles. My foot was tolerable so I was able to average better than 3 miles an hour. It was awesome to see the miles click by at more than one every 20 minutes. When the road leveled out I was still able to maintain 3 miles an hour. I had gotten up at 4:00am and was moving a little before 5:00am so I was on the paved highway about 8:30am. I was determined to walk the pavement and not hitchhike.
Highway 14 does not have much traffic. On this day, maybe one car every 5 minutes was going my way. It is a beautifully maintained 2 lane highway although the shoulders are quite narrow. I had walked about 2 1/2 miles of the 11 when I had a “Dumb and Dumber” moment.
I was walking on the side of the highway facing traffic when a Subaru, on the other side of the yellow line, going my way, slowed and stopped. The woman driver rolled down her window, “Would you like a ride?” The man in the passenger seat leaned my way and said, “We are going all the way to Steamboat Springs.” “Continuous steps” popped into my head. “Oh, if this were 8 miles further up the road I’d love to, but I better keep walking.”
“You’re sure now?” asks the lady.
“Yeah. I better keep walking.”
And off they drove. It wasn’t a bus full of beautiful, biking clad women looking for someone to rub sun creme on them, but after five minutes of padding down blacktop with an inflamed Plantars Fasciae and bruised metatarsals I felt pretty stupid. I hoped they would come back. They didn’t.
I walked another hour (3 miles). The weather was beginning to sour, my feet hurt, and I thought of all the things I could be doing in Steamboat instead of walking this highway. I switched to the other side of the road, kept walking and thumbed each car that came by. A red Ford pickup’s brake lights came on as he passed. Yahoo! They drove me the remaining 3 miles to the junction of highway 14 (the one I was on) and highway 40 that leads to Steamboat Springs. So much for continuous steps. I walked a mile up 40, my thumb out for each passing car. It started to rain. I put my pack cover on and unfurled my umbrella just as a retired couple in a Subaru stopped and gave me a ride.
They had lived in SS during the 80’s and knew it well they said they didn’t really have an agenda and could take me to the post office and then to my B&B. I should have gotten their number and met them for lunch. I really enjoyed their company, and their kindness.
Jon met me at his front door. In sheepishly said I was early. He said no problem and invited me in. It was about 11:00am. We retired to his back patio for tea and conversation. I booked an appointment for that afternoon(!) with a orthopedic specialist for my foot, hoping for a cortisone injection for the plantars and an x-ray for the metatarsals but had to cancel when I checked with Kaiser and found they wouldn’t cover it. I settled for UC Urgent Care. I took a shower and Jon drove me there. Great people. Great care. No fractured bones. No cortisone shot. I’d have to go to Kaiser in Denver for a shot and they probably wouldn’t do so on a first visit.
I called Jon. He picked me up. Then the COVID decision. Ugg.
I spent the rest of the day resting upstairs in my room or talking to Jon. I had dinner with Jon and his wife when she got home from work at the Ace hardware store in town. Jon is 70. His wife is 61.
So, good news day! No broken bones in my sore foot, just pissed off tendons. Caught up on COVID boosters! What could possibly go wrong . . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment