Chuck's News: Epilog, July 23, 2022

I am now at home, resting 24 hours a day, trying to get my body back in working order. Below is an account of the convoluted trip home and the halting process of medical attention to get me on the road to recovery.

As told in the July 16th entry above, I purchased a ticket with Greyhound to ride from Rawlins to Fort Collins. Price, $62.99. My ride from Fort Collins to the Denver Airport was $40.00. My flight from Denver to Seattle was $296.96. The Greyhound was to pick me up at the TA Travel Center 2.8 miles from my hotel in Rawlins, on the south side of I-80. All was arranged and I was excited to be going home to get more specific medical care as the 5 days sitting in the hotel room had not brought about the recovery I was hoping for.

Sunday, July 17th At one point Monk and I were in the lobby and ran into Onion. She was sorting the hiker box, gleaning from it any food she could use. She is very thrifty and resupplies as much as possible from the hiker boxes. I spent the rest of the day as I had the days before, laying on the bed watching TV and taking Ibuprofen and Tylenol at 2 hour intervals for the pain. At some point I walked to City Market and bought apples and oranges for the trip home.

Monday, July 18th Monk and I went to breakfast at McDonalds. He was heading back out on the trail today, north across the Great Basin Divide toward South Pass City. After we walked back from McDonald’s, he brought his pack to my room. We chatted as he prepared to go. About 10:00am Monk headed out the door, down the hall and was gone. I finished packing my pack and inspecting my room for items I might have left, then headed to the lobby with my pack. There I found Just Mary and Onion sitting and chatting. I let them know I was heading home to recover after my pole to the sternum incident and aching shoulders. They were surprised I was quitting, but understood after I explained the pain I was in.

About 11:00am I headed out the lobby door, walking to the bus pickup point at the TA Travel Center. I had hoped to score an ice cream cone on the way, but the little shop was closed. It took me about an hour to walk the distance. Once there I got a Subway sandwich and sat inside waiting for the 1:25pm pickup, catching up on the news and emails. About 1:00pm I noticed an email from Greyhound. It said there had been a change to my itinerary and I should call them. My stomach sank. My entire trip home depended on each leg of my journey staying intact. I called. My bus had been cancelled for the day. I moved to a bench outside the building so I could hear more clearly and not disturb the other people inside with my upcoming phone calls. I called Sally to let her know I was not going to make it today. She didn’t pick up so I texted her the news. Then, I immediately booked the Greyhound bus for the next day, then called Groome Transportation and changed my Fort Collins to Denver ride to Tuesday. While on the phone I asked if they could pick me up in Rawlins. They said the closest they got was the Hilton Gardens in Laramie. I checked the map and saw it was about 90 miles east on I-80. I then called Expedia and cancelled my flight and rebooked it for Tuesday night. Then I got to thinking (probably should have done the thinking before I took all the previous actions). Why had Greyhound cancelled? A broken down bus? Unlikely. A COVID sick driver that couldn’t make the drive? More likely. And if s/he is sick Monday, s/he will probably be sick on Tuesday and the bus will be cancelled again. hmmmmm. Maybe I should try to hitchhike to Fort Collins. Then I would not be dependent on Greyhound.

Sally called about this time. We discussed possibilities. She suggested I ask people at the travel center and at the pumps for a ride east. I set my sights on Laramie as it was on I-80 and would be a one ride hitch. I shouldered my pack and started wandering around the parking lot looking for people about to leave. Earlier, there had been a lot of people coming in and out of the store. Now, there was no one. I wandered over to the pumps to ask if people were traveling east and if I could have a ride. The first guy I asked was in a company truck (his door was open and I didn’t see the logo) and had to refuse. A Subaru had pulled in. The driver’s door opened and a pair of Teva Sandals poked out. A good sign. They were attached to a woman in her mid 60’s. I approached, explained my predicament and asked if they were going east and if I could have a ride. By this time her husband had gotten out on the passengers side and was taking in my story. She described me as a “trekker” and that they loved trekkers and yes, they were headed to Missouri and could give me a ride. Yahoo!

Jim and Shelley were wonderful. Jim and I talked the whole way to Laramie. They were headed to a family reunion in Missouri. They drove me right to the Quality Inn parking lot. We exchanged contact information and they invited me to stop by their house in Logan, Utah if I was ever in the area.

Once inside my room, I called Groome and got my ride changed from a pick-up in Fort Collins to a pick-up in Laramie. They would pick me up right at the hotel. Sweet!! And, I was back in a hotel room again. Another night of pain, TV, hot showers and ice packs.

My pickup was scheduled for 8:55am. I went to the hotel’s continental breakfast, ate and brought two bagels back to my room to use as sandwiches for lunch. I had cheese and summer sausage for the trail and used them to prepare two sandwiches. I was out in the parking lot about 8:40am. The van arrived at 8:45am. Early. A good sign.

Next, we were off to Cheyenne, WY to pick up 3 army guys. They had weapons cases and duffles and overwhelmed the driver. He hadn’t known about the number and size of their cases and it filled the van. He had to make phone calls to arrange other transportation for three people he could not longer fit in his van.

We rendezvoused at the Groome meeting point and switched to a larger bus, then off to the Denver Airport. TSA was busy, the line about half an hour. They wanted to go through my whole pack as I had forgotten about a jar of olive oil in my food bag at the bottom. After repacking I made my way to my Gate, B23 just in time to see the start of boarding.

The flight home was a little bumpy climbing out of Denver’s heat. Once at altitude it was smooth all the way to Seattle. I slept most of the flight. Sally was there and we headed for Urgent Care at Kaiser in Olympia. As luck would have it, I was seen by Dr. Fox, the same physician that saw me last time I was at Urgent Care. They took about 10 X-rays of my chest, found a cracked rib, did an EKG and found a slight irregularity which Dr. Fox attributed to bruising of my heart from falling on my trekking pole but the X-rays did not show anything in my shoulder. He scheduled the Imaging Lab for the next day to call me for an appointment for an MRI. For pain relief he put me on Tramadol. It worked, but it prevented me from urinating so I had to quickly stop using it.

I returned to Urgent Care Friday morning. This time they did a complete blood workup and found everything good. They started me on a 10 day steroid blast and gave me Tylenol with Codeine for the pain. Excellent! The steroids will calm all this crazy roving pain I am having.

So, here I am at home. My CDT bid ended. I would have loved to have finished the trail, but with the way I have felt the past two weeks I had lost all desire to be there. Every night in the tent was 12 hours of agony. Walking during the day my shoulders hurt and my wonky left foot took 3 miles to warm up in the mornings. Three miles of limping until I could get a steady, pain free gait. Maybe if the ER doc at Rawlins had prescribed steroids I would still be on the trail. Who knows. Being home, I get to see and play with Robby, Junie, Izzy and Sam. I get to spend time with Sally at Cindy’s lake house. I get to go to the San Juan Islands and play with the grand kids, Jeff, Sally, Larry and Valerie. I can harvest our orchard, berry patches and garden. There are lots of things here I will enjoy.

Looking back, I got 3 months of hiking during the prime time of the season. April and a little bit of May in New Mexico, May, June and July in the Colorado Rockies. I hit the perfect year to hike northbound as the snow melted quickly out of the Rockies. As always, if you want to know an area, walk it. The intimate connection to the land and people is unmatched. The weather, the topography, the scenery. Amazing. I met wonderful, fun people on the trail. I lost 10-12 pounds in the three months and got back in good cardio shape.

A shout out to Sally. She maintained our place beautifully while I was gone. This is hard work and she did a great job. She put up with my “mid life crisis” of hiking the CDT and let me get it out of my system. She let me fulfill a teenage dream.

Then there is Andy, my resupply guru. Every package was on time to the right place. He bought and sent stuff as needed, like a Zpad and bear spray, replacement shoes and trekking poles. Always happy to help. I couldn’t have done it without him.