Continental Divide Trail

T -22 days. Getting my head straight. 

With just 22 days till go time, the emotional side of preparing to leave my family and my job is a constant rub. I’ll share with anybody that I see a social worker every month or so for a precious 50 minutes. It’s one slot during the month that’s all about me. Well sort of. Because me really is how I relate and interact with others. It’s a chance to talk about those relationships; how to sustain and cultivate the good ones, and how to diminish and minimize the destructive ones. It’s not mamby pamby stuff. It’s about being a good human being in search of continual improvement. 

The next five months are all going to be inside my head. Resetting my head is a big part of why I need this journey. I’m tapped out. The last six years as a superintendent/principal with some side gigs doing anything else imaginable within a small school district has left me physically and mentally exhausted. I’m constantly in a survival mode these days. Allostatic overload. I need a break to steady out my head.  

Therapy has helped prepare me as much as possible to work with my wife, Michelle, as together we take on this event of me voluntarily going away. She’s giving me a gift, so I can come back stronger with my brain reset. That’s love. That’s the strength of our love. 

Is it time yet?-Continental Divide Trail SOBO

The days until June 20 and my start on the Continental Divide Trail are crawling by despite being crushed with finishing work related responsibilities and the myriad of last month planning details. I’ve jealously watched the blog posts flow by on The Trek while packing my maps, fine-tuning my gear, and getting maildrops ready to go. Reading posts by Stubbs and watching Rhys star in trail video has kept me sane, but I’m absolutely ready to go myself.

Check out the rest of my post at The Trek.

 

 

T -37. 9 miles. Althea told me

IMG_6238.JPGNice hard 9 miles with Althea in the early morning. Everything is feeling good. Pack, shoes, legs. Seems like it is all coming together.

Spent the dark hours before walking putting together some dinner bags for maildrops. 8oz of dehydrated beans, 6oz of Minute Rice, four packets of olive oil, and small bags of onions, jalapeños, kale, and tomatoes. Just need to add Fritos and some cheese. I’ll add Fritos to some of the boxes. At other stops I’ll just look to add the chips and cheese. I can eat this dinner hot or cold by soaking it for an hour in a peanut butter jar. Each day gets 2oz of beans and 1.5oz of the rice with a portion of everything else.

IMG_6242.JPGSlow progress on my organization of maildrops. It’s a puzzle that doesn’t  have a picture. I’m going to have to make some hard decisions soon. Maybe some divine intervention will occur, and I’ll be blessed with fantastic insight.

T -38. Peanut Butter Bliss

IMG_6211Justin’s peanut butter has arrived. I don’t think I can ever get sick of peanut butter. It hasn’t happened in 49 years, so I don’t think it’s going to happen on this trip. I love peanut butter and Justin’s delivers what I need. Tortilla smeared with peanut butter is my go to for lunch. It provides enough stick in the gut to make it feel like I’ve eaten something. It’s also conducive to adding just about anything else to it. Dried fruit, cheese, or chips work great and I’m game to try other combinations.

One hundred packets of peanut butter is enough to send to my 10 primary maildrops with the extras sprinkled into the map mailings. Who doesn’t like a little peanut butter with their maps?

I’m hoping the USPS boxes arrive early next week, so I can start on completing this last task.

Truckin’ on.

T -40. No miles, no miles, no miles

IMG_6205.JPGAfter the big push this weekend, I haven’t done any serious walking for three days. Monday did find me picking up meat from the butcher. Freezers are full of enough beef to last two years. It’ll be a little freezer burned by the end, but we’ll have food even if my unemployment stretches a bit beyond the end of my five months of walking.

I picked up a bit of pain in my hip. Not sure where it came from as I didn’t notice it while walking or the day after. I fell hard on my left side in late winter pulling a #100 feed sack out of my jeep. Slipped on the ice and landed awkwardly. Doesn’t make sense that it would hurt now, but I can’t think of anything else.

I ordered boxes from the post office, so the mail drop organization process should be able to start next week.