The Road Less Traveled....On Foot!

I have been thinking about walking to Evergreen, the next town over to the North in our little foothills community, for a few weeks now.  Initially I had the idea to walk to the Highland Haven, a AAA rated Bed and Breakfast in Evergreen, as a small bit of incentive, and then after a luxurious night,  turn around and walk back the next morning. I had tracked it to be almost 15 miles from our front door, a pretty good representation of what we would be averaging on the Camino.  Since we have been spending a fair amount of money just to prepare for this trip, that notion turned into driving the car to my employers parking lot the night before so we'd have wheels to get us back when we arrived exhausted. The next morning involved getting up and heading out with all of our gear at about 6:30 a.m.

 This is my pack. All nearly 13 pounds of it.  To last me for two months!  I have a few more things to fit in before we leave so I am very happy with how it's working out so far.  Do you see that I am smiling?

John of course, will carry a little more. He is also smiling.

 

We made it out of the quiet neighborhood, happily conversing about how peaceful it was at that early hour on a Saturday.....with the nearby highway making it's noisy presence known as we came to the small road leading to it, we considered that maybe Sunday would have been a little bit quieter.

I have passed these Alpacas thousands of times....IN MY CAR.  The looks on their faces staring out at us as we WALKED by them, were the first inkling I had that we might possibly be completely crazy.

 

We wandered out onto the major highway that connects our town down and out of the foothills to the edge suburb of Morrison and on into Denver.

 

It was here that I felt something not quite right on my right foot.  I ignored it.  I have already put over 40 miles on these boots and socks...why now?  Ignorance was my first mistake. Shhhh, maybe it will go away.

 

As we made the turnoff towards Evergreen, rounding the corner to the underpass, I looked up and at that very moment saw another incredulous face staring back at me, waving in shock from a car that looked vaguely familiar as it whizzed by....our son Jack.  He was obviously on his way somewhere but of course my cell phone started ringing and as soon as I answered there were peals of laughter coming from the other end and something like "What the hell are you guys doing?"  "Walking to Evergreen", I replied.  "What the hell for?", came the next question through snorts and coughs.  I thought I had explained what our plans for the coming months adventure were, but in true self -centered twenty something fashion it probably went in one ear and out the other.  He laughed as he said his first thought was 'what are these hippies doing on the road', and then imagined his own shock when he realized, 'those hippies are MY  PARENTS!!!!!!'

 

We found a place to sit down, at the entrance to the local high school, in order to remove my shoes and socks and massage my feet.  My right foot was hurting but I couldn't discern any blister at the moment so after a few minutes sitting with cars whizzing by us looking at us like we were a couple of homeless vagabonds, we journeyed on.

The Guinness World's largest lawn chair built recently but a local church.  I guess we have a rival for the worlds largest ball of string?

 

When you walk roads you have driven literally thousands of times, you really get up close and personal with the surrounding lands.  In my case, it's been since 1986 that I've been driving this way.  That's a long time up until now.  I felt I was doing something really spectacular by actually walking the thing.  We saw lots of things as we walked.  Dead birds of all sorts lying on the side of the road, sunglasses, various pieces of clothing and lots of trash.  A veritable hardware store of nuts, bolts, screws, work gloves and one brand new funnel with the price tag still attached. I saw more plastic PINT bottles of McCormick vodka than I would like to count along with mini bottles empty of  their various liquors and beer cans and bottles.  Note to self: be defensive while driving!  

 I have passed this chain saw wood carver, glancing at his amazing creations, many times.  He wasn't out or I would have loved to stop and chat with him.

 One of the rare times I was ahead of John.  To take the picture of course!

I teased him that he got a LOT more breaks than I did by stopping to let me catch up.

 

We took about an hour break at mile 9 at a little local place called The Gas Station, it is literally a gas station, for a breakfast of over easy eggs, biscuits and gravy and sausage!  I was too hungry to get a picture and they were kind enough to let us sit outside under the shade of the pine trees to take our boots off once again.  The food revived me but my foot was still feeling oddly painful and now my hip was giving me a little trouble that I wrote off eventually to the hard and uneven road surfaces.  Thankfully the Camino will be around 87% path and NOT road surface.

 

You will never know the games my ego mind plays with me over these bodily pains.  I want so badly to accomplish this distance and to get to a place of just trusting what will be and being OK with it, while trying to shove down my very own personal voice for fear.  Needless to say it did not prove to be easy for me.  It is always very fatalistic.  "you'll be lucky if you make it out of the French Pyrenees!"  "How will you EVER average 15 miles a day, every day???"   This voice, I am sure, I will be dealing with on the 'way'.  I want my other voice, my voice for spirit to be louder.  I will practice.

 

When we arrived at the truck, after crossing over the road back and forth to avoid blind corners and recognizing that other old fear of getting hit by a car, I was never so grateful to have made it.  It was all together 12.7 miles.  Nearly 13 miles!!!!!   John is very encouraging always with high fives while I couldn't wait to get the boots off!  I ended up with a small blister that went away fast and the hip recovered soon too.  I tried to consider getting up the next morning and doing it all over again.......not.  Something else I will be dealing with on the 'way'.