August 25th, 2009

 

21 miles

I had three companion walkers with me today from Casper.  Jacobs, Cindy and Tim .  It was a real plus to be able to have them help today since it was the first day of walking dirt roads and hills.  They did great.  I also had Greg and Ann Phillips and their grandson Racer.  They had driven out from Salt Lake to help me walk for a few days and I was excited that they were here because we have been friends for 20 years and Greg is a decendent of Sarah Goode Marshall’s youngest child, Sarah, so Greg has an emotional link to the trek.  Well Greg discovered that some of his parts and pieces on his body were not functioning as well as he would have liked and so he decided to take it slow the first day.  Good council.As I got to Emigrant Gap I took off my shoes and wanted to walk barefoot to be able to experience what some of the pioneers went through that had either lost or had worn out their shoes, well let me tell you brother, that aint no picnic.  Other than the extreme pain that I was causing myself, I discovered that there really wasn’t any comparison for what I was trying to accomplish.  I was

walking on sharp rock gravel roads and they would have been walking dirt trails.  It just didn’t add up and after two miles and two hours later, I had a good sized blister on my heal and I couldn’t walk anymore and needed to put my shoes back on.  It wasn’t the experience that I was hoping for because it wasn’t the same circumstances.

So we did 21 miles on original trail.  I loved it.  There is nothing like walking in the same footsteps as my grandmother and so many other pioneers.  Shortly after hitting the hay, I keep hearing this scratching coming from under the tent but try to ignore it because I didn’t have the energy to deal with it and so all night long I hear this scratching.  So when I got up at 5:30 and started putting away the tent, I was anxious to see what was still scratching the bottom of my tent, and lo and behold… it was the fattest field mouse that I have ever seen and he was trying to make himself so new digs under my tent.  If it’s not the trains that keep me up, then it’s the mice.