Days 5-6: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

When your first step out the door of the camper puts you in the grass with a twisted foot you know that it is going to be an interesting day.

We’re camped in a field in Brooke, ME ($30 for a spot in the grass, near a busy road, with an outhouse you share with a family that lives in a nearby trailer, that we were grateful to find, and bless their hearts for opening up some space for weary travelers.

There was a deep rut in the grass and my foot found it.

For a couple of hours, including when Julie dropped me off along miserable Hwy #1 in the middle of a construction zone where workers watched me limp through the heavy traffic, it looked like maybe the walk would be put on hold.

But then something semi-magical happened. I felt no pain for a few minutes. Then, I’d step wrong and it was back. That was my day.

Julie picked up the slack with her biggest day of the week, and I finished with 10 mile of very slow walking.

I iced, drank ibuprofen out of the bottle, along with turmeric/curcumin pills (yes! try it) and hoped for the best.

This place, this Hip Camp spot, was… sketchy. A mix of farm, maybe methamphetamine consumption/production… again, bless their little hearts. We didn’t get that much sleep with all the noise, but upon waking I found that my foot was… umm, perfect. A most unexpected outcome. And the day, today, Day 6 was awesome!

Yesterday, I saw the biggest snapping turtle ever, bought veggies at a roadside stand (and met a new follower—Carol) and today’s highlight for Julie was that she met a cat named Paris.

We had quiet country roads, some nice warm temps (89f,) sun, scenery… a perfect Maine day!

We are working through our emotional shit from the past year. There’s a lot of grief, stress, and BIG life changes that we deal with every 3’ stride.

With approximately 7 million steps from Maine to California, we have a lot of time to think.

We are now over 100 miles in.

Bless your little hearts for reading this, lovelies.

Photo: Julie taking her cribbage loss like a champion. Pickles... and more pickles.