Category: Discarding the safe deposit box

Monday August 11, 2014

If you felt this crappy on a work day, you’d just call in and take the day off. And that is essentially what I’m doing today. I’m calling in sick to the bike ride. Actually, this is part of my ride one day/rest one day attempt at keeping my asthma under control. But I don’t know if it is working. My lungs have lost their raspiness which is not a good sign. When they are raspy, it at least means some of the airways are open and the mucous moves. Now my lungs are so tight, there is no rasp left. It is just tight wheezing and short breaths. I feel as if the lower 2/3 of lungs are useless. I cannot get a deep breath. If I try, I cough a feeble, useless cough that hurts enough sometimes for me to wince in pain. The pleurisy-type pains in my lungs are nearly constant. And the smoke is even thicker again today. When the air is visible and the sun seems like it is shining through thin stratus, even though it is a clear day, then that is enough for me to feel like crap. Read more →

Tuesday August 12, 2014, 67 miles (108 km) – Total so far: 3,869 miles (6,227 km)

When I was 16, I got myself into a very bad situation. I didn’t know how to get out of it. And I didn’t want to involve my parents, the police, or other authorities because I was afraid I would be suspended or expelled from my high school. I was living at a public, residential high school for ‘gifted and talented’ students on a college campus. I had hated my old high school but loved my new school. I was so grateful for being selected to attend. So when I found myself in a really awful situation, I tried to extricate myself on my own. But I had not had a lot of life experience at that point, and when it got so bad I was afraid for my life, I confided in one of my friends from the college campus. He took me to the house he shared with his boyfriend, a recent college graduate. And that is how I met Mike.

Mike got me out of that awful situation and talked me through my fear, anger and pain. He sat with me one afternoon and said, “Emily, in life you will come across reference points. These events and situations will help you measure and assess things in life that come after. These are important because they help you react to situations later in life and help you gauge their seriousness. Reference points help you say, “It can’t get any better than XXX, or worse than XXX”. Reference points also help you stay out of bad situations because you can better see them coming. You have just found your reference point for evil. While it is awful now, you will be okay. And you will be stronger for it.” Read more →

Wednesday August 13, 2014, 64 miles (103 km) – Total so far: 3,933 miles (6,330 km)

Around 6 am, the hiss and squeal of an approaching train wakes me. Then it goes pounding by in a rhythmic squall of noise. It is the first train to wake me. Even though they’ve been travelling through all night, their passing only barely registered in my consciousness. I never fully woke. I was too exhausted to be woken.

Now, I enter the day feeling like I have a hangover. That’s no fun if you didn’t have any fun to produce it. I’m lying half-on, half-off my sleeping bag, stretched out diagonally across the tent. I never made it into my sleep sheet, but I must have gotten a little bit cool at some point in the night, because the fake silk sheet is bunched around my shoulders and torso. Maybe you can have a hangover from too much adrenalin? Read more →

Thursday August 14, 2014, 29 miles (46 km) – Total so far: 3,962 miles (6,376 km)

Whoosh-crash-shhhhh. Whoosh-crash-shhhh. The sound of the small waves tumbling gently to shore is a soothing start to the day. The rain that was supposed to arrive overnight is tardy. Yet, when I zip open the tent fly, I see that the sky is leaden and full of the promise of precipitation. I’m not in any hurry to get going today – I’m just heading 30 miles up the road to Kalispell. Read more →

Friday August 15, 2014, 16 miles (27 km) – Total so far: 3,978 miles (6,402 km)

I sleep in. I sleep in longer. I linger. I do not check out of the hotel until noon. I normally prefer to camp, but that little bit of luxury after a tough week on the road was just what I needed.

I ride over to the laundromat in my rain gear. Since it is pouring rain, I don’t look out of place. Normally, when you sit around a laundromat in rain pants and a swimsuit, it looks a little funny, but not so much today. Read more →

Saturday August 16, 2014, 43 miles (70 km) – Total so far: 4,022 miles (6,472 km)

Seven months ago, 13,000 miles away, I plotted out what I thought I might like to do in Glacier National Park. Of course, what you dream up while sitting at the computer in the comfort of your own home is not what always happens on the road. My hope for Glacier had been to go up to Bowman Lake off the North Fork Road for some hiking, before spending a couple days at Avalanche Creek, then a few days at campgrounds on the east side of the park. The goal was to get in as much hiking as possible.

But the weather is not supporting those plans. The forecast for the next two days is scattered showers. Then, there should be 2-3 good days before the weather is forecast to deteriorate in a big way with five days of cold rain, and snow at higher elevations, forecast. Read more →

Sunday August 17, 2014

“AL – A – BAM – A!”

The trail to Snyder Lakes gains elevation quickly as it twists and switchbacks upward above the horse stables at Lake McDonald Lodge. The forest is thick, but the understory absent, so it is not claustrophobic in the dark gloom of deep shade on a cloudy day.

“A – LAS- KA!”

This trail also leads to the Sperry Chalet, and many people ride horses there. All of the supplies go in by horse, too, apparently. It appears that a group of horses, or one with an enormous gut and digestive issues, has already left this morning and headed up the trail. There’s a fair bit of fresh horse manure to dance around up the trail.

“AR- I –ZON- A!”

The fresh horse crap makes me feel a bit better about hiking alone in grizzly territory. Read more →

Monday August 18, 2014

My father has been excited about my visit to Glacier since I first told him about the Montana tour early this year. When I was home in Indiana, he described the trips he and my mom took there in 1999 and 2004. He has lots of funny stories and happy memories. Glacier is his favourite national park. He loves the scenery, the trails and the ever-present potential to see a mammal that could take your life. My mother is less enthusiastic about Glacier. Her memories are that it rains a lot, is cold, and there is an ever-present potential to be killed by a large mammal, particularly when your husband hikes far ahead of you.

The one item from my Dad’s Glacier bucket list that he has yet to accomplish is hiking the Highline Trail. Several parts of this trail stay iced-in until mid-late July each year, and it has always been too snowy and icy to hike when he was there. He doesn’t have the technical experience to go with cramp-ons, etc. So he is very excited for me that I should be able to hike the trail. Read more →

Tuesday August 19, 2014, 28 miles (45 km) – Total so far: 4,050 miles (6,518 km)

I pack in the darkness, like many times before. At this point in a tour, you can do it all by feel. I climb out of the tent. There are stars. There are no clouds. It is calm. Yippee! We’ve got good weather to climb Logan Pass. Read more →

Wednesday August 20, 2014, 79 miles (127 km) – Total so far: 4,128 miles (6,644 km)

I have a problem, a fair-sized problem. Like many problems, it started small and has grown. Back at Avalanche campground, I was having trouble with my pump. I needed to top up my tires, but no amount of fiddling could get it to work. At some point, perhaps, I fiddled with it too much, and now the pump is absolutely finished. I figure it is the seals – I’ve had the pump for eight or more years. Read more →