We flew back from Salt Lake City to JFK in order to attend a family wedding. As much as this hike is about humanity the best people to be with is family. We caught up with our three kids at the wedding and later at home; we were comforted to learn that they all are doing well. Cindy’s nephew Patrick appears to be marrying a wonderful woman in Marisa Fontana.
Our flight arrived in NYC at 5:50 the morning of the wedding, leaving plenty of time to absorb New York City around the airport and at Grand Central Station. Everything was surreal in comparison to the norm of hiking the Utah desert. Ironically, the heat was worse in New York, being in the same hundred degree range but far more humid. Other than that there was not much to link the two worlds together. It was almost as if we were watching a fictitious B movie.
I trained for the wedding. By that I mean I pigged out for two days prior, stretching my stomach for all the delicious wedding food. I was not disappointed with either the quantity or quality of food, but in the end I felt like I had betrayed my body. I had fine tuned my body to survive well in the desert, taking frequent but small quantities of food and water at the time. By building back up my fat reserves I knew I was building up my body’s demand again for water as well. I’m sure I will be paying for the transgression for a few days of hiking on my return.
I have had a problem with a swollen left foot for virtually the whole hike. Of late the swelling goes down with hiking, presumably as blood gets pumped through the body. Elevating my foot at night helps out as well. During the three days rest neither remedy occurred and my foot grew disturbingly large. I may need to take more aggressive measures to keep the swelling under control.
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Kirk, here’s hoping you & Cindy are both well, and that your foot holds up for you. Coming to Fruita soon I see; Sharon & I & all the Boys had an interesting adventure there in 2000, at Glade Park Store – seemed like a page out of “Psycho” for awhile! But what pretty high mesa territory, we will be thinking of you. I’ll see what I can do about Buena Vista, we have friends there. Take good care,
Pete Desrochers
Thanks, Pete. We’ll have to find out more about your adventure. Weren’t you thinking of visiting us at some point? See you then … and let us know about Buena Vista.