Ten years ago, on May 25th, Cindy and I started our 5,000 mile, year long hike along the American Discovery Trail. At the time my blog posts kept Cindy’s cognitive decline private, focusing instead on observing and sharing tales of kindness and community. Over the course of this anniversary year I will revisit my posts from ten years ago, this time being open about our real mission to improve Cindy’s brain health by returning to our passion.
We were accompanied on our hike by friend and townsfolk Ky Byrne, driving her van as a support vehicle and towing a camper we helped her purchase. Publicly, the reason given for support was to help me with arranging and publicizing speaking engagements I would give across the country. The more important reason was making the hike easier for Cindy and providing insurance for anything that might go wrong. Meanwhile, Ky always wanted to cross the country at the “speed of a covered wagon” and this provided her that opportunity. She also wanted to find a cowboy that could be boyfriend material.
On our drive out to Point Reyes, California to start the journey, Ky attempted to get a “Thelma and Louise” vibe going with Cindy. She even asked me to compose a song about the two of them while suggesting I was going to be, literally, the odd man out. As I look back on that dynamic ten years later I fault myself for neglecting to fully explain the situation to Ky. She knew about Cindy’s cognitive decline, of course, but neither the full extent nor what would be some of the consequences. “Thelma and Louise” was not going to happen.
Cindy’s decline was obvious to our hosts Marty and Fran, whom we stayed with in Novato just before beginning our journey. They suspected Cindy had Alzheimer’s and were understandably concerned. I countered that five different doctors concluded Cindy was too young to have Alzheimer’s; one lab technician showed me her MRI and declared her brain probably was healthier than mine. We assumed Cindy had an anxiety disorder instead and we hoped that turning to our passion for long distance hiking would reboot our lives and her brain health.
I aim to revisit our journey on a weekly basis, though I already am starting two weeks behind and will need to do a little catching up.
