Last Week in Hollywood
… I hope anyway. I’ve been trying to coordinate my departure date with my ex-husband, who’s being insanely generous and giving me a 2002 Chevy Silverado pickup truck. He wants to get it serviced, take care of insurance, etc., before I leave. We also have to load it.
I’m bringing back to Wyoming my woodworking tools, like a lathe, a scroll saw, a router, and a few others. I’m also transporting a big heavy solid oak icebox that I inherited from my sister Kathy when she died. It’s been sitting in the garage since I acquired it. A friend outside Cody wants it, he collects old stoves and iceboxes and such. He wants to buy it, having only seen a couple cell-phone-photos of it. I may perhaps work out a trade with him. Anyway, that icebox is hard to load, and will require a couple men. So the things that need to be done take a bit of time, and in between his busy work schedule, he’s trying to help me get out of here Saturday morning.
I am bringing my beloved dog with me to Wyoming. It’s totally impractical, and I don’t know what to do with him in March when I leave, because he doesn’t seem to have the legs at his age to tackle 25 miles a day for months. But I want him with me, he’s a good good doggy, well behaved, and I have missed him a lot. He’s just good company. I do plan to have him be my walking companion when I walk for exercise.
This past Saturday my best friend since 7th grade flew into Burbank to visit me. She’s a commercial government and charter pilot. So she flies free. Anyway, we met at the Burbank airport and my daughter drove in to get us, and the three of us went out to a vegan restaurant, and then out for ice cream, before returning to the airport. My friend flew on to another place, and my daughter drove me to the subway station.
When I arrived back in Hollywood, it was raining just a tad. I had to get something from the drug store (a story for another day) and when I left the drug store and stepped out onto the wet marble walk, I slipped and went down. I was only down for a second, and I don’t remember what position my legs were in, but I do recall it was odd and I thought I had done a split. I collected my dignity and went home, my back a little sore. In the morning, however, I woke up in a lot of pain. My left knee was so sore I could scarcely put weight on it. I spent Sunday with a bag of ice on my knee, watching football. I could walk a little on it Sunday, more Monday, and today, Tuesday, I walked about 8 miles altogether, so luckily it seems to be minor. A little injury like that can become a big issue later, I am hoping it doesn’t. Right now the health of my legs, hips and back are of utmost concern. I’ll be using the hell out of them in a few months. I was in quite a panic mode, worrying that I’d done some major damage to my knee that would flare up when I used it. It’s a bit stiff and still a bit sore, but I must have, luckily, just twisted it a bit or something minor, cause I seem to be walking on it fine now.
So in a few days I’ll be pulling out of California. I’d like to spend one more day at the beach before I go, and it dawned on me the next time I see the Pacific (barring any visits here before then) I’ll be in Ocean City, Washington, having just walked 3400+ miles to get there. So I want to go give the Pacific a good long look, and make a promise to it that I’ll return next fall, after I make a dream come true.
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A fellow border-to-border adventurer, and some thoughts
~ When I was camping last weekend at Sycamore Cove, I noticed the camper next to me had no car, just a bike and a lot of gear. I moseyed over and inquired if he was bicycle touring. Turns out, wouldn’t you know it, that he was crossing the United States, only North (Vancouver, Canada) to South (Tijuana, Mexico). He introduced himself as Luke, a social worker on a leave due to burn out. He tests homeless people for HIV and has to break the bad, life-changing news to several people a day, so burn out is common.
Anyway, he was a wonderful fellow, very open and friendly. He showed me his ultralight camping gear, explained why he used what he used, where he charged his netbook and mP3 player and such. He gave me the rest of his Oxnard strawberries, his blog address, and packed all his gear neatly into 4 panniers, loaded them onto his bike, and headed South down the Pacific Coast Highway, destination Mexico.
The few people I’ve met taking trips such as that, have, so far, all been relatively young males. I’ll be an old female, but that’s okay. But here’s Granny D:
Doris Haddock, a.k.a. “Granny D”, an 89-year-old activist, retired secretary and shoe factory worker, walked from Pasadena, California, setting off on January 1st, 1999 to Washington D.C., a distance of 3,055 miles (4,917 km). She walked for six days per week, with a mean speed of 10 miles per day, in an effort to call people’s attention to campaign finance reform, taking 400 days to complete her walk.
(pasted from Wikipedia)
10 miles a day is pretty slow, I hope to average 25 miles a day. More if I can do it. I am starting to finalize my days here in Los Angeles. Meaning, I am starting to get ready to head North, back to Wyoming. I am filled with anxious anticipation, .. these next few months are going to be dedicated to my final preparations for the Walk in the Spring. I have things to sell off, miles and miles to walk, plans to finalize. Somehow I need to raise some money to help finance it. I need a few light items and things to make the walk go more smoothly. But right now, I just want to get back to Cody and see my friends and mountains and favorite places.
