Brett Bramble Walks – Page 5 – Walking across the United States of America in 2016 in honor of my sister who died of an overdose. I will be teaching people about this scary epidemic in our country along the way. This is where I will be sharing my experiences….

Day 178

September 7, 2016 brettbramble Leave a comment

I woke up way too early. I couldn’t go back to sleep and finally gave in and woke up. It was cold. The sun wasn’t really up yet. People were out though. I packed up and goodbye to people who came over. As I was heading out of the park, I stopped inside the house again and grabbed a cinnamon rolls. They didn’t charge me. The clerk had a personal story with my cause. She didn’t share it with me but I could tell she was happy that I was doing this.
I went up to the visitors center because I wanted to get a souvenir from this place because of the amazing experience. I grabbed a magnet and one of those super awesome mosquito nets that goes over your hat and face. Haha. I can’t wait to rock that bad boy on the side of the road.
As I was finishing up my cinnamon roll, the Ranger from last night came over and gave me a Ranger badge that said “wilderness explorer”. I don’t know why but I was extremely thrilled about it. I felt special. I will always cherish that silly little thing. I laughed little at myself about it but I didn’t care. I really really liked that badge and it made me happy that she gave it to me.
I set off for the hills. Literally. A freaking mountain to start off the day. I took my time with it though. It was hard but I was feeling great so nothing could stop me. Traffic was really bad too. Must be going home from labor day traffic. I didn’t let that get to me either. Just went about my business, resting when I needed to.
Around lunch time, I saw a Mexican restaurant up ahead. Oh yeah. I stopped in and grabbed an amazing lunch from a server who made Shakira look like Mama June. Maybe I’ve just been on the road too long. It was a great lunch though.
A few miles later, I pull into the town of Torrey. I stopped in the visitors center to get the local paper’s phone number and to simply announce my presence to see where it went. The lady was nice but there was no paper. Hard to get the word out in the middle of nowhere.
I stopped by a bike shop because I wanted to get some patches for my sleeping pad that keeps going flat. The owner was very moved by my cause and gave me tea, some muffins, some money, and tried to give me more but I insisted that he’d done enough. Very nice people in that place. They didn’t have the patches I needed though. But he told me to go to the other store up ahead and try there.
So I get to the other store and they had some patches. As I was walking out, a few people were asking questions when they saw my stroller. They invited me to sit with them and we talked about it all for quite a while. I enjoyed the company. People were very friendly in this town.
I made it to the campground that I had set out for and checked into a tent site. As I was setting up my tent, I got a notification on my phone saying that my fantasy football draft was in one hour. No one told me. They know I’ll beat em that’s why. Anyone who has done it before knows that the draft is very important. I made sure the WiFi was good and got ready for the draft. I set up my tent and everything while waiting and talked to a few of the other people at the campground.
I found a great place with a wonderful view and some shade and sat down to do the draft. I did ok. We were chatting and talking trash the whole time to make it more fun.
After the draft I headed across the street for dinner. They had lobster Mac and cheese with green chile. Yeah. That happened.
I came back and met some more nice people at the campground just before the sun went down. Got ready for blog and bed just as it got dark..

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Day 177

September 7, 2016 brettbramble Leave a comment

I’ll have to upload pictures later. Sorry guys. No wifi..
So I woke up and went to the free breakfast at the hotel and the hotel owner came over and gave me a note and a $20 bill from one of the guest who wanted to help me out. Made me very happy to see a good deed done so early in the morning.
After packing up I was rolling out of the hotel room with my stroller and a pretty girl saw the cart and we talked about the walk and the cause. So I got to witness kindness AND talk to a pretty girl and I hadn’t even started walking yet. She also gave some money and wished for me to have a good day. So far so good…
I was feeling way better than I was a few days before. I was in a good groove. Just kept walking and taking in the stunning scenery. After a few hours, a couple of guys on touring motorcycles pulled over and we talked for a while. They gave me some snacks and took some pictures. We talked about the walk mostly but also about the drug epidemic. One of the guys has lost some friends to heroin and knew how bad it is.
I entered Capitol Reef National Park. It just happened to be on my way. It was incredible. There were amazing sites and petroglyphs, and old houses, and everyone was extremely nice. I took a shortcut to the campground and saved 2 miles. I still ended up doing 21 total for the day.
Before the campground was a small house turned into a gift shop and store. I saw a sign that sad pies and ice cream. I popped in and the pies were a little too expensive for what I thought it was worth so I went with ice cream. As I was outside eating it, a woman came over to ask about the walk.
She was very fit and I could tell she was into healthy and active living. She told me that she was going to all 50 states and running at least 13.1 miles in each one. Two people on quests who have crossed paths. I love this stuff. She was very nice and bought a pie for me. She insisted. We exchanged info so that we can follow each other’s journeys.
As I was putting my pie up, a young guy came over. He had a European accent but spoke English very well. He is from Germany and he is driving across America with his friend that’s from Finland. He was cool and we mostly talked about the walk. But I made sure to throw in there my reason for it all.
I said goodbye to my new friends and walked over to the campground. It was $20 but I figured a shower and WiFi would be worth it. Well… there were no showers and no wifi. Great. I was already there so I just set up camp and would talk to people here and there. I was the campground celebrity as most people there had driven by me that day.
I was sitting on the picnic table just relaxing and I looked up and saw 8 deer literally 10 feet away from me. They were all over the campground and weren’t scared of the people at all. I got my $20 worth right then and there! It was a cool experience. I took a ton of pictures and videos.
Some ladies pulled up at the site next to me and they looked like they were having a ball. They were on an adventure and it showed. I asked about it. They refurbished an old vintage camper trailer from the 60s and named it Miss Daisy. So they were on a road trip and they called it Driving Miss Daisy. So cool. I told them that I knew where that movie was filmed. I’ve walked and driven past the house many times.
We talked about me too and had some fun getting to learn about each other and about our travels. Another guy came over later on.
His name is Kirby and he is driving all over the country too. Went into Canada and Alaska some as well. He told me a story about how he got bitten by a possum on the toe lol. Interesting stuff I tell ya. We talked for a while. I was enjoying his stories. One crazy tale after the other. After a while I was yawning and getting sleepy so I said goodbye and headed to my tent.
I went to the bathroom first and as I was coming back to my tent my neighbor on the other side of me came over and said he’d heard my story a few times as I told it to many people earlier. He told me that there was a show going on put on by one of the Park Rangers and asked if I’d join him. So we walked on over in the dark.
We arrived and I was so glad that he told me about this. They had photos and told stories about the history of the place we were in. It was actually quite interesting. It was a good group of people too. Very interactive.
As the show was winding down, Woody, the guy who invited me, shouted out “hey this guy is walking across America!”
Haha.. the Ranger came over with the microphone and asked if I would talk about it. I did. And it was beautiful. I wasn’t prepared or anything but I just let my heart do the talking. It ended up being quite fun as everyone had questions and comments for me and they all seemed interested and impressed.
When we finally wrapped things up, a few people rushed me. The first was a mother who lost her daughter to an overdose. A small group of maybe 20 or 30 people, in the middle of Utah, and 2 of them have lost a close family member to this. Her and I. We hugged and the next couple kind of steeped in and took over the conversation before I could say the proper goodbye to the mother. I wanted to mention some support groups to her but we were cut short by the rush.
A couple wanted to let me know that a close friend of theirs was a special interest writer for the San Francisco Cronicle. Boom. That is great. I need to start preparing for a grand arrival into San Fran. We exchanged info. I talked to a few more others until Woody, the Park Ranger, and I were all that was left.

The Ranger thanked me and we talked for a while. I was thankful to have met her. She was good at her job and the show was very entertaining. I said good night and walked back with woody and thanked him for inviting me to that experience. I was pooped but excited at the same time because of such a good day. I didn’t want it to end but I needed to get some sleep and recover for hopefully another good day….

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Day 176

September 5, 2016 brettbramble 2 comments

I was not feeling up to walking today but I forced myself up and got ready early. I left the hotel and headed across the street to grab a good breakfast before going out into the desert for the day. After I ate, I walked outside and a little goat was walking around in the parking lot. I played with it and gave it some pringles. He followed me down the road a little bit.
I was really not into it mentally today. It was beautiful out and some clouds were covering the sun. The wind was blowing pretty hard though. I had to take my flag off and put it inside my stroller. It was blowing right in my face. If any of you who have been reading this blog from the beginning then you know how much I hate the wind. I the wind knows that. It was testing me today. No matter which direction I turned it was blowing right at me.
It began to pick up and I was getting frustrated. Then the cars started to bother me. Then of course, a big hill came up. All of these obstacles at the same time while in a bad mood was not good. At one point I found myself slamming Lieutenant Dan into a sign repetitively and screaming.
I pulled myself together. I had to. I talked to myself and was saying that I needed to change my mood. The scenery was beautiful and I’m out here wild and free. I need to shut the heck up and deal with it. So I tried to shake it off and I felt a little better. The wind was still trying to get me but I was telling myself to stay in control.
A small fresh food stand was on the right and I was going to keep going because I didn’t need anything but I figured it would be a good place to get out of the wind for a second and get my head back in order. I was rewarded greatly by the decision.
I went in and ordered some iced tea. It was incredible. The owner, Randy, asked me what was the big thing that I’ve learned so far on my walk. Great question. It started an hour long conversation about learning and growing. I mean some quality in depth spiritual conversation. One of those meant to be there kind of things.
I was so happy that I met Randy. He gave me a paper sack full of fresh eggs, a loaf of bread, some pesto, and some amazing cheese. All made organically on his property. I walked away and my mood was completely turned around. He helped me pinpoint some of the thoughts and feelings that I had been dealing with lately.
I was getting tired and the wind was still blowing hard but i at least had my positive spirit back. I lost it about 5 days ago and had been in a funk. I was very grateful to have gotten a hold of things. I thanked the wind for helping me get to the point I needed to get to to take all of this in. Early evening was here and a saw a hotel coming up. I couldn’t believe there was a hotel out here.
I walked in just to see what the rate was. $115. Nope. I looked at my map and a campground was 4 miles away. I could make it. I didn’t want to but I know that I could. The guy saw my stuff and asked about it. He offered a pretty good discount and convinced me to stay. I really wanted to have 4 walls and a bed tonight. I have my spirits back up and wanted to keep it that way.
I checked in and then broke into the food that Randy gave me. Wow. So so so good!!!
I was in a very low place for a few days. Everything was getting to me. I am so thankful that I got back to the right state of mind. Now I can take in the beautiful universe and enjoy this experience again. I’m now looking forward to tomorrow instead of dreading it…