Day 202

I woke up early and laid around for a while until I got the motivation to get up. When I opened my tent, the sun was just about to rise over the mountains and it was just perfect. I did what I had to do and got to walking. Half a mile later I realized I didn’t have my good sunglasses. I walked back and retraced my steps. Nope. Ugh. I hoped they were in my cart for me to find later and I kept going. 
It was a pretty walk. I was in the valley headed for some mountains. Just before the start of the incline, I looked over and saw 3 wild horses running along together. Then the climb began. 
It wasn’t too bad at first. It was windy though. Not windy like the wind was blowing but windy roads as in there were curves lol. So the cars that were flying by had very little time to react to me. I was doing fine though. At least I was paying attention. I rounded a corner and there was a couple waiting for me to say hey.
Noah and Carol. Lovely people. From England. They were travelers and had been all over. We talked a lot about travel. They were very friendly and said they felt bad leaving me there when we said our goodbyes haha. I told them that I was fine and that I actually loved it. They said they were going to try to get me on BBC TV haha. Perfect!
I went on for quite a while. I got to about 2 miles to the top and it was getting steeper. I heard my phone start going crazy with notifications. I guess I had a spot with service. I looked at Facebook and it was like whoa. I had so many people wishing me a happy birthday. That was awesome but I didn’t have the time or energy to go through them all there. I checked my voicemail and got some good messages from family. 
I also got one from a friend I met on the walk back in Colorado. The mayor of Las Animas, Jim Collins. I love this guy! He called to say happy birthday and to also let me know that his town has been taking new measures to battle the opioid epidemic since I went through there. They are scheduled to hand out Narcan to all first responders and to train them how to administer it. They are also having educational meetings on the topic of the crisis specifically. Great news! I am looking forward to seeing Jim and his wife again. Thanks for the call buddy! 🙂
I made it to the top of Little Antelope Pass. I took a little sit down break and ate some energy foods. A man pulls up on a 4 wheeler to say hey. He offered me a water and a gatorade. I accepted them as birthday gifts lol. He told me that tomorrow is opening day for hunting season. THAT explains the tons of traffic that I’ve been seeing lately. Ugh. I knew it was going to pick up later as well. Once everyone leaves work, they’ll be heading out here to make camp for the night to get an early start. Great. 
Whatever. I was NOT going to let traffic bother me today. If you are an asshole then you are an asshole. There was nothing that me getting mad about it can change it. I walked on downhill. 
My goal was to reach 26 miles again. I got close and totally could have made it, but I saw a really good spot to camp at 24 miles. It was too good to pass up out here where it’s hard to find a place to put your tent. So many spiky bushes all over. The wind was blowing heavy and I found a perfect flat spot on the side of a mound that was protected from the wind and had clear spots for my tent. I chose to stay. 
I set up and made food. All the usual routine. The sunset was astounding. The usual as well. Took some pictures and now typing my blog. It’s getting dark. Now that I’m done I’m going to enjoy my birthday. I have some peanut m&ms and a red gatorade. It’s about to get wild out here haha. 
I’m looking forward to checking out the stars. I have a phone app that shows me what I’m looking at. It’s clear out tonight and not a light for 40 miles. After that I’ll go right to bed. Then do it all over again!