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Day 162

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Woke up right before the sun rose and decided to just get up and go rather than to lay there and try to go back to sleep. Wasn’t happening. I was on the road by 7:30 am. I had a pretty big hill for the first 2 miles but all downhill after that. It was absolutely beautiful with the sun rising and mountains everywhere. 
I would’ve had such a great day but the traffic was pissing me off. It was blowing my mind how close people were getting to me. I just don’t understand it. I really dont. I tried to let it go but it just kept happening. 
Then I saw a car turn around and pull over to talk to me. He was so nice and asked if I was ok and what I was up to. We talked for a minute about the overdose problem and then I talked about the walk. I felt so much better after that. All it takes is one kind gesture people. If you ever see someone walking on a highway just stop to check on them. You don’t even need to offer anything. Just be nice. They won’t hurt you. 
I came into the small town called Mancos. I planned to make it a quick stop. Just grab a bite to eat and keep going. It is Sunday so I knew I couldn’t do the newspaper or get anyone who works for the city so I figured I’d just keep going. 
I stop at a breakfast restaurant and there was a wait for a table. Must be good. I waited outside with the rest of the people on the list and I took the opportunity to tell stories and talk about the epidemic. A high school in a neighboring town just had someone die of an overdose there. I let them all know some signs to look out for and other information that I hope they’ll never need. 
Two of the ladies were called and were sat at a table for three and invited me to join them. We sat and had the best damn breakfast I’ve ever had in my life! No wonder there was a wait. My mouth is watering thinking of it right now. Not only was the food great, but Angela and Cindy were so nice. I was able to get some valuable information about the area that I will be going into in a few days. They picked up my tab for me as well. 
I walked through the rest of town and I loved it. A beautiful town in a beautiful part of the world! Way to go Mancos! They even had sidewalks! I haven’t seen those since I’ve been in Colorado. 
A woman who was in her driveway shouted out at me and asked about what she was seeing. I told her and she was thrilled that I passed her house. We talked for at least 30 minutes. Maybe longer. It was incredible. She helped me realize some of the things that I’ve gotten out of this walk. She looked to be in her 50s but she told me that she was 73. I’ll never forget meeting Madeline. That was incredible. And so cool how you can just be walking through a new town and the next minute having a great conversation with a kind stranger. I freaking love it!!!
8 tough miles from Mancos is Mesa Verde National Park. I was very excited about this place. I wanted to take a tour and camp at the campground. I went into the visitors center and about my options and they said that the tours are an hour DRIVE up the mountain. I asked if a Ranger could take me but that wasn’t an option. I asked a few people around the visitors center but none of them were headed to the same place. 
I was tired and remembered an RV campground that I passed about a half mile before the park entrance on the other side of the highway. I called and asked if they had tent sites and Carol told me that there were plenty and she’d be happy to have me stay there. Very nice over the phone. 
I accepted defeat at Mesa verde and figured I’d try again in the morning. I went to the office at the campground and immediately realized that this place is well taken care of. They are putting in a lot of work to make this place nice. I appreciated it a lot. 
I paid for a tent site and then Carol gave me the keys to a cabin and showed me on the map where I’d be staying tonight. She surprised me with a bed and four walls. What a great gift!!! They even had a hot tub with my name on it. 
I settled in and went right for the hot tub. It helped my legs a lot. After that I was able to do laundry and watch some TV in the rec room. A nice family came in to play pool and I talked to them for a while. It was good to have the company. The campground had frozen pizza that you can buy and cook so I did that for dinner. 
Now I’m sitting here watching the Olympic closing ceremonies and looking out the window Mesa Verde. Getting some good relaxation in. I’m going to need it. I’ll be in the desert in a few days and it’s going to be really hard. But I’ll worry about that when I get there. 
Today was great. Hope you had a good day also…
Update: a Polish family just came to the rec room where I’m watching TV. There’s like 12 of them. It’s about to be a fun night…

Day 161

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I’m so glad that I took those last 2 days off. It was expensive but worth the value of being refreshed. I had 12 miles of uphill to start my day. And then 10 miles downhill to get to a campsite that I wanted to reach. That was my goal for the day. 
I set off uphill and felt great. I had music playing in my headphones to distract me from traffic. I had a wife shoulder so it was fairly safe. I had to keep my eyes opened but nothing too extreme. I was cruising right along. No rush. Just enjoying the views and the piece of mind. 
It started to get pretty rough near the top. It got steeper and the shoulder got more narrow. I had about 6 inches between my wheel and the white line. There were two lanes for traffic though so that helped. Everyone was being nice and moving over for me. 
One small white car was approaching and showing no signs of moving over. It’s not they have to or anything but it’s just a small courtesy that goes a long way to someone walking on a highway. He obviously didn’t care. I put my hands out in a “can you not see me?” gesture. He flew by me with less than 3 feet between his wheels and mine. I turned around to flick him off and I noticed that he was doing the same to me. 
I turned back around and kept going, shaking my head. I turned back just to see and sure enough, he was pulled over trying to be a badass. I slammed my stroller brakes on and flung around with my hands out and was waving for him to come get some. 
He turned around. Oh shit. Haha. I figured if I keep acting like a crazy person than I’d be alright. He turned his car directly in my direction and sped towards me. I stepped to him like I wasn’t scared at all. Hands out ready to go. He swerved and pulled up next to me. Stupid on his part. From this position I had him under control if things turned violent. I could kick the door closed if he tried to get out and I could wail on him through the open window while he couldn’t swing on me. All that went through my head in seconds. 

He said, “what the fuck is your problem?”

“What’s yours?” I said back.

“I’m just driving along here.”

I looked out at the road at waved my hand out and said, “you couldn’t give me a little space?”
He drove off. It was weird. He had 2 women with him and they were totally scared. I wanted him to stay longer so I could talk him into learning something about life. Oh well. He grinded a gear while he u-turned back around. I laughed on the inside. 
I breathed out and shook it off pretty easily. I got back into my zone with my music and acted like it never happened. 
At the top of the hill was a gas station. I stopped in for a sandwich and a gatorade. While I was parking my cart and getting my stuff together to go inside, a couple pulled up and the guy asked about the walk. He was moved. He’s had a rough couple of months with losing people. Not necessarily to drugs specifically, but understood the grief of losing a sibling. 
We talked for a while and the clerk inside also recently lost her sister to suicide from addiction related struggles. We all had a moment and swapped info to stay in touch. The clerk offered some snacks and the couple offered for me to smoke a joint with them lol. I had to refuse that one. They gave me some money before they left though. They wanted to help. 
I sat on the top of that mountain for a while and took in the moments of the day before getting up to go downhill for the next 4 hours or so. The second half of the day sucked. 
The wind picked up intensely and was blowing right at me. Traffic had picked up too. Or maybe I was just noticing it more after the asshole from earlier. I was angry for some reason. It was beautiful but I couldn’t get in the right mood. I kept pushing though. My legs were on fire. 
I finally made it to the campground. I laid on top of the picnic table getting eaten up by bugs and didn’t care. I decompressed and felt better. Some nice people came over to say hey throughout the evening. I set up my tent and made dinner. While I was boiling water, I grabbed the handle of the pot to take it off the stove and it burned me. I spilt boiling water all over my phone. 
Thankfully I have a water resistant phone and it stood true to the test. My fingers didn’t though. It wasn’t a bad burn. Nothing to worry about, but it definitely singed my skin and hurt like hell. I grabbed my bandana this time and continued cooking. 
That’s about it. A few hiccups but a good day overall. I’m even done with my blog before eating. Now I can eat and then pack my stuff for the night, then lay down and read until I fall asleep. Boom!

Day 160

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Took another day off. I needed it and feel so much better now. Mentally and physically. I was able to waterproof some of my gear and plan out my route for my first week or so into Utah. I feel better now that I have a good idea of what to expect. It won’t be easy but at least I’ll be prepared. 
I’ll get back to walking tomorrow. It’ll be all uphill for about 15 miles and then it evens out for a little while.  My goal is to get somewhere between 20 and 27 miles tomorrow. Hoping for good weather and a wide shoulder…

Day 159

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Day off. I walked down main street in Durango just to see it. I stopped in a shoe store and bought a new pair of shoes that I needed. I went to tell the paper my story. I ate lunch. I also bought a new sun hat. My straw hat broke and I threw it away weeks ago. 
That was about it haha. The rest of the day was spent in bed. I’m highly considering just one more day off. My knees are still not where I want them to be. I’d hate to blow them out at this point. I have some very long stretches of nothing coming up and I want to make sure I’m ready for it. 

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