Judi's Trek Blog

October 15, 2006

The morning was glorious in so many ways. Our motel room was so, so, so warm and so comfortable I could have lingered for longer than made sense. The alarm went off at 5:15 and I dared to stay in bed. Soon I received the oh-so-clear message from Mom – “If you think you are going to haul me away from my comfortable world to drive across the country one mile at a time and to freeze my tail-end off at some makeshift campsite along the road next to an 18-wheeler just so you can stay in bed as if we are on a leisure trip, you are sadly mistaken my sweet, young daughter!”

Her non-verbal expression of this unspoken sentiment was communicated as she began to pile my bags of foot care accessories around my head and pillow. Mom’s wake-up messages are never really tough to interpret. I sat up and committed to beginning my morning routine. There is a distinctly unique and welcome flavor when we prepare for the day with full, typical, indoor lighting and a sink and shower and the standard luxuries of our former habitats. We will afford ourselves the luxury of a motel room again when it makes sense. It tends to make sense when it is pouring rain and cold. Mom went to Gary’s room and knocked on the door to awaken him. I’m guessing Gary knows that he would do well to start his day shortly after Mom’s wake-up greeting. He tends to be ready about 30-40 minutes after Mom awakens him.

Mom and I went out to hook the camper to the car. The camper was “boxed in” by a car and trailer parked in a position that was unfavorable to our smooth morning routine. We started pushing the trailer to a different location then Gary emerged from his room. He added his ballast to the operation and soon the trailer was well positioned and we hooked it up to the car. Mom and I checked the room to be sure we didn’t leave anything behind then climbed into the car. Gary joined us and we all drove to the Conoco station. Gary pumped the gas, Mom got the coffee and I sat in the car typing into my journal.

We planned a strategy for the morning, drove to our starting place and began to walk. Mom had decided to stay pretty close to us in the event that rain started. She said she thought the risk was fairly high. Gary and I walked at our individual paces. The morning visual texture was rich. It felt like I was walking into a painting. The dark clouds hung overhead like a porch roof, but out in the distance on the horizon was a clear, brilliant view of light and hope. It felt as though I was being showered with light, not the warm, bright sunshiny-type light, but the early, demure light that accompanies a chilly morning in the mountains.

I thought about my Uncle Gordon and about the epiphany I felt a little over a year ago as I confronted the loss. I thought about my love for my extended family and the respect that I feel toward my family members when I hear stories of their support for each other during times of hardship. As these thoughts filled my head, I felt joy to such a degree that a big smile spread across my face and I started to sing out loud. Mind you, there was nobody around, so it did not matter that the song was made-up and silly and disjointed in its creation. It just felt good. I thought about how absurd it would feel if anyone observed me, but there I was on a road walking to St. Louis in the middle of a big span of ground cover and cactus and hidden wildlife. I decided that there wasn’t a whole lot that was more absurd than the fact that I existed in that place at that time.

Our morning walk was quickly stalled by pouring rain mixed with sleet. Gary had walked 2.25 miles and I had walked 5.27. Mom arrived with the car and camper in tow. I sent her to get Gary first then climbed into the car when they returned. We drove to Fort Sumner to set-up camp somewhere. Gary got a motel room and Mom and I drove around with a brief period of indecision until the rain stopped. We set-up the camper at an RV park. I took off my wet clothes and footwear (shoes, socks, ace wraps, band-aids, gel inserts, etc.) and dried out a bit. Mom went

to the local Laundromat to dry the things, but the laundromat was closed. She fashioned our laundry room from all of the places in the camper from which one can hang anything and a drying rack, turned on the stove burners and the electric heater and hung things everywhere. To our advantage, we had a duplicate of most items so I performed my foot care for the second time. Mom and I drove to Gary’s motel to pick him up. He had dried his clothing in front of a heater in the room. Mom drove Gary and I to our walking site and in a hopscotch fashion, we completed our 20 mile walk between rain showers and drizzle.

Gary arrived at our camper and Mom prepared break-fast. We had chili and salad then went to Sarah’s Restaurant for dessert. We ordered coffee and pie and ice cream. We were pretty close to full, so none of us actually finished our dessert. We enjoyed it until we were full. We visited with some people at a table beside us. Gary told them about his journey and the success he is having with the Fast-5 lifestyle. We took some pictures and said our good-byes then drove Gary back to his room.

Mom and I returned to the camper and settled in for the night. We finished our evening routine and talked for a little while. Mom stopped the conversation and listened saying “Well, I’ll be a son-of-a-gun. I had not picked up that there was

a train beside us. I can’t believe it. We are camping next to a train track – again.” The horned sounded its loud call followed by the sound of wheels moving fast down the track. Mom said, “I cannot believe it. We are going to hear trains all night again.” We resumed our conversation.

A few minutes later Mom said, “And there are the trucks. We can’t make it through a night without truck noise. Here we are. Back at home again.” We laughed at the consistency of the train, truck white noise we’ve grown accustomed to as we sleep. One night Mom said that I should record the sound on my little tape recorder so we would have it for later.

Trains and trucks everywhere, taking stuff from here to there.

I wondered about her. Dad has no idea the entertainment he is in for when Mom gets home.

The day has been a good one. Gary is working very hard to walk 20 miles each day. He has walked into the late night attimes to achieve his goal. He continues to get stronger and more determined all of the time. Tomorrow I look forward to carrying our message further. For tonight, sleeping well is our job.

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