One week later

Being back has been an adjustment. Not an easy one either. I've been gimping around, trying to stay off the foot as much as possible, but I'm also antsy all the time. I have this feeling that I can't sit around, that I've got things to do. I don't really know what they are yet- but I'm working on figuring it out. 

It's been great to see my friends and family again. I was able to celebrate my birthday with them, which was really good. I have to answer the same questions a lot- are you going back? How does the foot feel? How was it? 

I can't go back, at least not any time soon, I just don't have the money for it. Between the medical cost getting the foot checked, the trip home and having to fix my car when I got back (needed a new battery and belt), my resources are pretty tapped. 

I also don't know if I want to go back. I don't know if I have it in me. The experience was amazing-but it was also incredibly hard. It was 90% terrible and 10% awe-inspiring. I've never been more tired and hurting than I was doing that day after day. It was for the best cause and I don't regret doing it. I learned a lot about myself that I didn't know. I experienced one of my dreams- I tried. I take satisfaction from that. I did something few could or would. 

The foot is getting better slowly. It still hurts to put weight on, but it's better than it was. I'm looking for a job, boo. I've got a number of irons in the fire for Extra Life as usual. 

Thank you to all those that were following along and cheering for me. Your kind words meant the world to me. I'm not done with the adventures yet- I hope that you'll stay with me. 

Remember- it's about the journey. 

Jamison

XL

Day 32- the end?

Today was what could be the end of my adventure. I woke up early and tested my foot, which immediately erupted in pain no better than yesterday. I cursed to myself and laid there thinking. Around 7:30 Coin woke up and I told him I needed to go to Urgent Care to get it checked out. He agreed. I managed to catch a ride with Matt, the owner of the hotel we're staying at (he has been nothing but helpful and I am eternally grateful). 

I got dropped off at a local clinic and about 4 hours later, after examination and x-rays, I had my diagnosis. I had a stress fracture in my left foot. No more walking for me, especially not every day all day. I need to be off my feet for 2-4 weeks. I was crushed. 

I put up a post on Facebook and was astounded by the positivity of the responses that I received. I was disappointed, disheartened and devastated at the wall I had run into. The nature of the responses I got and the private messages I was sent made me realize that although this adventure may be over, that I have dared to do something that most wouldn't. Dreams change, they evolve-they often don't end the way you expect them to. I will carry on with my efforts for Extra Life. I will get healthy again. Coin is going to continue on the trail, so maybe I'll get to see join him again further down the line. I'm glad that he's going on without me. I'll be rooting for him. I'll be home tomorrow night, and that will be strange. 

Thank you to Stephanie, Kaitlyn, Lacey, Chuck and everyone else that shared their wisdom and positivity when I needed it most. 

On to other things now- 

-XL

Day 31- Homesick

Today is a zero day, and we're at a place called Anton's by the Lake in Greenwood, NY. I've spent most of the day thinking about home and my friends. How much I'd like to just be there, drinking a beer with Rob or hanging around the game store. It's been over a month since I was home. I've walked almost 250 miles, nearly a quarter of the way home. I have trouble sleeping at night, my brain won't turn off some times no matter how tired I am. 

It's natural for these feelings to pop up and I'll get through them. My fear isn't that I'll want to give up but rather that I'll have to. I've had a pain in my left foot for the past 3 days and it's still hanging around. We walked less than a half mile into town for food and the pain was pretty bad, but it may have been just the normal morning get warmed up pains.  We'll see how the next few days go and if it's not any better it may mean a trip to a doctor. My inner pessimist is going strong as usual. 

I don't have a lot else to say today. Just that my thoughts are with my family and friends. 

-XL

Day 30- the outside world

Before I get to my update, I want to express the outrage and heartbreak brought about by the terror attack on the nightclub in Orlando. My heart goes out to those victims, their families and the LGBT community. Our world is a darker place today. I will say it simply- IT IS NOT OKAY TO HATE SOMEONE BECAUSE THEY ARE DIFFERENT. 

Coming off the trail today, that was what greeted me. I welcome the disconnection I have most of the time out here. I still have internet a good portion of the time but I try to limit how often I'm on. When I open Facebook and I have to see friends are reporting that they are safe in Orlando, it really shows how screwed up our country is. 

Back to today - we did about 6.5 miles today, ending up at a place called Heaven Hills Farm, where we had lunch and a bunch of fresh fruit, which was a treat. A shuttle from our hotel picked us up and we're clean, freshly laundered and relaxing now. 

Hockey game tonight, day off tomorrow. We'll walk into town, grab some supplies.  I have a pain in the top of my left foot that I'm hoping is just a little tendinitis, so a day off will be good. 

The trek today across more swamp!

-XL

Day 29- Nothing new

Another day. Not a magical day like yesterday. We got up early, and did a little over 12 miles, finishing with a monster hill before we got to the shelter. My legs were shaking when we got to the top, and I took a siesta in my tent before making dinner. Today's hike was mostly through very boggy areas. 

There's a turtle there somewhere. 

We're flirting with the border of NY right now, but we've got a few more days of NJ before we're done. Tomorrow we're heading to a motel for a few reasons. We're disgusting sweaty monaters, our clothes are disgusting and sweaty and the NHL finals are on tomorrow night. Priorities right? The Penguins could win the Stanley Cup and that's fairly important to Coinflip. 

-XL

Day 28- Hooray for NJ

Today was a great day. We did short miles, only a little over 8. The weather was perfect again so it was pleasant hiking, not sweat dripping in my eyes or rain fogging my glasses. We saw some amazing vistas like this one-

The best part of the day was when we approached the High Point State Park HQ, we saw a sign attached to the AT sign saying "Hiker Pancake Breakfast". It seemed to good to be true, but sure enough as we walked over to the picnic table next to the building a couple asked us if we were hungry. 

Never one to look a gift meal in the face, we sat down and they proceeded to stuff us with banana pancakes, fresh made coffee and orange juice, as much as we could eat. The couple was a thru-hiker named Blue Bandana that had taken a few days off from the trail and his girlfriend. He wanted to do some trail magic before he hit the trail again. We spent about an hour with them and then he told us if we went in to the HQ and signed the guest book, they'd give us a free Pepsi! Double score. 

Notice there's no pancakes here. We ate them all. 

Being stuffed it was tough to hit the trail again, but we managed. We were only a few miles from the shelter, so we decided to make a side trip (in hiker lingo it's called "blue blazing") to the obelisk at the highest point in New Jersey. 

From afar

From close

We finished our hike around 4, set up camp and had some time to play some games. Now I'm waiting to eat my dinner (Spanish rice with a cheese stick melted in it) and then I'm going to crawl into my tent and read for a few hours. Damn good day. 

-XL

Day 27- NJ slightly redeems itself

It's hard to stay mad at NJ when there are days like today. We got dropped off from our hotel at a local grocery store and resupplied the best we could. It was a small store so we had to make do a bit. Food is tough on the trail, I'm sick of sweet stuff and junk food, but having limited room and resources ties your hands a lot. I eat a ton of tuna fish packets, it's like all I want to eat (probably my body craving protein) so most meals include that. Tuna and ramen, tuna and instant rice, tuna on a tortilla. Pretty exciting huh?

But I digress- resupplied. Check. Hike 2.5 miles from grocery store to trail head. Check. Stop on the way at local farm stand and eat fresh strawberries. Check. 

We finally started back on the trail around 10 am and hiked about 3 miles to the next shelter for lunch break. I'm getting my conditioning in, we did a 1300' ascent with no breaks. A few weeks ago I would have stopped probably a half dozen times. I'm feeling pretty good today. The weather was just about perfect, cool and windy, just the way I like it. 

After lunch, we did another 6 to end at our campsite. Along the way were some amazing views and I had to give Jersey some credit back. Yesterday was hard. Today was hard but so rewarding. I've had moments I've regretted attempting this journey. Today was not one of them. 

-XL