able to walk (more or less)

I took six aspirin last night and feel a lot better this morning. Not only had I gone to bed with stiff muscles and a screaming knee, but I also had a slight fever and a runny nose-- very possibly my first cold of the Walk. Whatever it was, it was mostly gone by this morning, though I don't think I got more than four hours' sleep.

I'm doing laundry right now; clothes are drying. Once they're done cooking, I need to hobble off to the local Wal-Mart (I thought I saw a sign for one) and buy my ibuprofen and water purifying tablets (if the store's outdoor sports section carries them).

One thing this pain has taught me is never to take a simple thing like walking for granted. While I repeatedly learn-- and forget-- this lesson whenever I stub my toe or bark a shin, I'm now in pain so frequently and for such long durations that I'm pretty sure the wisdom will be burned indelibly into my psyche.

I don't want to give you the impression that I'm in agony, however. I'm not. While the pain did get bad enough last night to make me, at one point, afraid to get out of bed, I'm not down for the count. I imagine that I'll be ready to hit the road again by tomorrow morning.

What worries me, though, is this "one day's walking, two days' resting" business. I'm hoping that, when I start my trek through Idaho and beyond, my knee will have a chance to heal while it's unencumbered. My father's going to be the chase car operator, helping me through the Rockies, which means I won't be carrying much with me during that segment of the walk-- just some water, fall/winter clothing, bear spray, a knife, and little else. During that time, I'm counting on going faster and with little if any pain.

A few of us are discussing the route from Lewiston. After hearing several possibilities from my father and from Alan (many thanks to Alan's brother as well), I'm leaning toward Route 12 again. This will mean a mostly isolated 270-mile stretch that will get me out of the Rockies more quickly than other routes might. Because I'll simply be walking the route and not zigzagging among different towns, I might be able to do the entire stretch in two to three weeks (this assumes some 15- and 20-mile days along with 10-mile days). By the end of that stretch, I'll have logged at least 850 miles since beginning in Canada.

That reminds me: an article about George Martin's walk says he averaged 22 miles per day... but the walk took him around nine months to complete and was almost exactly 3000 miles. If so, that's about 333 miles per month, or a little over ten miles per day. While I'm averaging less than that right now, I don't feel so bad about taking it slowly.


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