[at-l] day three

[Jim Bullard]

I'm glad you bailed too and although I'm not the sort to have anymore to do
with doctors than I must, methinks that what happened to you is in doctoring
territory. Have you seen one?

On Nov 29, 2007 12:22 PM, Felix <athiker at smithville.net> wrote:

> So, I slept on. Had a nice evening/night, in fact. That all would change.
> I
> woke up to a pleasantly chilly morning. Seemingly clear. I'd say the temps
> were
> in the mid 20s based on the amount of ice in my water bottle. some, but
> not a
> lot. There was a fresh dusting of snow and the ground looked pleasantly
> crunchy. I love crunchy ground. Crunch means, usually, not muddy.
>
> I got up to get my food bags and everything felt fine. When I reached out
> to
> retrieve the bags, however, something very painful happened. I assume I
> slept 'funny' (am sure of it, in fact) and when I reached out, something
> very
> bad happened in my neck and shoulder. As the weight of the food bags was
> transferred from the 'hanger' to my arm, it felt like someone had stuck a
> knife
> in my back. "That ain't good" was my thought. I was right.  I got back
> over to
> my sleeping bag and laid down. This may have been a mistake as getting up
> was
> nearly impossible. Though, I really needed to lay down.
>
> So, I cussed a little bit and tried to make the pain stop. In certain
> positions, it didn't hurt at all. Other positions caused sharp, shooting
> pains
> down the left side of my body. I couldn't even take my hat off. (it really
> isn't a hat. It's a balaclava. Not to be confused with baclava.) So, I
> made
> breakfast and thought out all of my options.  After I had breakfast done
> and
> most of my stuff packed up, I went to the privy (which is close to the
> shelter). I realized when I couldn't get out of the privy that I had a
> semi-
> serious situation at hand. Something about the way I had to hold the door
> open
> and step down made the left side of my body sorta stop working.  So, I had
> to
> prop the door open and climb down backwards.
>
> Hmmm..."This ain't good" I thought again. I decided to finish packing and
> hike
> out to the trail (.17 miles) and see how I felt. Once there, it was about
> a
> half mile back to a road crossing where I could hitch back into Dalton.
> Or, I
> could go left, the direction I SHOULD have hiked, and see how I did. The
> actual
> hiking part was not bad. I had two huge 'holes' in the backs of me feet
> that
> hurt. But, once they were warmed up, they weren't much of a problem. I got
> to
> the AT and turned left.
>
> My plan was to hike to either Blotz Rd or Pittsfield Rd. If my neck was
> fine by
> then, I'd keep hiking as planned. If not, thumb out.
>
> I got to Blotz Rd and it was snowing and my neck was still killing me. the
> hiking itself was fine. But, if I slipped (as one is prone to do when
> crossing
> wet, frozen rocks, roots, bridges and the like), the jarring to the body
> that
> resulted was excruciating.  There wasn't much traffic and I wasn't even
> sure
> which way I was supposed to hitch hike. It appeared on the map that
> Pittsfield
> Rd. was a little more heavily traveled than Blotz Rd. So, I hiked on. It
> was a
> little more than 3 miles from Blotz to Pittsfield and I made really good
> time.
> This made it even more frustrating to have to stop hiking. I hike 7-ish
> miles
> in less than 3 hours. That's not too bad.
>
> But, I knew that even if I made it to the planned spot for the night,
> Upper
> Goose Pond, that getting set up and the the nightly chores would be a real
> pain
> in the neck. (Hey! Look! I made a pun!!!) So, at Pittsfield Rd., I stuck a
> thumb out. Third car by stopped and I told the guy I wasn't sure which way
> I
> should be hitching. I told him that I needed to get to Route 20. "Oh,
> F***" he
> said. He proceeded to tell me my best plan, which was to go to Route 8 and
> then
> south to Route 20. So, I got in and he turned around and took me back the
> way
> he'd come from. Had a nice, expletive-filled conversation with him. He
> seemed
> to be an 'old hippy'. Nice guy. He dropped me off on Route 8 just south (I
> think) of Washington, MA.  It was in the middle of nowhere!
>
> 6 or 8 minutes later a young kid came by in a pick up truck. "Where you
> going?"
> he asked. "Route 20" I replied. "Wow! That's a long way." I was surprised
> to
> hear him say. "How far?" I asked. "About 6 miles." I guess he and I have
> different opinions of 'long way'. "Well, I'm not going that far. But, I'll
> get
> you closer." He ended up taking me all the way to Route 20. Nice kid.
>
> After standing on a seemingly not-heavily-traveled section of Route 20 for
> about 25 minutes, a guy with a Vermont license on an old, beat up Cavalier
> station wagon stopped. I got in and talked my way about 25 miles past
> where he
> was going. Another nice guy. He even paid two tolls on the Turnpike and
> wouldn't take any money. He brought me to within 5 miles of Pilot's house.
> She
> was just leaving for a speaking engagement and was able to pick me up and
> bring
> me back to her place. (The man's name who gave me such a sweet ride was
> Mike
> Walls, of Becket, MA. so, if you ever see him on the road with a flat
> tire,
> help him change it for me)
>
> Once back here, I took a hot shower and went to bed. Before I knew it, I
> had a
> horrible headache, a fever, the shakes, the sweats and an upset stomach.
> I'm
> not sure what that was all about, but it made me really, really glad that
> I
> bailed when I did.
>
> Epilogue: Steak is best when eaten.
>
> --
> Felix J. McGillicuddy
> ME-->GA '98
> "Your Move"
> http://Felixhikes.tripod.com
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>



-- 
Jim Bullard
http://jims-ramblings.blogspot.com/
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