I'm one day away from having officially been on the road for a month, and in that time I've driven over 4,400 miles, about 3,300 of those on my own. I've seen old friends, places I used to live, and met new people and seen new places. I've mailed letters and postcards from at least five different states, and I've stayed in or driven through a total of 15 states up to this point. Soon I'll go one more state north from where I currently am, and it will be the farthest north I've ever been in the United States.
All of this wandering is not without purpose, in fact, it is quite purpose driven. I initially went to Portland, Oregon, partially to visit old friends and primarily to renew my Wilderness First Responder certification. For 10 days I split my time between catching up with folks, attempting to be a tour guide both remotely&directly for my trip companion, and spending 8-10 hours in class each day. While in class I managed to suffer from: a kick to my spleen from an ornery horse, a blow to the head by a branch I didn't see due to the girth of my cowboy hat, moderate hypothermia, diabetic shock, severe asthma attack, broken humerus, general unresponsiveness...I can't remember all of my ailments, perhaps because of the blows to my head. All of these, of course, were strictly hypothetical. I also dealt with being the Incident Commander for a triage situation, tib-fib fractures, femoral fractures, kidney stones, severe gastro-intestinal distress, spinal injuries, minor cuts, and more. This is what I love about wilderness medicine in general, and the
Wilderness Medicine Institute specifically: its hands on, its realistic, and it truly prepares you to think on your feet and make the best of whatever resources you have available. If you've ever been interested in wilderness medicine, check them out. With any luck, someday I could be one of your instructors. As you can imagine, this is a lot of information to absorb in 10 days, and there is certainly some stress that comes into play around the idea of taking both a practical and written exam, so what better way to calm the nerves of my fellow classmates than to make donuts. Because, donuts make everything better. Due to the fact that I was on a strict budget, I started a dollars for donuts campaign in order to have money for the ingredients. It was successful, and everyone felt their money was well spent. I forgot to take a picture before any of the donuts were eaten, but I did manage to get a couple of shots:
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| Halfway eaten, before the test started. |
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| The final remnants, written test complete and in the midst of practicals. |
Once I was done with my class, I had a little more time for hanging out and was able to catch up a bit with some old friends and roommates. Sadly, my traveling companion had returned home, so I was back to solo adventuring. I made some new feline friends in the neighborhood where I was crashing, hung out with an old canine friend, helped to build a shed, was taught the art and process of chemex brewing and practiced it daily, subsequently drank a lot of coffee, read some books, had some rainy day netflix marathons, went for some nice runs, rode my bike, and just generally hung out. A brief pictorial collage of those days:
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| curious neighbor cat |
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| puddle water fountain |
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| the glorious art of the chemex |
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| oh, coffee... |
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| my adorable&wonderful pal Jonathan! |
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| J's spectacular dog Sissy |
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| the shed project, in progress. |
Eventually, the time came to hit the road again, and I headed East. After a long day of driving, covering about 550 miles, I landed in Missoula, MT, where I stayed with very welcoming friends of friends. Of course, as it ended up, I inadvertently knew one of the folks who lived there, and it was nice to have a chance to catch up and be geeks and talk about life, Montana, and EMT stuff. The weather there was a bit chilly, but really nice, and on the rest day that I spent in Missuola I went for a great little run in the hills around their house. Again, I'll let the pictures help to tell the story:
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| More feline friends |
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| What can I say, they love me |
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| More shed building projects |
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| The first part of my run through Missoula's hills. |
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| Trail signs...eventually I ran them all. |
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| Missoula from a hilltop |
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| I saw the L in the distance, and decided I wanted to run to the top of it... |
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| a small creek that ran through the neighborhood between the first set of hills and Mount Jumbo (the mountain with the L) |
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| This has helped me realize how much I miss running water |
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| Trailhead sign for Mount Jumbo |
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| Trailhead sign for the first set of trails I explored |
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| The top of the L |
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| the start of a panoramic set from the top of the L, looking towards the hills where I started. |
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| Another view from the top |
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| Looking back to the L, headed back to the house |
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| Not sure how it is that I manage to forget how much I love Montana every time after I leave, but Missoula was beautiful and a blast. |
My rest day in Montana was wonderful, but I knew I needed to get the wheels rolling again, especially because I was expected to meet up with another friend in the town she grew up in, Fargo, ND and eventually drive her home to Minneapolis, where I would spend a few more days hanging out and not driving. The drive from Missoula was going to be a long one, so I kept track of my progress throughout the day. It looked like this:
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| About halfway there... |
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| Last gas stop before the final push |
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| Definitely glad to have this day of driving behind me. |
By the time I had made it to North Dakota and then Minneapolis, my wallet was hurting from all of the tanks of gas I had fed my car. But, there were still many miles to go, so I had to try and work out some useful hussles. I had been traveling with my track bike, with the intention of selling it, and now was the time to get serious. While I knew I would be sad to see the Baby Blue Bandit go, it was necessary. I also reached out to friends in the area in search of odd jobs, and managed to do some yard work in St. Paul to help make ends meet. However, working odd jobs and selling my bike were not the only things I did in Minneapolis, I also: drank more coffee, rode my bike around a lot, made a heart shaped pizza, caught up with old friends, revisited the glory of the jumping high-five with my friend, went to a trivia night and just general good times. More pics here:
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| Goodbye, Baby Blue Bandit, I'm glad you've got a new loving home |
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| Many miles and memories. |
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| My steaming heart... |
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| Vegan, gluten free and delicious. |
The time came for me to continue further Eastward, and I made my way to Chicago. Again, staying with and catching up with old friends. I ate a delicious feast, was given a walking tour of Rogers Park and the shoreline there, and generally had a lovely time. My visit was brief, as I needed to keep moving, so after a good nights rest I made my way along some country highway roads to Toledo, Ohio. I drove through a lot of Amish country and passed a number of horse and buggies. Made it to Toledo and more catching up with old circus friends, a good nights sleep and back on the road for the last long haul of my easternly-travels. From Ohio I pushed it all the way to Berlin, Massachusetts, where I am currently typing this from. Here I am catching up with folks whom, after having done the math, I realized I have not seen for nearly eight years. But now, here I am, chasing their children around their co-housing complex and having an excellent time. Most mornings there is a knock upon my door, but curiously the first day I only found a water bottle. Today, I found this:
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The water bottle has added a lion, some cymbals, a mini skateboard,
a toothbrush and a marble to its morning wake-up crew. |
I've explored the neighborhood trails, visited a beaver pond, seen a smaller frog pond with millions of tadpoles, found a tree frog on a bicycle, walked through an old cemetery, eaten local fresh delicious asparagus, met some chickens, met some cats&some dogs, bright yellow American Goldfinch's...
Well, that's more or less the last month in a nutshell. I'm sure I'm failing to relay many an interesting or amusing thing, but if I spend much more time trying to piece it all together, I may never get this done.
More adventures ahead, as those wheels keep turning, keeping the rubber side down.
