I’ve been having vertigo and dizziness for the last couple of weeks. I’m sure it is related to the heat in some way. This morning, I fell while trying to get out of the tent. I rolled and took out the corner stake and almost took the whole thing down. There were two people standing there watching the whole thing. I thought I heard Achilles say “Did you see that? She shoestringed him.”
I’ve been asking it the wrong way when I talk to Bunny. I’ve said “I’m dizzy in the mornings. What could it be?” To which she’d respond “I have no idea.” I should have asked, “If your son, Sam, called and said he was dizzy in the mornings, what would you suggest he try?”
Foolishly, I asked again today and she replied “I don’t know, maybe a brain tumor.” I had just asked if all her crap was out of the tent and she wasn’t happy with the tone of my voice when I asked it, so I think that’s why I got the tumor response. Or maybe it’s the state of American medicine. If you ask a medical student “I heard hooves outside my window. What could it be?” 90% will respond “zebra” because that’s the most exotic and exciting answer. No one wants to look at a simple boring problem.
I think I’m having low blood pressure and when I sit up too fast, I get dizzy. I’m sure it’s related to the heat and hiking since that’s all we do every day. I’ll have to look into this tumor thing in a few years. In the mean time, I guess I’ll go back to my old fish oil regimen and look into more electrolytes.
Today, like every day since we left PA, it was hotter than hell. We were sweating like mad and we’d only been walking 10 minutes (granted, we could try to get up and get going before 9, but who are we kidding? That’s not going to happen.) we both agreed that we need to stop until it gets cooler. We could take one of the side routes into Pawling, NY in 3 or 5 miles and find a diner to sit in until the heat passes. Instead, we decide to shoot for route 22 in 8 miles where there’s a food truck just off the trail. It’s not rocket science, yet we don’t get it.
I have made it a rule to stop walking whenever my fingers are around my ears, eyes, or nose. It only makes sense. There are lots of tripping hazards in the trail and a finger aimed towards the brain through a skull opening represents a deadly weapon. I don’t want Bunny to have to bring people into see me and say “He’s a vegetable but his sinuses are the clearest they’ve ever been.” You’d be surprised how fast a finger goes up the nose when a gnat flies in and gets caught in snot. The wiggling is quite intense.
We walked around an unfortunately named Nuclear Lake. We really wanted to get in because we were so hot and miserable and the geese looked so cool and happy, but there was no good access that didn’t go through potentially snake infested growth along the shore. We even ran across a turtle in the woods looking longingly at the water but he wasn’t willing to risk the reeds and cattails.
The next option was to stop at a shelter for a snack. As soon as we turned in, we saw the stream, which is the water source for it, is bone dry. Since we were both out of water, there was no point heading in. There was supposed to be another source in a quarter mile—also dry. We had a road crossing in less than a mile. We could hope that some angel had left a water cache at the road.
Better than a water cache, by far, we found magic with Side Track and Somewhere. Normally, they sit out here a week earlier than this, but they have just Gotten back from a cruise in Norway. We got soda, Gatorade, and water as well as salty chips and a banana. Somewhere just has to complete the 15 miles to Katahdin to finish the AT. SideTrack had to give up because of back issues. They are both retired IBM employees. While talking to them, we got to meet our first true sobo, Mr Hiker, who started on May 26.
After we got cooled off, we decided to push on the final 2.5 miles to Roseanne’s truck. It took about 50’ of walking before it felt like we hadn’t stopped at all. Once again, we were completely covered in sweat and every flying bastard within a hundred yards was buzzing our heads. I decided to hike with my ear plugs in to stop the buzzing in my ears. It worked pretty well for me. I couldn’t hear the bugs, but I also couldn’t hear any birds, or Bunny calling for a break, or Bunny complaints. It was total success.
We got to the food truck in time to eat with the Swiss Family Robinson (which is Mona and Freeman) and Blessings (from Germany). Just like last year, we were the only two people that didn’t speak German. It turns out that Mona speaks 4 languages. We really need to work on language education in this country. Blessings just had an order of fries and suggested Bunny and I split an order and possibly a burger. We shined as Americans and demonstrated to the skinny German what gluttony looks like. We had both completed the half gallon challenge (which he wouldn’t even attempt). We ordered a burger and fries, each as well as milk shakes and iced teas. I’m not sure if his look was amazement or disgust, but he’ll not easily forget my name.
I wanted to get going, because all the food was making my stomach gassy. As soon as we got away from the truck and walking, all hell broke loose. And don’t let Bunny tell you it wasn’t both of us. I was so bloated that I couldn’t tighten the waist strap on my pack when I put it on. With each “outburst” I was able to tighten it a little more. We had six miles of walk, fart, tighten, repeat. Important safety tip, do not over tighten or farts can easily turn into sharts.
We both ran out of water before we made it to the shelter. Every stream crossing was dry, dry, dry (or disgustingly stagnant which did tone down the thirst). We made it to the shelter with enough light to find a spot, set up the tent, and make a run for the water pump to rehydrate. To save time getting ready for bed, I decided to not hang a bear bad tonight. The local library in Dover has set up “loaner boxes” for books along the trail for hikers (day and thru). I’ve heard bears were getting smarter, but I wanted to see how smart. I put our food in the library box. If a bear wants to read a little, I’m willing to give him a snack.
EFG