Day 10 Campton to Ashland
The incessant beeping was not part of my dream. It was the alarm letting us know it was 6:00 A.M. – time to get up.
I gingerly stood bracing myself against the wall expecting my feet to be so tender they wouldn’t hold me up. Having a chronic illness means forever being disappointed with your body and what it can do and I had been bitterly disappointed last night wondering if we should end the trip, the pain level reaching a new level that indicated damage.
But come the morning, we both discovered that we didn’t hurt as much. We could walk.
The day in front of us was doable.
Having a chronic illness also means that you are continually amazed at what your body can do.
Never a dull day.
“When this is all over, I’m going to sleep late for a whole week,” grumbled Griffin as we started our early morning routine. His bed was covered with bandages, tape, moleskin, and a pair of scissors. I sat on my bed rubbing HikeGoo on my feet.
At the end of the day we were supposed to meet up with some town officials from Ashland. Arrangements had been made for one person in the town to put us up for the night – weary travelers at the Inn.
“Do you know this person?” asked Griffin as I told him the plans.
“Nope, but I’ve communicated through email to a friend of hers.”
“Do you know that friend?”
“No, but she seemed nice.”
Griffin muttered something about “here we go again with Misery” as he opened the bandages for his feet. I clearly was the risk taker of the two of us.
The rains were on the way out, and when we hit the road, we saw clouds hanging low in the valleys and even a few rain spouts that like a dream slowly disappeared the longer we we stared at them.
We were starting to see more houses and businesses. We weren’t particularly hungry, we had picked at our leftovers for breakfast, but at the first gas station we came upon we ordered bacon and cheese bagel sandwiches. Surprising ourselves, we gobbled them down and washed it all down with cold lemonade – although we were now officially heading into the southern part of the state where there would be more people and more commerce, we still weren’t going to take our chances.
We got food when we could. Continue reading →