Day 84: They Can’t All Be a Winners

July 23, 2015
Burney Falls State Park (1423.6)
0 PCT miles today
1458.0 miles total
Today’s Elevation Gain/Loss: + 0 ft, – 0 ft

I’m just going to say it. Today was a horrible, no good, very bad day. I spent the whole day trying (and failing) to stay off my feet, Mama Bear spent the whole day wrestling with the state park’s wifi while trying to get some work done, and Pickles spent the whole day feeling bored and antsy because he’s stuck here waiting but his body is primed for walking. The three of us made a grumpy lot today, and the worst part of all is we’ve yet to see any positive progress being made on the infection in my foot.

I felt like I tried my hardest, but I still probably spent about half of the day walking around instead of resting. Just trying to shower, use the bathroom, and eat meals takes a lot of work when you’re doing some rustic camping in a state park. I did finally have some success when Pickles and I laid down on our sleeping bags for a whole hour and a half and watched a great documentary about working in Antarctica, but then I was right back in my feet so we could head to town for dinner.

The highlight of the day, for Pickles and I at least, was eating dinner at The Blackberry Patch in Burney, a diner-style restaurant that brought us right back to bike tour with its middle America vibe. This evening we organized our ration and prepared ourselves for the next month away from Mama Bear. She is heading to Whitefish, Montana to work at a mountain bike hostel and we are striking out on our own. We’ve already sent our packages ahead, but tonight we had to fill up on things like meds, soap, batteries, etc that we usually have had available in the car. The plan is for Mama Bear to meet us back at Trout Lake, Washington to continue as our trail angel there. Until then, it’s just us and the open trail. She’s a little miffed to be leaving while I have this foot infection going on, but we’ve assured her that we’ll take it seriously and get more help if we need it.

So even though my foot is still a mess, and very little was made of this full day off, at least we gave “rest” a shot and tried to follow doctor’s orders. Tomorrow morning we’ll hike on toward Castella, but we’ll take it a bit easier than we would have, and take careful care of this infection until it’s all healed up.