Distance hiked today: 5.7 miles / 9.2 km.
One of the challenges on trail is keeping up with the logistics of resupplying. Since I mail myself boxes of low carb food (which Colin does for me), I need to anticipate weeks ahead when I'm going to be in a certain town, how many miles I'll be walking each day to the next town, how much food I'll need, diabetic supplies (Dexcom sensors, test strips, needles, etc), and ordering new shoes. I'm also bouncing a box of insulin forward to trail angels so it can stay refrigerated, and pick some up every month or so. And also try not to arrive at post offices on Sundays…
Today my challenge was with shoes.
I got my toes stuck under a rock step and ripped my shoe open. I wasn't worried since I had ordered new shoes to the town of Etna where I'm going today, which should be ready to pick up. I have 500 miles on this pair and there's no tread or support left in them. What great timing, I thought.
Well my shoes weren't there. FedEx couldn't figure out how to deliver to a General Delivery address, and never notified me. I spent most of the morning on the phone with FedEx and Hoka trying to sort out where the package was, and getting different answers from each person. Finally I had to change the delivery address to the next town I'll be in in 2 days, which means 2 more days of pounding on flat shoes, and I had to sew my current ones with floss. But, it was sorted.
Another challenge is keeping up with off-trail life sometimes. Colin's wallet and phone were stolen recently, which makes any form of security essentially useless when they have both. Hacked bank accounts, the whole shebang. Being the primary contact on some things, for the past few days I've been standing on mountain tops where I have a bit of cell service to make calls, wait on hold with banks, and change passwords while the day grows hotter, hoping calls don't drop, and still getting the miles in. I spent most of the afternoon trying to get my cards to work, and eventually gave up being on hold. Shit happens, it's all getting fixed. But we both agreed Colin should have stayed on trail with me 😂.
Total trail mileage: 1599.7 miles / 2573.9 km
