Date: 2008-01-23
To: La Tour de la Florida
Miles today: 0.0

I've been getting a lot of requests to continue my journaling, so I guess I'll do some catching up.I've been pretty mentally fried by civilization and flustered by the holidays even though we went nowhere over Christmas and no one came in...just trying to decide what to get people on my "new limited retiree budget" was mentally challenging. My mind can't seem to hold thoughts or ideas for long and I sometimes feel like I'm having to squeeze it tightly to stop thoughts from flowing out through the sieve holes in it. Days just seem to fly by. I've been trying to continue to maintain my conditioning (although the weight loss has been regained). I've been going to aerobics classes. They use a step for the first 30 minutes. I would build the step up as high as it would go, pump weights in my hands to keep my heart working, and when she wanted to wind down after the 30 minutes, I was just beginning to break a sweat and ready to keep pumping and stepping for another couple of hours!I have been trying to heal from my trail injuries. My feet are slowly healing with lots of stretching and strengthening of the lower leg muscles. My right shoulder got much worse off the trail (remember why I dropped one pole was because of pain in that shoulder)...I diagnosed it as a torn rotator cuff. Brett, my amazing muscle man, has been working on it weekly now. The pain was so great that I had to stop using it. If I even stumbled and moved it quickly, it would sear in pain! I finally was able to begin muscle strengthening exercises with it and it's muchly improved. I won't quit the therapy though until he can stick his fingers into the deep shoulder muscles without me feeling pain. Acupuncture has helped it too.Over New Years weekend Dennis and I went up to the Adirondacks to visit his uncle's rustic cabin where water is carried in, heated with a wood stove, and use the outhouse...my kind of livin'! It felt wonderful to be back in the woods: skiing, snowshoeing, and visiting folks in a small town.My daughter, Dana, moved to St. Augustine, Florida while I was on the trail and I told her I'd get down to see her new place. I decided to wait until the holidays were behind me, so here I am in St. Augustine now. Since I knew so many hikers lived down here, I arranged my "Tour de la Florida" to go visit some of them, as well as a dear friend that moved to Sarasota 10 years ago. So after I spent a few days with Dana, I rented a car and drove to the Gulf Coast to Sarasota for 3 nights. Kim (my friend) gave me the grand tour of Sarasota, The Ringling Museum, a play, good food, and fun times. Then I was off to visit the first of three trail couples. Slinky Dog lives near St. Petersburg and encouraged me to stay a couple of days with them. They had told me on the trail that if I ever got down to Florida they would take me kayaking on the inland waterway...and they kept their promise! We kayaked 2 days in 2 different locations. It's very bustling where they live, so I think they use kayaking as a way of "getting away from it all". It was so calm out on the water. One day we went a couple of miles through mangrove islands with their long roots exposed and often covered in oyster shells. I would have pictures of this kayaking trip, but I had Dana's new camera with me and was afraid that I'd drop it in the water so I didn't cart it along...regretfully so.Onward to Chuck Norris & Tigger's place in Plant City, east of Tampa. These folks have figured out how to live simply and spend 6 months a year hiking. They have plans to do the PCT this year, so they are living in a pop-out camper on a friend's property. I was so jealous of how pared down they are living, although, as they said, it's a step up from backpacking...they have a shower! But they are in the country with the cutest cows roaming about and roosters crowing at dawn. Good thing I have one deaf ear so I could block out the noise. Got some exercise there too, playing ping pong. Haven't done that since high school, but I still have it! Almost beat Chuck...Tigger did! (He'll hate me for saying that, but I think he let her win because he has to sleep with her!)Next day I was off to see Thumper and meet his wife, Vicky. Their home makes me jealous too! I knew he had built the house they lived in. What a fine job he did too! I guess that attention to details a dentist learns he carried over into the house. A lovely rustic home. I took a video of it to show to realtors to give them an idea of what I'm looking for! It was so great to be able to catch up with Thumper because after hiking together for 4 months we didn't summit together, and that was a bit hard on me (him too, I think.) So we got to congratulate each other on our hikes, share stories from the last days on the trail, and I got to meet his lovely wife whom I felt I knew from hearing so much about her over the months. What a happy couple! And Vicky was like a kindred spirit to me: strong interest in parenting and living a healthy lifestyle.So now I'm back at Dana's for the weekend and then, on Monday, I fly back home.Step lightly, Bag Lady