Date: 2008-06-16
From: North Shore Trail Tenting Area VT

To: Manchester Center VTÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ Carriage House Motel
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 120 ¢ Monday June 16 ¢ Manchester Center VT¢ Carriage House Motel ¢ Miles Today: 10.5 Total Miles: 1638.4Well, this day did not go as planned. Rather than going in to Manchester Center and hiking on to the next shelter, we never left Manchester Center. And rather than hiking into Manchester Center, we crawled. About 10:00 last night, Grasshopper said she's running hot and Brakeman felt her forehead - she was burning up with a fever. By midnight it seemed to have gotten worse. We did not have any aspirin with us, which we knew would help break a fever - all we had was Advil. With the fever came a good headache, so she took a couple Advil. Little did we realize that Advil would break a fever as well. It broke shortly after taking the Advil in a couple sessions with huge sweats just soaking her T-shirt, her #1 top and probably into her down sleeping bag a little bit. By midnight, we both had little sleep ¢ one of the most precious commodities behind food and water to a thru-hiker. We were both awake from 10:00-12:00. Grasshopper would learn later that Brakeman stayed awake most of the night monitoring her breathing and temperature. He said he has never felt anyone ¢so scary hot!¢ Grasshopper is glad she did not realize how high her temperature was.   As Brakeman continued his monitoring duties, he got to hear a few barred owls having conversations nearby and a pack of coyotes, he believes, walk behind our tent through the woods. So I guess if you're not going to sleep, you at least ought to have something to listen to!Our 5:00 wake up call came real early. Luckily, there was some sleep for both of us, but the 10+ miles out of camp was about all Grasshopper could endure. A couple times along the way, she just stopped dead in her tracks, sat on a rock and tried to collect more energy to continue hiking. We still made pretty good time considering the circumstances, probably about 2mph. We lucked out that the terrain was so flat. It took everything she had to hike to the road. She likes to say she "crawled" out of the woods this morning, rather than "hiked", but Brakeman is pretty sure he still saw an inch clearance between her knees and the ground. It was a close call though. Before we hit the road to Manchester Center, we ran into WD-40 again. We seem to be hiking about the same distances each day, but he is always positioned at a camp 5 miles past us. With our early start each day and his mid morning start, we usually run into each other around lunchtime.We explained the medical situation to him and told him that our game plan has changed - we'll probably be holed up in Manchester Center for a while and there's a very good possibility that we'll head off to Conneaut Lake to rest and regroup, as bouncing back from this virus is not going to be a 1-2 day event.   Grasshopper got chocked up as she told him the news and the fact that we might be off the trail for who knows how long.We then chatted about the number of falls we¢ve each had on the trails. He said he has already fallen 3 times and he just started in New York. As a result of his falls, he has broken one hiking pole and has torn open his pants. His pants now look quite funny. We can tell that he has never sewn anything before because he didn't turn his pants inside out to sew them - he just sewed them on the outside. His pants now sport a unique sewing job, a few inches above the knee and all the way across the entire leg. The other bummer news is that he always appears to fall on his left knee. Ouch! It¢s not a good start so far for him, so he's hoping he gets a little more skilled on these wet, slippery rocks. He did say that all of his falls were on slanted, slippery rocks, which are the downfall for all of us - no pun intended.When we arrived at Routes 11 and 30, we were able to secure a hitch into town mighty quickly. Our ability to secure a hitch within 10 minutes continues. Our Trail Angel dropped us off at the Mountain Goat Outfitter, where we were to pick up our package and inquire about housing. The package had not arrived yet for some reason.We also had a little problem securing housing. While we were at the outfitter picking up a new water filter, the owners tried to call The Carriage House Motel for us but were unable to get through. We said we'd just head to the motel anyway as somebody's got to be there. We figured it was probably just a small place and they were cleaning rooms. Not wanting to walk the .6-mile to the motel, we hitched instead. We got a hitch in another VW Bug ¢ our second time! It took us a while to get all of our gear and us in the small car. As we were loading, the driver of the car behind us grew impatient, backed up and went around us, out another exit. Oh well. Our Trail Angel was a sweet lady, in her 50s or 60s. When we arrived at The Carriage House, we found the office door locked. Before departing the Trail Angel gave us her number in case we were not able to find the owners of the motel and secure a room. She said she¢d come back and pick us up and take us to a motel that is right near her home. She explained that when the motel is full, the owners arrange to have the overflow stay at her house! Very sweet lady.Luckily we found the owners of The Carriage House. They were just in the process of opening up for the season so we were their first customers! She explained that they are still having some troubles getting fully operational. There was no hot water yet, but it should be hot in about half an hour. In addition, the cable TV was not hooked up yet. We said waiting for hot water would be no problem, but inquired as to when the cable TV would be up and running as we may be here for a while and would welcome the diversion. She said it should be soon but she was having great difficulty getting them to come out, so Grasshopper negotiated a lower price - $25 per person. It was to be $30 per person. We got a nice sweet room with 2 beds, new light blue carpet, a bathroom that has black and yellow tiles on the floor and ceiling, and a tiny shower. It's sort of dainty, cute and rather unique. Different, anyway.After getting settled in the room, we inquired as to where we could get medical treatment for Grasshopper as a fever this time of year is rather suspicious, especially in Lyme Disease country. We thought we called the medical facility just .6-mile up the road, but later we would learn we had called a medical facility in another town due to misreading our guidebook. Jackie, the owner of the motel, gave us a ride up to the medical center, dropped us off and said just to give her a call if we needed picked up. We explained to the receptionist who we were and she said that they didn't take walk-ins. That's when we realized we called the wrong place. Here¢s how the rest of the conversation went:Grasshopper: I've walked here from Georgia. I have a fever. I have had numerous ticks on me and some suspicious bug bites. I really need some medical attention. Receptionist:   We don't take walk-ins.Grasshopper: Where is the nearest medical facility that will take walk-ins?Receptionist:   Such-n-such town. (We forget the name of the town.)Grasshopper: How far away is that?Receptionist: 30 miles down the road.Grasshopper: I've walked here from Georgia. I do NOT have a car. I have a fever. I have had numerous ticks on me and some suspicious bug bites. I really need some medical attention. Receptionist:   We don't take walk-ins.Grasshopper: I've walked here from Georgia. I do NOT have a car. I have a fever. I have had numerous ticks on me and some suspicious bug bites. I really need some medical attention. Luckily at this point in time, Brakeman took over the conversation from our end, thanked the receptionist and escorted Grasshopper out the door.   She was not a happy camper!   After that last comment from the receptionist, she basically stopped taking to her. How Brakeman retained his coolness and politeness, no one will ever know! We walked back to the motel, where Grasshopper went to lie down and rest. The ordeal had just zapped her last remaining energy cell.Brakeman went to the motel office, explained the situation to Jackie, who immediately got out the phone book and started calling various medical facilities in the area. She continued to strike out on each call until she got to the very last one listed. Success! Grasshopper got a 3:00 appointment in Londonderry, Vermont, which is about 15 miles down the road. Jackie said she would take us there, wait for us and then bring us back! We're getting unbelievable treatment! We are so lucky! We had a little over an hour before we needed to leave, but we still do not have any hot water. Grasshopper cleaned up the best she could.Jackie reminds us of Granny on the Beverly Hillbillies.   Before we could leave for our appointment, "Granny" said that she must "freshen up".   We finally depart the motel just a few minutes before our appointment time with "Granny" all dolled up in her pink shirt and pink lipstick and her hair all done just perfectly.   And would you believe when we got to the medical clinic, she did NOT even go in - she STAYED in the CAR!!!   Perhaps she was doing what her mother taught her: "always put on a fresh pair of clothing and underwear, as you never know when you'll be in an accident."   Grasshopper, only owning one shirt and one pair of shorts and not having showered in 2 weeks went "as is"! Let me tell you about our car ride with Granny behind the wheel.   Before we pulled out of the motel driveway, she asked Brakeman if he wanted to drive (Lincoln Towncar), to which he unfortunately responded, "No, I trust ya." She then went on to tell the story about how she totaled her last car. Using short crisp sentences like:   "I hit a telephone pole. Didn't even know it.   Half of it went flying over the top of the car.   Never even saw that piece fly by. Didn't even know I lost a bumper."   OH CRAP.   WE ARE SURELY DEAD NOW, we thought!   But we did arrive safely. Not speedy. Not always in the right lane.   Not before hearing Granny call a cop that passed us a "pipsqueak".   Not before her telling a pedestrian crossing the road in front of us "you best get a move on young man...woman driver coming". It was an interesting drive, to say the least.Now for the medical update: Not only did Grasshopper get an appointment today, but she also got her test results back today!   This very little facility is the only non-profit medical clinic in the state and they have an on-site lab - blood can be drawn as well as analyzed on-site. So Grasshopper had her appointment, had blood drawn and got the results back for the Lyme Disease test all within 2 hours. Truly amazing. The Lyme Disease test was negative, which was good news, although there can be false negative tests. However, the white blood count and platelet counts are very low. The doctor seemed a bit concerned about those. Her temperature was 102 degrees which concerned Brakeman because he knew she was a ton warmer than this last night! Could she have been running a fever of 104 or more? Her heart rate was 100, which was elevated due to the fever. No wonder it was so hard to walk out of the woods this morning with the heart just racing away.June 16Temperature        102.2Pulse        100Weight        105Blood Pressure        114/68Lyme Disease        NegativeWhite Blood Count(Normal = 4.3 ¢ 10.8)        2.12Platelet Count(Normal = 150 ¢ 350)        94Liver ¢ AST (SGOT)(Normal = 15-46)        53Liver - ALT (SGPT)(Normal = 11-66)        42Grasshopper is to back to the medical facility in 48 hours.   No antibiotics will be given at this time because we don't know what we are trying to treat. It could just be a virus or it could be a tick borne illness. If it¢s a tick borne illness, antibiotics would have to be given for 30 days, so the doctor said why go on antibiotics if we can just wait for a few days to see if it doesn't go away on its own. Jackie was doing motel paperwork in her car while she waited for us. On the way back to the motel, she offered to stop at the grocery store if we needed food. Yes, of course, we did. Wow, what unbelievable service!   We even arranged to have a small refrigerator put in our room. With the coffee pot, microwave and refrigerator, we are all set!Back to the motel room we went to rest for the remainder of the day. Well, I guess that's it from the sick ward at The Carriage House in Manchester Center, Vermont. We're on a detour, baby.