This afternoon a wildfire sparked near Grayling. The last I heard, it has burnt over 1100 acres. Firefigthers are still trying to contain the fire. From what I can gather it has come very close to town, and there are many conflicting reports of whether any buildings have burnt down yet. They have closed down I-75. A paramedic friend of mine took these pictures while sitting in the ambulance on stand by. He is at the south end of the city. Glad I didn't have to work today!On a totally different subject, my wonderful and oh so dedicated garage cat, Ruff, has had another liter of kittens. I obviously didn't make it to the vet in time to get her fixed before this happened again. I'm not sure when they showed up, but right now there appear to be three healthy little kittens. With her first liter, she lost two kittens that I know of. And her second liter, only one kitten survived for a couple of days, and than it died also. We'll see how many make it with this one.I put in another 4 miles of hiking today. I carried 20 pounds of weight on my back. This is the best I've felt so far. Of course it was only 4 miles. No blisters, no back aches, no nothing!! As soon as I can tolerate carrying twice as much weight for a minimum of 10 miles, it will be free sailing from there. Only about 10 more weeks. Things are supposed to get cold and snowy this weekend, but as soon as it warms up for any length of time, I'll go off on my first overnight hike.Tonight the Wings started the second round of the playoffs! They beat Colorado 4-3. A great game, they really looked sharp. Only 11 more wins to go!So other than Grayling burning, things are good in my world.
I put in another 9 miles of hiking on my boots today. Over the past two days I have developed one of the worst blisters of my life. If I didn't find feet so disgusting, I would actually take a picture of it to put on here. But it is on the pad of my right foot, and it is about the size of a quarter. It hurts like a B**** to put any weight on it, so it makes walking difficult. I think I'm going to invest in some insoles, since I like everything else about the boot. That and I haven't developed blisters on my heels, where I thought they would appear for sure! But I'm up to walking with about 20 pounds. I crammed a bunch of stuff into my actual backpack for the walk today. It felt pretty darn good. Right now I am trying to stay awake as long as possible. I actually volunteered to work a night shift tomorrow, so the longer I can sleep in tomorrow, the safer it will be for my patients. But, I'm not too sure how much longer I can stay awake......
It finally feels like spring in Gaylord. I took my first long hike of the year today. I hiked almost 12 miles along side the Ausable River. My how the water levels have risen!! It was also my first hike in my newly purchased hiking boots. Other than the pads of my feet being a little sore, they felt great! I just need to walk around outside barefoot for a couple of weeks and my feet will be hard and callused, than I won't even notice the pain. I carried about 15 pounds of mostly water and of course my camera in my day pack. It felt pretty good. I bought my actual backpack for my long trip last week. I spent over three hours walking around REI with the pack full of stuff and my boots on. I could easily curl up inside of one of their tents and just live in the store. And it really isn't that big. I wish there were a store closer than 3 hours from my house. It would be a great place to meet a lot of interesting people. One of the salesman entertained me for over 30 minutes just talking about his experience on the Appalachian Trail. I would even consider quitting nursing and working in a place like that instead. I'm sure they would get great discounts!It has finally warmed up enough to the point where the frogs are coming out to mate. I am able to tolerate keeping the window cracked a small amount, so that I can listen to the frogs all night. It is enjoyable for awhile, but it gets to the point where they can get terribly loud. On that note, time for bed. I have a rather busy day off tomorrow.
Today is day 3 in Chicago, and I'm very ready to go home. I was reminded by the end of day 1 why it is I don't like city life. People are rude, things are dirty, it is noisy, it is a pain to get anywhere and there is way too much cement. Parking is another huge issue, as it costs a ridiculous amount to park anywhere. The most shady thing about our visit was the hotel. When we came in there was a half empty water bottle on the counter and there was used bars of soap in the bathtub and by the sink. Not one to complain, I made the most of it. The rooms decor is this God awful orange color. The heat doesn't work, and I'm rather cold tonight. The pool was cold, the lifeguards not so friendly and it lacked a hot tub. Boo! Our room, on the 12th floor, overlooks the tops of some pretty ruff looking buildings. I guess I got what I paid for, since it was the cheapest hotel I could find. But, the location has been ideal. We have been able to walk most places, but certain individuals are now complaining that their legs hurt and that they have blisters. Every night I have had gut rot from eating out for the past three days, something I'm not used to at all. It has made for long miserable nights.The fun things included the zoo (where I even got a sunburn!), the aquarium and the science museum. One of the highlights of the science museum was the fact that we got lost, but after circling the place, we were able to find a place to park (where I'm pretty sure we weren't allowed) for free. I feel like I finally cheated the system. So tomorrow I will be making the long ride all the way home. So looking forward to it. The seven hour ride will be well worth sleeping in my own bed. It will be back to work the next day. Things will be back to normal.
As I continue to read on and on about the Appalachian Trail, I've realized I have both given and received trail magic. Trail magic is something that happens to you while you are out hiking or backpacking that is unexpected. It can be someone welcoming you into their home for lunch, people who place coolers along the trail and fill them with ice cold beer, and my favorite is someone who took the capri sun juice drinks and filled a river full of them so that hikers could enjoy a nice cold drink. It always happens when you least expect it. When I took a trip to the UP a couple of years ago, I "rescued" two backpackers that wanted desperately to get off the trail and stay in a nice warm hotel room. I am the one who provided their trail magic and gave them a ride to their car. When I was out hiking last summer, some strangers that I helped lug all of their camping equipment to their site fed me lunch on my way back to my car. Only 3 more months and I will be out on the trail for a couple of weeks. I can't wait to find out what kind of trail magic is out there!In the mean time, I will be headed to Chicago tomorrow. No real reason other than to just get away. The science museum, the aquarium and the Sears Tower are all on my list of things to do. The rest of the time I will spend searching for free things to see. I'll be picking up my kid sister and my cousin to keep me company. Should be fun!
