San Jose, AZ: Crimps and Cramps

Miles since last blog: 30.0
Miles Total: 3188.7

Route

15 miles into the walk today, my left calf seized. If you've seen my calf, you can begin to imagine how much this is super not cool. When you are 15 miles from the town behind you and 26 miles from the next town, there's simply not much you can do about a problem like this, or any problem really. I sat down and ate some goldfish crackers and tried to walk on favoring el injuro maximo, but when I came to a little dirt pull out I decided that I wasn't going to get a better chance for a rest. I laid there for about an hour which is always fun because inevitably a few people stop by to make sure you aren't dead, which is nice of them.

I got up and walked another 15 miles, a bit carefully. I was still favoring my left leg but I was also enamored with the high mountain desert I was walking through here on the Eastern edge of Arizona. Since my trip to Carlsbad Caverns I always look at craggy awesome mountains with a suspicious eye. Under the smooth rolling hills of red dirt and dried grass which are occasionally interrupted by broken red wisdom teeth of rocks I know something is hiding. I even saw a few caves from the road which I wanted to go explore, alas, my walk wanting to be finished and my calf cramping precluded this possibility even more than the fact that the caves are on private property. I'll be back mountains, when I'm not on route or injured.

The cramp, it's not a big problem, so long as it goes away. If it persists, my tentative date of a May 31st finish will slip slide away like Paul Simon. This is the crimp in the plan, it's always there, even if this cramp goes away and I stay as prepared and preventative as possible, a cramp or other problem could spring up at any time. I'm just outside of the relatively big town of Safford and I plan to walk in tomorrow morning and try to find a room for the night and walk out if I can't, no paying tomorrow. But even this bed rest puts a bit of a crimp in my timeline. This month I have already walked about 480 miles which is often what I do in an entire month and I have 6 more days to go. This month I will break 500 miles for only the second time in my travels, it's possible my body is just getting fussy with me.

I suppose I'll find out one way or another. On the bright side, it was cloudy today so it was cooler during the day and will be warmer tonight. Hooray for Arizona!

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