Staying at Janda’s last night was definitely the right move. My foot and calf were sore for most of the night. But this morning they are in perfect shape other than being a little stiff. What is not in perfect shape is my headache. I’m not dehydrated so it must be caffeine withdrawal because I had no caffeine yesterday afternoon or this morning.

A caffeine headache is nearly impossible to get rid of. And even though I got an early 6:30 a.m. start I’m only moving at about 2 mph. I should be closer to 3 mph. My

I ate as much granola as I could tolerate this morning. I had a little bit of Gatorade and some water. I should be hungry but I’m just not. In fact I feel a little nauseous.

At about 9:30 a.m. I force myself to eat a nut bar. I should be hungry but I just can’t get the urge to eat. My nose starts to run a little and then I panic. I am beginning to think I have covid. But I don’t have any fever at all.

By 10:30 I am dragging so I just lay down on the side of the road. If I can nap for 1 hour maybe that will make me feel better. It definitely worked on the Florida Trail when this happened. One of the locals on an ATV stops and asks if I’m okay and I assure him that I am but I’m just tired.

I resume hiking by 11:30 but I am still nauseous and just don’t want to drink or eat anything. I don’t force myself to eat but I do force myself to drink.

I still have plenty of water and when I come upon my planned water stop the stream is too hard to get to. I am only a few miles from the next one where I will actually be on a trail and not a road. So I just keep on moving.

When I get to the end of the road walk where it turns into an actual trail, I decide to take another nap under a giant tree. This one hour nap also fails to make me feel any better.

I am still over 8 mi from my stopping point so I just need to get up and go. My heart sinks when I discover that my dragonfly has fallen off the pole somewhere on the road walk. So long little buddy it was a good 5 days.

As I walk along the river, I am constantly searching for a place where I can reach the water without having a steep bank of grass. The places where the map says you can get water are definitely inaccessible.

I just happened to stumble upon a nice shady tree that has a path that leads right down to a muddy bank along the river. This one is not on the map. I drink nearly a liter of water and filter another one and a half to carry with me.

I’m finally starting to feel a little better. So I pack everything up and start to lift my pack up. My heart sinks even further than the dragonfly incident when I notice that my tent pole is not in its proper place. After only 10 seconds of searching I realize that it must have fallen out when I took my umbrella out at the beginning of this Trail section.

So I grab my cell phone and wallet (the most important gear) and head back upstream. I use my watch to measure the distance and it is 6/10 of a mile back to where I remember pulling my umbrella out. And right there on the ground is my tent pole sitting on the grass. A quick prayer of thanks and a kiss on the poles and it’s time to get back to my pack.

It is just now that I realize that my nausea is completely gone. So if you are ever looking for a cure for nausea, the only one I know that works is a near heart attack incident.

The good part is that now at least I’m moving my normal pace. I have 7 miles to go and I should be able to do it in well under 3 hours.

There is another 2 mile road walk, then another one mile stretch of trail, then another 4 mile road walk to the place where I’m planning to camp tonight.

I get there right on time. It is heavily forested with white pines along another stream. That means there’s bound to be mosquitoes. It takes a while to find a site because the ground is so uneven. I guess that’s why they call this a dispersed campsite and not a campsite.

I set up my tent quickly and throw everything inside. I wash as much sweat off of my neck and arms and legs as I can and jump inside. I have managed to let in about a dozen mosquitoes with me. 10 of them will be dispatched to their maker within minutes.

I have almost 3 hours until dark so I can afford the luxury of resting before trying to cook. I will cook just outside of the tent by reaching my hand through a smaller hole as I can leave in the net and still get things done. But I will definitely be eating in the tent tonight.

I still have a very slight headache but the nausea is completely gone. I am hoping that tomorrow I will feel like a million bucks.

Emotion of the day, Fear

I knew when I woke up with the headache that it wasn’t going to be a good day. But then when I got nauseous and then panicked and thought it that I had covid I wasn’t sure what to think. If I really did have covid how would I get off the trail?

Is it polite to call for Uber when you have covid? Probably not. Is it polite to hitchhike when you have covid? Probably not. I guess that leaves calling 911. Let’s hope it never comes to that.

There is always some degree of fear when you’re through hiking. Something bad could easily happen. A hurricane is headed towards Florida as I’m writing this. So even external forces can end a through hike.

Today was as close as I have come to thinking I might have to end through hike. Fear can come from a million directions. Just don’t let it stop you for the wrong reasons.