Support Crew Thanks

It's going to be impossible for me to express enough thanks to the people who served as my support crew. I'll just try to mention them by order of time involved.

The support people who lived in the trailer with me had a big job. They had to get my breakfast, pack my lunch, and later, fix dinner. They had to deliver me to the trail and find and pick me up at an agreed-upon time and place. They had to do shopping, laundry, dishes, keep the trailer from turning into a complete pig sty, and any other tasks that popped up.

Sue Crawford from Baldwin was with me for just over 150 days divided into three segments. Of course she came with the two little canine charmers (not pictured here). This picture isn't even from this hike. Sue and I have been doing hikes, bike rides, and kayaking together ever since we met. We'd do more but we live just far enough apart that it's a little inconvenient. She drove me places in the UP in the winter that were probably technically inaccessible. And she enjoyed it! Sue also spent several days here in the month before the hike, helping to prepare food for the trip.



Next in time spent is my forever friend, Marie Altenau. She did about 60 days in two segments. We were jointly too tired to ever play our favorite game, but that's OK, she kept me on the trail. She took care of me through the flu-bug I caught somewhere. Usually she gets sick and I don't. This time we flipped it! And she got me through the spring trail sloppiness when it was mud, mud, mud everywhere.



Third on the list is, believe it or not, Omer! He did 36 days with me in the heat of North Dakota. He claims he likes heat, but... um... it was hot. There is nothing on that list of tasks above that he likes doing, but I'm here to tell you he did a fantastic job.



I also want to thank Michelle Olsen of Minnesota. She spotted me, and fixed dinners for me to eat for about two weeks, driving from her home every day. She preferred to do that. I didn't force her to drive that much!



Other helpers who stayed in my trailer with me for shorter time periods are Cindy Faust, Nancy Kowaleski, and Annie Nelson.

This list does not include people who actually hiked with me for full days. I'll remind you of them in another post.

I do want to mention Cathy Laman. You know that she and I hike together fairly often. Cathy couldn't go along on the trip, but she helped keep me focused on getting in shape before the hike. You may remember that she also helped with a lot of tasks to get the trailer ready in time. She was sort of my personal trainer. (She hiked a few days with me too, so maybe she should be in the next group of people, but... whatever. Actually, Sue and the pups often hiked in to meet me for a few miles at the end of the day and Marie always hiked out several miles with me in the mornings. So the categories get a little fuzzy anyway.) Cathy cheerfully comes over to help me out with real life tasks that I can't do alone- like when we had to take the soggy carpet out of the flooded basement in January.



On the home front- I did a little bit on each of my current projects just to try to get up to speed again. In between work sessions, I played in my flower beds. The afternoon got hot and uncomfortable, but the morning wasn't bad with a slight breeze. When it got too hot to be outside, I put the sprinkler on for a while and came inside and watched a movie. A robin came to the birdbath today. The picture is the Sedum sexangulaire blooming in the rock garden. Also appearing is the pink cranesbill. It's all a bit weedy, but hey... it's color.

Tomorrow: people who hiked with me for multiple days.

See True Blue Gumby II