My travels have come to a temporary end.
I was hiking the Narrows trail along the Rockcastle river in Kentucky’s Daniel Boone National Forest, slipped off the edge of the trail and broke me ankle.
There was no cell phone service so I ended up butt-crawling a ways on the trail (crutches I hacked together made things worse with weak wood out there) until I finally raised a faint signal. Texted 911 (so thankful they have this service for the deaf), helped their volunteer rescue squad locate me by boat on the river below and their wonderful firemen hauled me down the mountain with good cheer.
It was getting dark and my phone died the moment I saw them so I was very fortunate.
Since I was in middle of nowhere and local hospitals didn’t do ortho they had to airlift me to Lexington at the University of Kentucky’s hospital. I insisted I drive but they talked me out of it thankfully (still wincing waiting for that helicopter bill though…).
It was 4th of July weekend so I spent hours and hours watching humanity roll by in the hallways until they finally got to me and after several x-rays and a CAT scan determined I had a “closed trimalleolar fracture of right ankle.” Ouch, that’s three broken bones.
They give me a painkiller and wrenched my ankle back into place and tell me I will need surgery in a couple weeks. Then more x-rays to make sure all was wrangled into place.
I groggily asked them what the heck they gave me, whatever it was made go temporarily blind and as a deaf person that’s a terrifying thing.
“Ketamine,” she said. I shook my head furiously and said “never again!” Next to me two burly Federal Bureau of Prison guards watching over their prisoner getting his carved up ear stitched back together cracked up at my admonishment. “Right?!” I grinned.
X-rays are back; nope they didn’t wrench me back into place quite enough so the newly made cast is sliced off and more wrenching to come. This time they give me something other than Ketamine — weaker but more tolerable and my vision didn’t fade.
All good this time around and I am finally discharged from the hospital almost exactly 24 hours later.
Dear ole Dad flies up to drive me and my camper back to homebase in Gainesville, Florida. What a blessing he and my daughter have been at rallying help.
After meeting with a sports orthopedist in town and more x-rays & CAT scans it’s determined I actually have two broken bones and just one of them will need surgery. I’ll take that!
Now I await surgery in a few days.
The whole thing has been a relatively painless affair so I’ve been very lucky with that kind of break. The worst part of the whole thing? That dadgummed cabin fever. I just ain’t an indoor person so it slays my soul to stay immobilized on doctor’s orders.
But soon, I remind myself… Soon I will be free once again to roam and dance with beloved nature.
On the way back to homebase in Florida…
ON THE ROAD
Altitude 508.58 ft
Summersville, WV
84°F (feels 88°F) Partly Cloudy (wind 2.2 mph)
Back to civilization for hot showers and laundry. Managed to snag a first-come first-served spacious lakefront spot amidst big rigs all over. Nice to have ducks for company on Summersville lake which feeds the famous Gurley river.
ON THE ROAD
Altitude 347.15 ft
Buchanan, VA
86°F (feels 91°F) Sunny (wind 2.5 mph)
View from my backyard in a hammock. Very peaceful and refreshing. There’s a little waterfall on the right if you look closely. Am in base of Blue Ridge mountains and close to Appalachian trail which I walked a bit of for kicks.
ON THE ROAD
Altitude 298.116 ft
Bassett, VA
79°F (feels 80°F) Cloudy (wind 3.9 mph)
…on Philpott lake in Virginia near Blue Ridge mountains. Another packed Corps of Engineers campground; will be nice to hit a quiet national forest up next.
ON THE ROAD
Altitude 316.546 ft
Wilkesboro, NC
77°F (feels 79°F) Mostly Cloudy (wind 5.1 mph)
A nice respite for hot showers and electricity to charge everything up including me travel sore body. Summer rains make it nice and cool up here.
ON THE ROAD
Altitude 135.204 ft
, SC
86°F (feels 87°F) Cloudy (wind 1.9 mph)
…in Sumter National Forest. New journey on way to Nova Scotia, Canada or bust!
For my curious followers, I’m following @kev@qrk.one’s footsteps and merging my Fediverse account into Micro.blog for simplicity’s sake at @ray@alongtheray.social. Thanks Kev!
You may have noticed I haven’t been traveling as much these past few months. While crossing the desert in Arizona last year, a thought popped into my mind — my dad is getting on in his years as he reaches his mid-80s and I ought to be around him more while he’s still here. Same for mom and the inescapable fading of her memory.
I have the rest of my life to wander all I want and I’ll still take side trips like I did to the Carolinas recently. The key is not to have regrets later — that I could have been around more.
A consequence of being in one place more is I’ve been diving hard and fast into being on the computer all the time to get things done and shore up my businesses & side projects.
Big mistake. Despite being in as good physical shape as I’ve been in years and feeling great, my body crashed hard and the fatigue came roaring back.
A lesson I’ll take to heart and heed because the last couple of times I ignored the groans of my body as it fried over the computer, I fell into major illnesses (Ménière’s disease over a decade ago and Lyme disease a few years ago).
When long-distance family came for a rare visit, I was unable to spend not even an hour with them because my eyes were still too fried from the computer to be able to lip-read much without keeling over.
That really bothered me because it was a missed opportunity to spend more cherished time with them.
It was then I realized it was the long tail of the Universe reinforcing that it’s time to make changes and I ain’t no spring chicken anymore.
Just as well, too. The past few years I’ve been feeling this quiet itch to move back into the analog way of life—where I deal and create with tangible forms.
Like writing more by pen & paper (which I now adore), satisfying the urge to do more art in all forms—painting, Linotype printing, hand-making books & zines, etc. A bit of woodwork here and there… all of which would meld into a big part of things I create & do with my hands.
These are journeys of a different kind — alchemy — as I move into the next phase of my life: One where I honor my body, heart and creative passions at long last.
I’ll be sharing these ideas & project creations here as I fumble along this new path.
And rest assured, I’ll always be forever wandering.
Much love,
Ray
Learning to paint with fountain pen ink: 
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