DAY 50 - Morton & Riverton, WY - 946 miles from home

Okay. First of all. We are now one-third of the way to Washington.

And even so.

I've been thinking a lot about pilgrimage and pain. There's a hairshirt component to traditional pilgrimages - the pebble in the shoe or the impulse to crawl on one's knees, as if the journey toward one's inmost truth required self-emptying. As if authenticity were won through heroic achievement - as if discovery demanded purgation and even penance: the mortification of our 'grosser' corporeal selves. Even when the 'pilgrim' identifies first and foremost as an athlete, as trekker or runner or hiker or biker ... even then, there's an impulse to prove the self  by pushing through the corporeal shell. Mind over matter. The force of will. No pain, as they often say, no gain.

But what a pain - to have to put up with PAIN! And do I really believe this mind vs. matter stuff anyway?? My mind is very much a part of - and not apart from - my matter.

And that's where we come to the subject of my feet. I've talked about my bunions and already shown my glorious synovial (although now we think ganglion) cyst in all of its technicolor glory.... But I promise you I won't share pix of my current pride and joy: the half-dollar-size blisters on the ball of each foot. I thought I was finished and done with the Land of the Bulla (that's the technical name for a big blister), but I didn't factor in what a pair of new shoes and socks, and a bunch of rain, might do for me. SO. There's that.

Body and spirit are one flesh. Blood and guts and brain and bulla and all the STUFF. And so: when it comes to my poor little tootsies, I'm doing all the prudent self-care things. Believe me. ALL the things. Pads and tapes and salves and epsom soaks. Our last two rest days. Short mileage days. And ... drum roll... a BATH TUB.

Yes. We celebrated our FIFTIETH day on the trail with a night in a motel. The Sundowner Station in Riverton, WY. Two thumbs enthusiastically up. Each of us got separate rooms. Each of us got ginormous beds (although for some reason the kindly front desk dude, Tim, decided to book Kate into the Honeymoon Suite at the same price as a regular room... So Kate got a king size bed, a balcony overlooking the cute courtyard, and a room large enough to teach one of her yoga classes in.)

Actually, I think Kate must have done one of her manifestation tricks and conjured up this whole experience - especially given her recent travels in India. Adjacent to the hotel was the Mt Everest: a Nepalese-Indian restaurant that was delicious and delightful. I'm talking IPA and mo-mo's, sweet lassi, shrimp biryana, chicken korma and alu gobhi.

Our fiftieth day on the trail was also an opportunity for Kate and me to walk together - gabbing so much we almost forgot to hydrate - until we looked up and noted the remarkable sky: effect of wildfires in the distance, but nonetheless utterly (udderly) unremarked by the cows.

Walking with Kate.

After several hundred miles without sunflowers, they have come back to greet us, here alongside private property on Hwy 26.

Road Mystery #312: Brand new dog bowl?

Sundowner Station, Riverton, WY.

Doordashing Buddha at the Mt. Everest Nepalese Indian Bistro, Riverton, WY.

The decor at the Mt. Everest celebrates a different Indian heritage.

The cows and the sky - light filtered through smoke from distant fires.