Wham!
(That’s the sound created when life hits you.)
Over the past 2 weeks, life has hit me hard. I am not the whimsical, magical traveler I claim to be. I am human. I am fragile and things go wrong. It was inevitable. “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” – John Steinbeck / Robert Burns. Well, my best laid plans have gone awry, and here’s how it happened.
The day before I was supposed to leave Austin, I decided to check out the local skate park. I took my board down to the park and within minutes, I ended up on the ground, sprained ankle, and a big, bleeding scrape on my knee. Great. From this, I decided to take an extra day to stay in Austin so my ankle and knee could heal. Fortunately, the ankle healed within 3 days, but the knee did not. More about the knee in a minute.
The next day, I felt like absolute crap. Runny nose, sinus congestion, scratchy throat. It seemed to me like all of the good fortune I was having was coming to an end. I decided to tough it out and left for my next destination anyway. I ended up leaving the hostel much later than I wanted, so that night I didn’t make it to the Guadalupe Mountains NP. I slept in a Walmart parking lot for the first time ever. It wasn’t fun. At least the Texas sunset was beautiful.
During my 2nd night in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park, I locked my keys in the car. Damn you, Luke, you big dummy. I couldn’t believe it. It was late and wanted to avoid calling a locksmith after regular working hours, so I decided to wait to call for the locksmith in the morning. Morning came around and I called AAA (thank you Mom for insisting on an AAA membership). Within 2 hours, they had a locksmith out at the park, and my car was unlocked. The guy who came to save me was a burly older guy with long locks of white hair around his head and under his chin. His tow truck was painted bright pink. I could barely understand what he was saying to me. I think he was speaking drunk. It took less than 5 minutes to get my keys out of the car, but I was extremely grateful.
Now back to my knee. The knee was starting to scab, but was still very much unhealed. During a hike on my last day in the park, I slipped, fell, and reopened the cut on my knee. The next day, the cut was infected, and it looked even worse the day after. I was borderline ready to see a doctor. I booked a hostel in Albuquerque, NM and decided that if it didn’t improve before the next day, I would see a doctor. Well this ended up being a great decision because the The next day, the cut scabbed up and looked OK. I am happy that I wont have to amputate my leg. 🙂
On top of all of this, I got an $80 parking ticket in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Why? I’ll let you be the judge.
I’m just going to consider it a charitable donation to the NPS. You’re welcome, America.
Remember when I fell and reopened my knee? This fall also broke my phone. At first, it was functioning, but over the course of the next 3 days, my phone slowly deteriorated into a non-functioning device. Today, it barely works at all. I’m getting a replacement, but it’s gonna cost me.
The first 3 weeks of my trip were absolutely fantastic, but the past week and a half has was not. Between getting sick, the knee infection, locking my keys in the car, getting a parking ticket, and killing my phone, I am ready for things to go right again. It’s kind of crazy how it all happened so quickly. That’s just how life goes sometimes.
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