Hello Everyone,

Well, here I am at Camp 24, my home in Santa Paula, Ventura County, California.

As you known I am not trekking and returned home because of the infected blister that I developed on my foot. I wanted to write an epilog to let everyone know how I ended this leg of my trek. An epilog is not necessarily the end of a story, as I hope to continue my trek and continue my blog in the future. My hopes are still to trek all the way to Canada, possible when my foot heals.

I look back and I am still thankful that I made the right decision to stop and seek medical attention as my injury could have turned much worse. Sometimes that drive to achieve a goal can cloud the correct decision making.

I went back the second day (Wednesday) to the Urgent Care and had my foot looked at again. They remove additional skin from my foot and redressed the wound. She was pleased with how it looked but recommended an additional shot of antibiotics because it still look badly infected. Again, her advise was to stay off of my feet for at least 2-3 more days and then no trekking for at least 2-3 weeks, or maybe longer.

I sadly boarded the train in Eugene Thursday evening after staying with my good friend and wonderful hosts Nick and his family. I probably laughed more the few days I spent with Nick that I have in months. That made up for much of my disappointment in having to stop my trek.

I didn’t consider the trek over until I got home and still considered the trip on the train home as part of the experience. I have been spoiled my getting the sleeping room (Roomette) and will have a hard time every going as a regular in the future. Part of the fun and experience for me was actually sitting with other passengers at the two dinners, breakfast, and lunch on the train. I felt like I was in a mystery movie on a train. It’s funny how people open up and want to tell you their whole life’s history during a short meal. I really enjoyed it. I sat next to a handsome young man from Scotland that look so much like my son Colin. It was amazing.

They say never take a train if you are in a hurry, well, at least in the United States. There was a brush fire in the Paso Robles area and the train stopped for over an hour and a half. That ended up putting it three hours and fifteen minutes late in arriving in Oxnard. With the lounge cars it doesn’t matter so much as you can go lay down in your room, join in on the wine tasting, or even watch a movie in the theater car.

When the train got to Oxnard I was happy to be home, but honestly, I didn’t want to get off the train and end my trek experience.

Today, Saturday, I rested and elevated my foot most of the day. It’s looking much better every day and I have an appointment to see the doctor Monday. Hopefully I’ll be back to normal soon, and I might start thinking of planning a continuation of my trek soon?

I want to thank all of you that sent me emails. I may not have returned a response, but I really, really, appreciated all those comments and encouragement, especially on those hard days.

Yes, I might as we ask you to excuse the typos, spelling, etc., as I am still sending this from my phone.

As always, best wishes,
Ted