A little bit 'o epic

Photo of Chris on the Divide last year somewhere near Lima, courtesy of Mary Metcalf.

My mind games did not work.

Chris and Kurt hit Togwotee pass (the snowy one that I was trying to send mental signals out to not hit at night) -- just as it got dark last night.

They hiked through several patches of snow.

In the dark.

Chris called me around 1:00 am. I had just managed to dose off, so when I did talk to him, I warned him of the snowy pass ahead... to which you could hear his spirits sink as he mumbled "another one????" As I woke up and we got our communication skills to somewhat normal, I realized they had already gone over it. When I said that, he perked up quite a bit! Poor thing, didn't mean to scare him. Haha.

They had a really long day in the saddle. When Chris called me at lunch, eating a bag of cookies, he sounded reeeeeally tired. Early this morning he admitted to being pretty wiped and in a low spot for quite a while around that time. Luckily he perked up at some point and said he enjoyed attacking the ascent of the pass -- it just got a little miserable when they were hiking through the snow, getting their feet wet, and wanting to go to sleep.

Finally, they made it over the pass to Togwotee lodge, where they got a room for the night and a place to warm up. This morning, around 7:30 am, he called me again as he was shoving in his second sausage and egg breakfast sandwich (that after two muffins). He sounded very perky and excited to be heading on to tackle Union Pass today.

A funny moment in the conversation came when he suddenly stopped talking and said "well, I hit my limit on food, my body just figured out I was eating". He's gotten awfully good at shoving down calories in the morning before his body realizes what he's doing and shuts off the eating system. This kind of life is fascinating to me. The verrrrrrry little I've dabbled in multi-day bikepacking trips, I understand the situation. It's strange. And I can't imagine putting up with it for more than a few days.

I got a package from Chris today...sent from a post office in Lima. The first two sets of maps, his passport and a surprise that made silly me cry. In Canada, we talked about getting some Canadian money. Just for fun. But we never got around to it. Well, tucked inside a sweet note with a giant smiley face proclaiming "Bye bye Lima!" was a Canadian five dollar bill.

So often I get questions and remarks about how I can possibly be so supportive of Chris through all of these grand and crazy adventures. People marvel at the fact that I was more than willing to drive him up to Canada, back 18 hours alone, then again 11 hours down to the Mexican border a few weeks later. The simple fact is... Chris is the greatest husband in the entire world. He's thoughtful and wonderful even in the middle of his hardest adventures.

Any girl would be lucky to get to follow him around.

GO PLESKO!!

-Wifey