Today was the first full day that my father would be waking with us. He rose before both James and I (Sam) and began marching around the campsite ready to go. Eventually James and I got up and began packing our things for the day. The road was once again absolutely horrendous. My father, Kourous, also tends to walk fast, so I had to ask him to slow down a few times. We were more or less hiking through mountains going at a pace of 30 minutes per mile, which was much slower than our usual 20 minute pace. The day honestly went by pretty slowly. It is simply very difficult to get in a rhythm when I get held up by a pile of large rocks every 10 minutes. We took our first break about 12 miles in and sat around for about 45 minutes. Kourous brought us some sandwiches from the airport as well the night before, so we were able to indulge in some of those. Having some fresh food after eating out of the bag for much of the week was very refreshing. My father needed to be at highway 95 at around 7pm to be picked up, so James and I were on the clock. The terrain became very difficult to navigate once the sun set, as it was more or less pitch black. We still trudged along, eventually making it to the highway in time for my father to leave. The last 3 miles were particularly challenging because Kourous was walking very fast and I was struggling to keep up with my stroller getting stuck every 2 minutes. He thankfully made it to the driver, and James and I rested on the side of the road for a good 30 minutes. Afterwards, we decided to take a small detour to Quartzsite, as this would maximize our time pavement. Despite the added 5 miles, we thought it was worth it, and we also slept at a Super 8 which added something to look forward to.
Today was extremely challenging due to the road conditions. It can be extremely frustrating walking on unpaved roads mostly because it provides very little continuity. Pace is much slower and the road becomes very difficult to navigate at night. It was one of the few times on this trip that I felt like I was battling with the earth rather than myself.
11/17/22
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