The Unforgetable Crossing of Shirley Basin

Hello to everyone from Casper in central Wyoming! I don't suspect that I'll forget much of the year that has passed but I doubt that this week, from Rock River to Casper, will ever fail to make me smile. I ended up staying a day in Rock River after the snow fall during my last blog entry pretty much closed me in. Forrest, Susane and Josh were impecable hosts & I had one of the most relaxing days in a long time. With the town covered in a blanket of white I attended the only church in town for the Sunday service, a small Baptist church of around 15 faithful. It was a quiet, slow day but what a welcomed change! On Monday morning I continued on with young Josh joining me until the town boundry. At the town boundry we turned around & returned to their house to retrieve my food that I'd left in the fridge & then once again walked to the town boundry... A big hand shake & thanks to Josh & I was on my way into the snowy wilderness. As I left Rock River for Medicine Bow the wind picked up & began to whip up snow drifts. I later found out that the temperature was around negative 14degC, so when you add on to that the wind-chill factor we're probably looking at something relative to -20degC. IT WAS SO COLD! Not far from the town a sudden gust of wind blew small particles of snow up through my balaclava & straight onto my face. I acted like any big tough Aussie would & unintentionally let out a high-pitched shrill. My very manly squeal scared me as much as the freezing conditions & I couldn't help but laugh as I stumbled on down the road. I couldn't walk on at one point & sort shelter in a road culvert for 15min until I'd warmed back up a bit. It wasn't a long walk to Medicine Bow but it felt like 100km! I walked on past the famed dinosaur graveyard at Como Bluff & eventually made it one piece (one solid ice block!). I checked-in to the famed Virginian Hotel; an antique hotel still in all it's old charm & in the middle of nowhere. It was made famous through a novel called 'the Virginian', which was set in the very place I now stood. And it was only $27 a night. Turns out the prices haven't changed in 100yrs either. The afternoon & evening in Medicine Bow was a tense time for me. Not because of Medicine Bow, it was a beautiful little town, but because of what I knew laid ahead - a 148km crossing of the Shirley Basin to the city of Casper, with nothing but wilderness for at least 130km. It would take 3days at a testing pace with no back-up & no way of resupplying food or water. Internally I was feeling uneasy about the intensly cold weather & 148km walk ahead. I got to a quiet point where there was pretty much nothing left but me & God. I wasn't praying with words so-to-speak, but I think I'd just saddled up alongside Him as I mentally looked out at my next 3days. In the quiet I felt the Lord say one thing, "Trust", and that was it, but it was said with conviction. I got a good night's sleep, packed up early & headed off before sunrise into a freezing darkness. As I crossed the Medicine Bow River & across the town boundry the 1st sign of morning began to appear on the horizon. It was the most spectacular glow of red & orange & in a way promised a hope of warmth. The rising sun would eventually show up a winter wonderland of snow & mountains under a clear blue sky. The wind picked up throughout the day but the cold dissipated & I was able to, for the 1st time in 2weeks, walk without my jacket. I entered the Shirley Basin in the mid morning & was gob-smacked at the vastness of this mountain guarded basin that extended for probably 80km. I passed by herds of antelope grazing & felt like a small dot plodding along out in the middle of nowhere. Probably because I was. I walked to a point 51km from Medicine Bow & as the sun began to set, found a great little spot on the side of the road to pitch my tent. As I sat down to eat my dinner the wind stopped & it was dead quiet. I could see two herds of anteploe grazing in the distance & then I faintly herd the cry of Coyote's on the far-off foothills. It was, to a point, beautifully peaceful. I half expected to look out into the distance & see Kevin Costner riding along with a group of Indians as they hunted down a herd of Buffalo... "Tatonka!" As the sun set I snuggled into my sleeping bag & drifted off to sleep. By 2am though I was beginning to struggle with the rapidly dropping temperature. The threat was very real & it was due to the geography of the place. I was out in the middle of a massive basin with snow capped peaks surrounding me. With no breeze what-so-ever & clear skies above, the cold air began to flow downwards & the world around me began to freeze. By 4am I discovered that there are few better scientific tests to show how cold it is than breathing out & watching your breathe ascend to the tent roof... & freeze to it! My tent became an ice cave! I had stalactites! I ended up wearing full thermals plus balaclava in my sleeping bag to try & combat the cold but with one final thought, "This sucks", I packed up, shook the ice from my tent & began walking again at 5am. It was still very cold but with no breeze it wasn't too difficult to cover up. I walked & prayed through until sunrise & waited patiently for my water supply to thaw... By mid morning I was still sucking on ice chunks when a fellow called Gary pulled over to offer me a lift. I explained what I was doing & he responded with an emphatic, "Hallelujah Jesus!" He asked me if I needed a drink. I said yes. He pulled out a huge bottle of gatorade, which he'd been carrying but hadn't yet opened. He also threw me some snickers bars & after a great little chat I was left to continue walking, praying & sculling gatorade. With a large variety of wildlife around I was wide-eyed for most of the trip & as I walked up & out of the basin & through the surrounding mountains I caught sight of something move on the hillside a km from me. I grabbed my camera & started filming as I zoomed in. It was a mountain lion. It ran on up the hill & then stopped & starred straight back at me. I thought, "I can see you too mate" & watched in awe as it powered on up over the hill. I was on top of the world after that & as I passed by more antelope, hawks, eagles & beavers I felt very blessed. Very Forrest Gump, but very blessed. In the late afternoon a funny thing happened - I had a craving for peanut butter. Odder things have happened. An hour later, Gary pulled over again (on his way home) & guess what? While in town he'd bought me 3 peanut butter filled choclate cup-cakes! Haha, brilliant!! Thankyou Gary, thankyou Lord. By the end of the 2nd day I had made it to km 104. The best place I could find for my tent was outside a horse ranch. I wandered on into their indoor rodeo arena to see if it was ok for to me occupy their front gate grass. As I walked in, I was greeted by 3 cowboys resting against the bull-fence. Suddenly the lights went out in a power failure & so I reached for my torch & flicked it on. One of the cowboys noted, "I got no idea who you are but I'm glad you're here!" The guys were very welcoming & offered a safer piece of ground to me just on the edge of their arena. One of the cowboys, Jet, did a very kind food run for me & returned from his house with fruit, jerky & home cooked cake. It took the pressure off my dwindling supplies massively & after a good dinner I managed to get a good night's sleep. Day 3 of the crossing to Casper began before sunrise again & I headed up along a dirt track (road 401) through beatiful rolling hills & along stark, steep ridges that droped away massively on both sides. I was beginning to hurt physically from the pace & I could feel a chest infection coming on so the quiet wilderness walking was just the thing to keep me 'not caring' about the pain. By mid afternoon, slightly ahead of schedule I limped into Casper with a few bleeding toes & only one piece of chewing gum left :-) I wanted to find a hotel straight away, shower & curl up in bed but I felt the Lord ask for that one extra effort - "Go to the Church". The 1st Church was the Paradise Christian Centre where I stopped & extended an invitation to pray for unity & i then passed a few churches with no one present before I walked up to the Catholic Church. It was 5pm & apparently the priest had just sat down to eat his dinner before watching the World Series Baseball 2nd final. His reaction at my untimely entry? He left everything & gave me his full attention. Meet Fr Fox. With his dinner waiting, the baseball about to start & a meeting scheduled for an hour from then he responded to my parting question, "Do you know of somewhere cheap to stay?" with his time & his car. He drove me around town in an attempt to find me a place to stay but with a huge tournamnet in town pretty much everything was booked up. His solution? He put me up at the Hotel Marriott. Oh-my-goodness. I walked into my room & just stood there, wide-eyed, starring at the size of the room & the amount of stuff in it. I feel out of place here. My boots aren't shiney!!! Fr Fox didn't leave it there though, he picked me up this morning & took me to mass & then did all he could to help me prepare for the next 15days (today was a rest day). In order to help spread the invitation to pray for unity he even called the newspapers & tv news crew who turned up for interviews at lunch time while we ate ordered pizza. It was supposed to be his day off today. This afternoon 'Foxy' finished off my busy day by driving me up to the mountain overlooking Casper & we chatted about anything & everything. What ever it was, we seemed to always end in laughter. I've felt so blessed this past week. It was incredibly tough & from high-pitched shrills, to ice, to bleeding toes the only thing that fills my mind now is gratitude. God is good. Please join us in prayer, particularly at 4:01pm each day as we continue to pray 4 1. May we be one. God bless & peace be with you, Sam.
"Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you." Psalm 9:10

Buffalo Wings, Wilderness & Wild Walking (-2days)

I'm in Wyoming! Hi folks & welcome back to the walk. I feel like Survivor Man after this week on the road. The week began easily enough with a short walk to Fort Collins where I met the pastor at the Presbyterian Church & then bumped into the assistant priest at the Catholic Church. Fr Peter was a young man from Poland & after I'd extended an invitation to pray for unity he extended an invitation to join him for a quick dinner at the 'Outback Steakhouse', an Australian themed restaraunt. On the menu apparently Tasmania is famous for its Buffalo Wings?? So I ordered them. They were great. Still bemused though that I grew up in Tasmania & yet had never heard of buffalo wings as a local dish :-) I eat very slowly & Fr Peter had to return to the church before I was finished so he left me to eat as much as I wanted until he returned 2hrs later. By the time he returned I'd managed to finish my dinner. As I said, I eat slowly. The great thing though was that in that time Fr Peter had organised for me to stay with a young couple, Robert & Melanie. They had a beautiful home & an inspiring faith. They also had two overly energetic cats that took a liking to my bed, my bag, my boots, my socks, my gloves, my feet, my hands, etc. I enjoyed my stay there! I originally thought that the highway I was following traced around the base of the Rockies but I soon discovered that from Fort Collins it headed straight up & over. Ten miles out of Fort Collins I discovered that I was walking without my wallet. I kept walking & tried to trace back over the previous day & came to the conclusion that it was in Fr Peter's car. I stopped at a service station & called the church office & after a quick search they found it. Thankfully, Melanie was heading out along the highway to her work place, a Benedictine Abbey in the middle of nowhere, later in the day. The Abbey was to be my destination as well with nothing around for 30km either side. Melanie pulled over with my wallet in the early afternoon & I continued on up into the mountains. The landscape was unbelievable & the air very cool. I could see snow falling on the distant peaks & as the sun set I had wide open wilderness, herds of dear grazing at regualr intervals, no traffic & all the time in the world to pray. It was... complete :-) I arrived at the Benedictine Abbey at 8pm to a retreat centre full of very motherly women very willing to take care of a guy who'd just walked & prayed 55km! I was mothered to death. I didn't even get to met the Benedictine sisters until mass the next morning. The women on retreat fed me, set me up for the night & topped up my supplies for the next days walk. I felt very loved! After sleeping the night on a make-shift bed made of cushioned dining chairs & early morning mass I headed further through the mountains to the Wyoming border. The wind was incredibly strong & soooo cold. I was stopped dead in my tracks a number of times by the powerful winds & despite wearing a balaclava I had to stop & turn away from the fridgid wind a number of times. At 2:30pm I stopped into a roadside store & found that the temperature at that time was negative 2deg & the wind speed around 90km/hr. I grabbed my camera out & did a quick dialouge on the 'current conditions' but it's a little diffcult to watch because I'm shivering so much that the shots a little shakey! Realistic effect though. I entered the town of Laramie at around 8:30pm & was met by the local Marshall, Brian Fritzen who did the usual line of questioning & request for i.d. but then did the unusual thing of paying for me to stay the night in a motel. He simply paid for my night & wished me all the best. As simple as that. There had been weather warnings for the past week about a large cold front & low pressure system moving through so I had thought about staying in Laramie for a few days until it passed. The next morning though I worked out that I had just enough time up my sleve to make it to Rock River, a day & a halfs walk away. I had a quick stop in at the Laramie Christian Centre with the beautiful Pastor Allen, Joyce & Joanne & then hit the road again. As I left Laramie a friendly dog run up to me for a pat & belly rub but then wouldn't leave me! I tried evrything to get him to go home but he simply looked at me with puppy dog eyes & continued to follow me. Out on the highway he had no road-sense & almost caused a few accidents so it was getting a little serious. I ended up stopping a passing truck & asking the guy to take him back before something happened but he was reluctant to take him onboard. I scolded him (the dog, that is) & tried other means to get him to go but he kept on following. After 5 miles the somewhat inevitable happened when he ran out across the road in front of a speeding truck who ploughed him down withbrutl force. It was deflatting to witness & I was then left with the grim task of removing his body from the road. Somewhat of a senseless waste. I walked pretty quietly from then on. I found a place to pitch my tent for the night & after some reading & dinner I drifted off to sleep. And dreamed about walking around the world - funny that. Today I hastily completed the rest of the trip into Rock River with the approaching cold front looming. Once in town I found that there were no churches & the motel had closed for the off-season. No sooner had I thought, "I wasn't particularly looking forward to sleeping in my tent again tonight" and a voice called out form across the road. Actually, it was from the pub to be exact. Meet Forest, new resident of Rock River, bar tender & a very hospitable bloke who has lent me his caravan until the storm passes over! And the storm has now hit. There's around 10cm of snow already & could be up to 30cm by tomorrow morning. Pending conditions I may stay here for an extra day until it's a tad safer to continue. Oh, & Forest's caravan, it's not a caravan, it's a house on wheels - it's enormous!! Beats my tent hands down. So here I am, now only a couple of days away from reigning in those extra 15days in order to cross the Canadian border on time & enjoying watching my 1st snow fall in 14months. The Lord continues to provide at every step & after a great talk with Fr Peter back in Fort Collins I'm all inspired again (actually, I hadn't realised how much more inspired I could be). Please continue (or begin) to pray for unity! Love & truth. I hope you have a great week, God bless & may his peace be with ya! Sam.
"The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer." Ps 18:2

Sprinklers, Tumbleweed & The Mighty Rockies (-3days)

G'day folks! I'm sitting up in the main auditorium of the Loveland Church of Christ at their sound desk using the internet... Thanks Kirsten! I've passed through Denver & I'm now tracking north along the mighty Rocky Mountains, which I might point out, are looking rather white today! The temperature has dropped significantly over the past week & it's a rarity for the thermometer to top 10deg Celcius. I'm enjoying the cooler conditions though & I'm happy to have left the Colorado Plain's wind behind. It was getting a tad demorolising - I'm used to being overtaken by trucks, cars, motorbikes & bicycles but when I started to be overtaken by scores of tumble-weed, I knew I'd fallen a few notches down the highway food chain. The walk into Denver was taxing with two of the days stretching well over 70km. Both were not intended to be that far but due to the circumstances I found myself in I had few other choices. The 1st day, 79km, happened because I arrived in a town at 12am & there was no where to sleep for the night. I laid my sleeping bag out behind the community centre on a lovely lush green section of grass & began to drift off to sleep... until the pop-up sprinklers came on at 2:10am. I was sent scrambling & tumbling but not before all my gear had been thouroughly drenched. It was 2degC & with a cool breeze blowing I didn't feel like sitting around trying to shiver my self dry. So I packed up & continued walking on through the night, eventually arriving at 9:30am at a place called Hugo (which is at mile 401!). I slept the rest of that day in a dry & warm hotel after the local Catholic Church kindly served me up a hot breakfast. The second long day, 74km, came about because I arrived in a town that scared me & so I kept walking! It was around 55km from Limon to Dear Trail but there was no church there & no hotel. The lady serving at the gas station suggested I put my hammock up at the local park but on my way down there I spotted a big old couch sitting out the front of a run down house. It was stupid of me to do so, but not looking forward to spending a cold night in the hammock I very abscent mindedly walked up to the house, knocked & inquired of the young man living there if I could 'rent his couch for the night'? His reponse was to ask me to wait while he checked with his wife. I stood on the front step & waited for at least 10mins until finally the man's wife opened the front door & demanded that I get off the property. At that same moment the couple's skin-head friend arrived at speed, sliding his car up into the drive way. He jumped out with a mean scowl on his face & walked straight up to me. I quickly apologised & left the property promptly. As I did I over-heared the man's wife say to the skin-head friend that the police & sheriff were on the way! I turned & asked why & she simply yelled back, "Because you wouldn't leave!" So apparently in Dear Trail "Wait here" means "No, go away." Anyway, I didn't feel like putting my hammock up anywhere in the town & so after finishing my dinner under a street light I continued on into the night to finally arrive at the next town around 1am (& the hotel was open). After that little episode I've ditched the hammock I bought a one-man tent & more winter clothing to get me through the next few months. Denver was very beautiful though the 1st little strip was far from pleasent with many homeless people & even more intoxicated (it was around 3pm on a Friday). I had a couple of good chats with some of the homeless guys but it was so sad to see the incredible difference between that section of Denver & the rest. The next day I met the very personable Archbishop Charles for a brief 5mins but spent most of my time in Denver simply shopping for the winter gear I needed for the trip ahead. The last few days have been exceptionally cold & thus I was able to test my new gear out & I'm happy to say that even though it was hovering near 3degC for two days straight & I was plumetted by a frigid north wind & rain I pulled through without a shiver nor wet socks. The sky cleared today & revealed a very white Rocky Mountain range with snow blanketing the slopes. The leaves are changing colour & it's providing a spectacular back drop to the days of prayer on the road. The hospitality since Denver has been fantastic & I've been able to drop in on many churches & extend an invitation to pray for unity. I've received a few invitations myself, such as to the Broomfield Parish Oktoberfest Community Event. I drank soft drink all night but had a wonderful time meeting the many people who'd turned out. And then last night I happened to knock on a Church door just as the youth group was gathering & I was invited to stay, participate, eat & then sleep in the lounge room of the youth group leaders house! Brilliant. I'll see you next week from somewhere near the not-so-tropical Wyoming border. Until then, God bless & please pray for unity! Sam.
"The Lord is my shephard, I shall not be in want." Ps 23:1
ps: Cheers for the comments guys! I hope I answered your in depth question Tanner? :-)

A Wedding, Tornado & 2 Pistols (-5days)

Hello from Kit Carson in Colorado! Sorry for missing last weeks entry; it was simply a matter of not being able to find internet. In the past 2 weeks I've crossed out of Texas into Oklahoma & then into Colorado. I'm now 7days into the Colorado plains & on target to arrive in Denver before the end of next week. A very big thank you to all the people of Texas who made my 1month crossing such a memorable one. It has to be one of the friendliest places on the planet! A big hello to the Sunray youth group who walked with me fora afew miles - I hope you found your car again. I crossed the Pan Handle of Oklahoma in around 24hrs but it was a 24hr stint that knocked me around somewhat. At the end of a 60km day I was walking into Boise City under the cover of night & watching an electrical storm roll past the northern side of the town. In the darkness I hadn't noticed a second front curling in behind me & with very little warning the wind picked up to around 80km/hr, the rain came thundering down (actually it was more 'across' than down) & the most spectacular lightning I've ever seen lit the sky up about every 1 to 2 seconds. Some lighting went down, some went up, & some sparked its way across the under belly of the clouds in a mesmorising stream of purple. And no matter how much I tried not to, I always instinctivly ducked every time it flashed above my head (apparently I'm taller in my mind than in real life). The wind was so strong at times that my back pack would act like a rudder & force me into a sudden rotation. My water proof cover was ripped off the bag at one point but because of the intense noise of the storm I had no idea that it was gone until I happened to spot a fluro yellow water proof cover clinging to a bush on the other side of the freeway... "Hey! It's just like mine!" The show stopping moment though was when a flash of lightning flashed in just the right spot to show up a tornado, spiriling down out of the clouds. It was a long way off but I still stopped where I was & peered into the darkness waiting for another flash in just the right place. A few seconds later it was lit up once more & I started hatching a plan for if it struck the ground & came in my direction. The only thing around was a storm water drain every 200m under the nearby railway line so I walked on with one eye on the tornado & one on the distance to the next storm water drain. The tornado headed in a different direction though & as far as I could tell, didn't hit the ground. At 11pm, with a hair style to rival Albert Einstein's, I arrived in Boise City. And smiled. It was a big week to be away from home as well. My youngest sister, Alexandra, was married on last Saturday to the fabulous Chris Hardinge & I was the only family member for about 7 generations not to attend. It was a somber night as I headed off to bed in a small country town in the USA knowing that the wedding was just about to get underway. I'm told it was a great day & evening. Congratulations Alex & Chris!That day was also the Australian Football League grand final & my team, the Geelong Cats, won their first premiership since 1963! I was born in 1979, so that means that I still haven't ever seen them win... Anyone tape it? I've met many fantastic people in the past week & have been shown some super hospitality, which has made the frantic pace I'm rolling along at a little more bearable. In a town called Springfield in south eastern Colorado I was walking to a hotel when I spotted a small church with a matching house next door. I stopped & had a moment of, "I should go & say hello & invite them to pray for unity but... I'm tired & want that hotel room." I felt the Lord gently encourage me to just do my job so I plodded over & met the pastor from the Quaker Church. We had a long chat & then as I was leaving a gentleman from across the road waved for me to come over. He & his wife were Pentecostal Preachers & wanted me to have dinner with them & to stay in their spare appartment. The meal was great & the conversation went far too long into the night, but was well worth the lethargy. Thank you Lord! My most unexpected evening however came when I walked from Springfield to Lamar over 2days. I was planning to camp out in my hammock for the night during the crossing but I had a small problem - no trees anywhere! I spotted a farm house in the distance with trees surrounding it so I made tracks for it & knocked on the door. Big Greg, the owner of a 30,000 acre ranch, answered the door in his shorts & had no problem with me tying my hammock up in his front yard. In fact, he had so little problem that he then fixed me a hot dinner & kept my glass full. His wife arrived home soon after & we spent a few hours talking at the kitchen table with a world globe in front of us as we exchanged stories. Now, the normal thing would be to then say goodnight & go to bed, however, that isn't how the night ended. At around 10:30pm, in the freezing cold of the Colorado evening, Greg & I made our way outside... & had target practise with his two pistols. I think I'm half deaf now in my left ear from all the shooting. The funny thing was that he set up a tin can in front of some logs & I sat a maple leaf a foot above it on the log. I had first shot & lined up his tin can... BANG! And the leaf went flying... It was a good thing it was dark & Greg couldn't see my confused expression. He had know idea that I was shooting for the tin can & so was mightily impressed that I'd just nailed a leaf from 20m. The pressure was on though for the second shot. This time there was no faking it. If I missed I couldn't claim to have been aiming for the log. I aimed a foot in front of the can & bam! Over it went. I felt like twirling the thing 'round & blowing across the barrell but felt that under the circumstances it was perhaps best just to hand it back to him & stay quiet. Last night I met a lapsed Christian called John who invited me back to his girlfriends place for dinner. We didn't 'have a shot' after the meal but we did talk about unity for a short while & then about the love of God. His father was once an Evangelical preacher & John had socked it up in his youth but had drifted from the church in his adult years. Once he got started though, it all came flooding back & it was as though he was falling in love with Christ all over again. At the end of the night I asked him to pray for me as I continued on & he replied, "I already have." Winter is on the way here in Colorado. The 1st snow fall is expected tomorrow night so it's time to sell the hammock I think. God bless & please keep praying! Sam
"God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him." 1John4:16
ps: I've had more x-rays done on my hip & it has shown up very clearly as a badly rotated pelvis. In the process of having it put back in place. She'll be right mate :-)