Day 12: Pocatello, ID to Jackson, WY

Today’s miles were dedicated to Bill Watson, Caroline Watson’s father, on the first anniversary of his death from gallbladder cancer. Last summer Caroline, one of our directors and my friend, lost both of her parents to cancer in an incredibly short period of time. I have to take a moment to shout out Caroline here because, had I been through what she went through last summer, I think I’d still be in bed. There’s no way I’d be running across the country. We are so, SO lucky to have her leadership and maturity guiding us along our route!

I was partnered with Brenna today and we were cooking with GAS on our legs. We outran the van like 2 or 3 times. This run was really cool. We found an abandoned train early on and took some cool pictures with/on it. Nothing crazy to report about our run into Jackson, other than the fact that Jackson is one of the coolest places I’ve ever been!

This day was also Evan’s 21st birthday. What better place to celebrate than Jackson?! We took him out to the Silver Dollar, a cowboy type bar that was awesome. They had live music that rocked and they had strong drinks, what more could you ask for? I got to try some local brews and a local whiskey (y’know, because cowboys) which was fun, and Evan had a responsible buzz going. Might have spent a little more money than I planned to, but it was so worth it.

When we got back to the host I was able to convince everyone who came back with us to sleep outside with me and holy cow, the stars… it’s just DIFFERENT out here! I used to think that the stars in PA where Cait and I would camp were beautiful but man it’s a different game out West.

Keeping this post short, again, because I’m REALLY tired and I want to catch up, but the bottom line is that this was an emotional day for Caroline, and for all of us who care so much for Caroline. It seemed like the whole team was here for her to pick her up on a tough day, and it felt good to be a part of that. We love you Caroline and you ROCK! Schoch out!