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I used to be Lowboy. A pathetic diabetic. But as a member of Triabetes, I finished Ironman Wisconsin fall 2008. It changed my life. Am I still unstoppable? Here's the aftermath.
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So there we were...it was the winter of '93 and Dave and I had decided to spend our Christmas break on a week long trek of the Appalachian Trail through Smokey Mtn National Park.
Everything was going great until...we actually started hiking. Dave and I had some experience. We had done countless weekend backpacking trips in middle Tennessee and had just returned the previous summer from a month in Montana in which we backpacked over 100 miles through Glacier National Park and the Bob Marshall Wilderness Area. So we thought we were ready for anything the Smokies had to offer....ahhh ignorance is bliss.
The first day had plenty of challenges, steeper than expected climbs and a significant amount of snow on the trail made the going tuff. We made shelter the first night and things seemed fine. We awoke the following morning to a dreary mess. We were completely socked in by clouds, the temp was a balmy 35 F and a steady soaking rain had begun. Lucky for us we had remembered our cotton thermal underwear and our Army surplus ponchos were surely up for the task.
By mid-day on day two we were miserable. We were soaked to the bone, the wind was howling, the trial was knee deep with slushy snow and at 35 degrees the rain kept pounding... And then the blizzard hit.
15-mile days were usually no problem so the 10 miles we had planed for that day seemed like an easy stroll, back when we were making our plans in the warmth of our home. I don’t think any of us were too worried until, just before dark, we came to a trail sign that indicated we were only half way to the next shelter. By now the temp had dropped drastically. We were both mildly hypothermic. Our feet were grey blocks of ice from the snow and lack of gaiters or for that matter adequate winter boots. It had taken us all day to get half way and now it was dark. To this point, Low Boy had been held at bay with sugary lemonade and snickers bars. With the drop in temp, all of our drinkable energy was frozen solid and we were sticking snickers under our arms in an attempt to thaw them to the point of being edible.
(Lowboy enters stage left)
Dave’s sugar began to drop, how much we will never know b/c back then he didn’t even carry a sugar tester! He began to hallucinate, muttering things about the abominable snowman. At one point he even turned and ran the wrong way down trail, then off through the snow.
So with little edible sugar, we were knee deep in snow on the AT in December. It was night and our rain soaked clothes had now frozen solid on our bodies. Dave was hallucinating, we were extremely tired, hypothermic, and miles from shelter in worsening conditions. Did I mention that each step was like putting your foot into a bucket of ice water? The snow was so wet that it would literally pour into your boots.
Then Dave began to stumble. He was falling so often that I took his pack off of his back took what I thought was crucial gear and put it in my pack. I then chucked his pack off the trail into the snow. I put Dave in front of me and we hiked through the now driving snow until midnight. It took us 7 hours after the sun went down to make the shelter. Dave fell countless times and got up. About half a mile before the shelter we both collapsed in the snow and contemplated trying to ride out the night right there! Thankfully we did not.
I can't remember Dave eating or drinking anything after about mid-afternoon when the hallucinations began. I've never been able to explain how he was able to push through and make that hike. Unless any of you reading this have a good medical explanation for how this was possible, I'll continue to chalk it up as divine protection and a praying Mom.
Making the shelter was great. We were able to crank up the stoves and get some food thawed. Lowboy did not return, but I did fail to get Dave’s sleeping bag when I was getting his (crucial gear).
If you've never spent two nights in a 3-sided shelter in sub-zero weather while sharing a mummy bag with your brother, you don’t know what you’re missing!
By the 4th day the weather broke. We saw our chance and made the hike back out to the car. The wind chill was like -20, which was actually nice b/c the snowy trail had frozen solid and made for an easy hike.
Good memories.
In 2000, Dave, myself and our good friend Ben took a cross-country trip together from Tennessee to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state. The trip is full of great and hilarious memories and of course a lowboy story.
We made many stops along the way to see the sites. One such stop included a two-day one-night campout in the South Dakota Badlands. If you haven't been there you need to go. It is beautiful and very rugged. We spent a full day exploring on foot including what became a very dangerous climb in search of mountain goats and a nice view.
Lowboy popped his head up a few times during the day but a quick snack sent him packing each time.
That night we just walked off into the desert to camp about a quarter mile from the truck. We sleep in our sleeping bags beneath the stars, which I would also recommend if you ever go there. We had eaten a nice dinner of Ramen Noodles and all seemed well as we drifted off to sleep. A few hours later, I lighting bolt ran through my body and I was wide-awake sitting up in my bag. My first thought was "Dave is Shaky".
I looked to my left and Dave slept soundly a few feet away. And then it hit...Dave let out that all too familiar sound and began to seize in his sleeping bag. We had left everything in the truck including any sugar. As soon as I heard Dave I woke Ben grabbed the keys and took off. I ran faster than I have ever run in my entire life... About the only thing that grows in the badlands is cactus and it is everywhere. It had been challenging in the day light to walk out to our campsite without stepping on cacti (you know, the little the ones with the big needles)...So I ran...I ran like a jack rabbit darting back and forth through the desert in my boxers and bare feet. I made it to the truck found a bottle of syrup and ran back as fast as I could. It felt like I was floating. It was effortless. The whole time I was waiting for the pain of the cactus piercing my feet. It never came; I made it back to Dave, feed him enough syrup to stop the seizure and never stepped on a cactus!
That one was crazy... I'm not sure we had a blood sugar tester on that trip either.
Am I making my case for divine protection?
When I was a kid, I thought snack time was a meal that everybody ate before bed... Breakfast, lunch, dinner and snack time... The first time I had a spend the night friend (when I was about 5 yrs old) and he didnt know what snack time was, i was like "you don't know what snack time is?" It totally blew my mind...
I guess he didn't have a brother named lowboy.
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