Between my last post on November 18^th (Day 49) and yesterday December 6^th, (Day 67) I’ve walked an additional 141 miles. The total is 520 to date which places me well east of Flagstaff AZ on my walking route. But over these intervening two and a half weeks, I’ve become increasingly concerned about my life-partner Sally’s health as she has undergone new tests and a 2^nd opinion to determine the status of her breast cancer.

Since first being discovered three years ago at an already advanced stage, Sally’s cancer has been beautifully held in check by her first course of treatment. Between then and when I left our home in Vermont to begin this walk, we trekked in Nepal, cross country ski raced in Norway, and regularly hiked and cross-country skied in our nearby mountains in Vermont. The week before I left to drive west to begin the walk, we did several long hikes together as I “trained up” for my upcoming walk.

Symptoms didn’t appear and get noticed until recently in mid-November. Over the past couple of weeks there have been many tests at home in Vermont and a 2^nd opinion at Dana Farber in Boston. These are now complete. As I read through the CT scan and other diagnostic tests results two nights ago, it became clear that cancer has recently gotten around her treatment and aggressively advanced.

That’s when I made the decision to suspend this walk and return home to care for her and provide as much support as possible.

Yesterday, I arranged to securely store the support RV north of Phoenix. Tonight, I loaded the “tow car” with everything I can think of that might be necessary. Tomorrow (December 7^th) I’ll deliver the RV into storage and then begin driving the support “tow car” back home to Vermont.

I plan to resume my walk at some future point. But, at the moment I have no idea when that will be.