Thursday, June 15, 2006 - Up at 5:00 or so again, tore down the tent, packed away the bags, and went to the school cafeteria for breakfast - egg and cheese biscuits. Unfortunately, I could only eat a few bites. I don’t think the food was actually that bad, but I found it disgusting. That was a bad sign.

On the road, the morning started cool with little wind. The land was flat to gently rolling, and progress was quick and smooth, but by lunch I knew that I was done. I could only eat a few bites of the sandwich I bought, and had to make two trips to the restroom for diarrhea. I lay on the grass in the shade and rested, but it wasn’t getting any better.

Eventually, I ended up hitching a ride with a private SAG, who took me to the next SAG, with one stop along the way for a vomit break (yuck). After purging, I was feeling well enough to consider riding on from there, but common sense prevailed, and I caught another SAG ride on into Neodesha. Things were a little confused at the high school, and I had to ride my bike another three blocks to get my bags at the elementary school.

By this time I was tired again, and set up my sleeping bag in a hallway of the school. It was crowded and noisy, but cool. I slept for an hour or so, wakening to people discussing a virus that was going around. I heard that the county had set up a mobile health center at the high school, and thought that perhaps I should check that out.

I walked up to the high school and found an RV-style vehicle containing the health care people. I checked myself in, and he checked my vitals and asked a bunch of questions. By this time I was feeling relatively good, so they let me go, but advised me to move out of the school and pitch my tent in an area they’d set aside for sickies.

I had to walk back to the elementary school, deflate my sleeping pad, pack my bags, and load them back onto the bike, and push the bike and bags three blocks to the park. Once there, I found a spot and set up the tent, but didn’t have the strength to blow up the sleeping pad. I just unrolled it and lay down to rest for awhile.

After a bit, I wasn’t feeling any better, so decided to go back to the mobile health van. I didn’t make it.

I ended up puking just a few hundred feet from my tent, near a utility pole. I went back to the tent to rinse my mouth out with water and was approached by some men who had noticed me being sick, and suggested I accompany them to their ambulance and get checked out. Seems I’d been sick in front of some firemen and EMT personnel. I had my blood pressure, pulse and temperature taken, and was told that I appeared to be dehydrated, and should probably go to the hospital to be checked out. I could have refused, but decided to take their advice. I was set up with an IV drip, taken to Wilson County Hospital, and parked in a room with another BAK rider.

I stayed there until about 10pm when they released me. The nurses told me they’d probably hold me overnight, but the doctor turned me loose. I probably should have stayed, but I think they needed more space for the additional BAK riders coming in. It was just a small rural hospital, after all, and appeared to be a bit overwhelmed.

Someone took me back to the park and I bedded down for the night. Luckily my tent was already set up, so all I had to do was blow up my sleeping pad and settle in.

The night didn’t go well. I had to get up several times during the night for a restroom run, and I’m pretty sure there was some fever as well. I don’t think I slept much.

The next morning I was feeling sort of OK, but still didn’t feel capable of eating anything. I was abler to pack up the tent without incident, and went back to the school to wait for my wife, who’d been called by the hospital the previous evening. She showed up shortly, and ferried me and the bike back home. I spent the rest of the day sleeping and recovering, and was able to eat a bit by that evening.

The Kansas Department of Health later released a report that identified the illness as Norovirus, and found that at least 126 BAK participants (out of 847 total) experienced at least some of the symptoms.

Sunrise Leaving Burden
Sunrise Leaving Burden