Our family had journeyed 3 1/2 hours, to spend the weekend with Red Bull's brother and his dear little family. Red Bull's niece was receiving a special blessing. Four generations of family were joined together. While enjoying time with loved ones we do not see as often as we would like, we received a distress call from Red Bull.
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| Red Bull's Sweet Niece on her Blessing Day |
Somehow Red Bull's phone did a factory reset, and deleted absolutely everything he had on his phone. He lost all his contacts, photos, music, and inspirational talks. In addition he was keeping a verbal journal on his phone the first few weeks on the trail, because it was too difficult to write with a broken right hand. He was going to transfer his verbal journal into his regular journal later, we are pretty certain that had not occurred yet.
Red Bull was incredibly distressed, his father and older sister tried to calm him down; and explain that things may be able to be retrieved. He then sent me a text from a friend's phone to please meet him in Damascus, Virginia on Monday to help him get a replacement phone. At this point Red Bull's phone was no longer working.
The so the debate begins, do we drive to Virginia on Monday or tell him to wait another week for our regular date to visit? Damascus is a good sized town that the trail crosses through, and there are three Verizon stores nearby.
We did not hear from Red Bull that night, nor the following night. He is in an area with bear warnings. He is "with" a group, but they do not hike together all day. They agree to meet at a certain shelter for the evening, and everyone hikes at their own pace throughout the day.
I had decided to leave this morning when we received a phone call from Red Bull. He had borrowed "Red Beard's" phone, a hiking buddy. There had been a great deal of rain yesterday and last night. He wanted to let us know they would not be in Damascus until midday on Tuesday, and then the group planned to take a zero day there on Wednesday. If he had called 30 minutes later, I would have already left.
So, the plan is to leave tomorrow morning, drive to Damscus, VA and take Red Bull to a Verizon store. It is unlikely the old phone can be saved at this point, so he may be buying a replacement phone.
He also asked me to bring his old hiking boots. He wears flip flops when he stops for the night, to rest his feet. He slipped on a wet rock and fell, cutting his foot. He said it is not bad, but the cut is at a spot where the hiking shoes he currently wears is aggravating the wound.
So, I get to see Red Bull tomorrow! Maybe I will get to meet his hiking group?
