Jerome to Page & New Boots

We started atop a pass nothwest of Jerome leaving camp at an unheard of 9:45 a.m. I usually have breakfast around then. We arrived Williams at 2 pm.

I shot from the car. I didn't want to get any closer.

In Flagstaff I picked two thriftstores to look for boots & discovered, after feeding the meter, the first was closed. The next had nothing but there was a nearby Goodwill. Goodwill's prices seem high to me, but they had the goods. Timberland Mt Maddsen size 13. Big enough to handle the edema. $25.00 for a $120.00 shoes; twice what I wanted to pay. 

The 125 miles acrosst The Rez can be intense. The highway, paved a few years ago, is already worn out. Even when it was spanking fresh there were alot of Whoop-de-dos and bumps. It's the traffic though, that does it. It's a constant stream until you get north of The Gap; and everyone's in a hurry. The speed limit is 65 and you take your life in your hands if you go any slower; people will try and get ahead of you at the least opportunity and even when there's LESS.

But at 5 pm in Flagstaff I could feel the effect of having gone from 4400 feet to 7,000 in elevation and decided it had to be done.

I got to camp a few minutes after 8:00 at a BLM site just inside the Utah state line. 3 hours tuh go 125 miles. A veritable land speed record!

Ankle support, fairly stiff sole for stability and waterproof! We'll see how they wear.

Utah!

HUURRAAAYY! cried the children (excerpted w/o permission from Dav Pilkey's *Captain Underpants* series.

Retirement of The Whites

Whether it's eating too much without enough exercise, edema or both, there's no room for my feet in them anymore. And there's no room for anything, or nearly anything, that isn't serving its purpose.

Throughout my life I never imagined I'd own a pair of $500.00 boots, but after three years and three pairs, including a pair of Danners, at the end of 2016 I decided to go for it. It was 2, February, 2017 that I posted about getting them.

I never tired of the sensation of slipping into their glove-like fit. The wide soles gave me stability as my balance grew less sure. Capable of striding through Cactus Land with impunity, they were worth every penny.

I did save the laces.

White's Boots

UPDATE - 5/13/18

It's been over a year and I'm totally sold! Every day I pull 'em on and say, "YESSSS!" They're showin' signs of wear but not a hint of cracking. Nor are they stretching.


The Danners lasted a little over three years. But by the time I'd had the heel taken down -- they were the firefighter model and meant for hiking in duff and on logs -- which required resoling, plus having multiple restitchings where the upper attached to the lower, AND eyelet replacements, they ended up costing over $350. So $475.00 for a pair of White's didn't seem unreasonable, esp since they guarantee the fit.

Not much left of the Danner (it's the right).

The leather was so dried out it was tearing where it attached to the sole. Partly my fault...lack of maintenance and the fact they were too narrow to begin with. To remedy, I used the olde cowboy method of walking through streams then walking them dry. As predicted, they stretched...but Iprolly didn't do much fer their longevity.

White's. Handmade in Spokane with American leather. We'll see how they do. The sole seems wider and makes 'em more stable than any prev boot...a plus for an aging, one-eyed, lizard like me.

They first send a try-on. You wear it around the house for an hour and call 'em. They give you a shipping label to return 'em and they make changes. I went through it again to get the heel a bit narrower and more tongue so my #12 slid in more easily. The 3rd time was charmed; they fit like gloves.