Adventure gets rough on road through northwest Wyoming

Posted 8/4/17

The trouble started when Schultze got uncomfortably hot on his unusual cross-country journey.

When he saw the snow-capped peaks of the Big Horn Mountain Range, he decided he’d cool down at the top.

“I saw the snow and was sweating, so I …

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Adventure gets rough on road through northwest Wyoming

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Lars Schultze, a turkey farmer from the small village of Dambeck, Germany, was having a bad week until a Powell family came to his rescue.

The trouble started when Schultze got uncomfortably hot on his unusual cross-country journey.

When he saw the snow-capped peaks of the Big Horn Mountain Range, he decided he’d cool down at the top.

“I saw the snow and was sweating, so I knew I had to hike up there,” Schultze said.

So he took off his rollerblades and started walking.

Schultze had already rollerbladed and hiked to Wyoming from New York City. The custom-made rollerblades he designed for the trip fit over his hiking boots for quick transitions, and have larger wheels for rolling over tough terrain. But they’re worthless up steep grades. The trip to the top of the Big Horns on foot was just another stop in his adventure, he thought.

While making his way to the way up — a long climb by foot with 80 pounds of gear — he was looking forward to the trip back down. But, while enjoying the views at the top, he noticed a car stopped next to his small trailer, which he pulls behind him during his journey.

At first, he wasn’t concerned. Many curious people have stopped and looked at him; some stare. Then he saw the occupants of the vehicle grabbing his stuff. He started running toward them and yelling. They saw him coming and only had enough time to grab his rollerblades and walking sticks before speeding off. Schultze’s skates were irreplaceable, and he still had more than 2,200 miles left in a 5,000-mile trip.

A local forest ranger helped him by giving him a ride down the mountain, saving him a two-day walk. A passerby called the police, and eventually Schultze was reunited with his rollerblades — found discarded by the side of the road.

“I ran toward them, but I couldn’t see the number on the license plate,” Schultze said. “They got scared and probably thought I was going to call the police. That’s why I think they threw them away a few miles later.”

The adventurer needs the rollerblades. He spent two and a half months in a wheelchair after fracturing both his knees on a recent 700-mile hike through Scandinavia — the weight of his pack proving too much for his slight frame. So the blades and trailer were the only way he could make the 5,000-mile trip across America.

“I fell in love with America while on student exchange in 2004,” he said. He also hiked the entire Appalachian Trail, more than 2,000 miles, before his current adventure.

He was disappointed about his misadventure in the Big Horns. The trip down U.S. Highway 14-A was the only part of the trip he didn’t do under his own power.

Finally on his blades again, Schultze made it to Greybull before realizing his trailer needed repairs. But, like his rollerblades, the spare parts for his trailer would have to be made by his father and mailed to the states — another hiccup in his six-month trip on the backroads of the country. He hand-made the trailer, including welding for the first time. It has many personalized features, including brakes for slowing down on long downhill sections.

Schultze was having lunch in Greybull’s City Park when Doug and Lisa Siggins of Powell pulled in to eat on their way home from a family camping trip in Medicine Bow. Doug, a pastor at Trinity Bible Church and retired Army National Guard officer, approached Schultze, curious about his story.

After seeing Schultze eating a combination of tortillas, Nutella, peanut butter and uncooked ramen, the Sigginses decided to offer their home to Schultze while he waited for his needed equipment. They also wanted to fatten him up a bit.

“I didn’t know about having a guy in the house with all my girls. That’s why we’re keeping him in the basement,” the father of five daughters said jokingly.

Schultze had skated through cities like New York, Detroit and Chicago, through the midwest, the badlands and across the Big Horns mostly unnoticed. A few folks have offered to help him along the way. He was invited to stay in a barn once during what he called the worst thunderstorm he had ever experienced, but rarely spends a night outside his handmade tent.

“I haven’t met any like these people. They are the best,” he said.

The Sigginses — a family of eight including Doug, Lisa, five daughters and a son — had more than enough room for the traveler and enjoy meeting new people.

“It’s not the first time,” Charity Siggins said of her father’s insistence on helping travelers.

If the family finds strangers in need, they’re always willing to help. Two hikers in need of a place to stay, but not very trusting of the Sigginses, refused to stay in their home recently, instead opting to sleep in their camper in the driveway. The two women said they were worried at first until they saw the family car.

“They said they were worried, but they figured they could trust a family with a Prius,” Pastor Siggins said.

Schultze seems to be the newest member of the Siggins family. Soon, the adventurer will be on his way to Yellowstone National Park, where he’ll be doing the full loop, and then on to Glacier National Park before heading west for another 2,000 miles of rollerblading. The family worries about his next leg through grizzly country, but not enough to avoid the jokes.

“We keep telling him we’re fattening him up for the grizzlies,” Lisa said with a giggle. “He just has to be faster than at least one tourist.”

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