Who Kneeds Em? July 2, 2022 Day 122. Mile 1167*

At great risk of TLDNR (too long did not read) I'm gonna use the next 2 hours to crank out a post that catches you up to this very moment of my journey.  If this post seems a jumble, it is.  I'm juggling right now. But, every day is a journey and the journey itself is home.

Vanity on the AT?

I came off trail last eve with Bonus who like me needed a zero.  New Jersey from Delaware Water Gap to High Point has retained some of the viciousness of Rockslyvania ... at least from the perspective of my knees which have taken a beating.  A beating I delivered.  Moving fast down hills in the South. Ignoring the arguably obvious fact that a sixty-two year old with a 25 pound pack on his back should proceed gingerly on the trail as most of my contemporaries on trail were doing.  Instead I felt young and energetic and pursued ever faster hiking speeds with my 25 year-old hiking partner.  I was having fun and proud (is that it?) that I was keeping up with him and folks were commenting on my speed.  Attachment to vanity.

Meat and Sinew

Muscle is so easy for me to intuit.  For most of my life I ate it.  Broad swaths of fibrous tissue softened with heat.  Meat. Steak.  Chicken.

But the sinew, as I learned it was as a child, is harder to understand.  Tendons connecting muscles to bone.  Ligaments stabilizing joints bone to bone.  Cartilage maintaining a cushion in your joints.  As a child I remember assiduously cutting away the tough sinew from pork chops or steak.  And, now once again I am face to face with sinew and have no way to cut it out and push to the side of my plate.

I currently have a slippery grip on musculoskeletal health.  Sinew issues, specifically.

Knee Pain #1: Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome has been overcome through a cortisone shot and physical therapy.where the patella (knee cap) goes off track ... causing pain!  Directly caused by my aggressive downhill performances of North Carolina and Tennessee.

Knee Pain #2: bilateral arthritic pain, swelling and tightness in both knees.  Currently under control following 3 weeks of physical therapy. [ I love physical therapists!] 

Knee Pain #3: strained right medial collateral ligament - a common sports injury caused by forces pushing the lower leg to the outside.  Think tackling in football or futbol.  While hiking it happens when the foot swinging forward catches on object - rock or branch - that deflects your forward swinging knee to the outside.  You feel a sharp twinge on the medial (inside) of your knee and, in my ... case start screaming Fuck! Shit! Fuck Me! in the woods causing all the songbirds to pause and listen to my strident song.

That's my musculoskeletal summary current through July 2, 2022.

Heat Intolerance

It's been hot.  And, yesterday, I could not keep enough water in my body. The day started sweetly with an amazing trail angel, Moose, who set up a trail magic station at Culver Gap that was a full hiker buffet of food and resupply items.  Fresh brewed coffee or tea, cold drinks, ice cream, cantelope, watermelon, and on and on.  Bic lighters, Shoe Goop for shoes coming apart from the abuse, toilet paper, bug spray, and on and on and on.  And, he's gonna be there all day every day through July

But then after the first measly hill I was overcome with heat.  Normally, I drink 2 liters every five miles in warm conditions.  But, today I was consuming water twice as fast. I believe I may be the worlds's sweatiest man.  And, streams and springs  along this section of trail were dried up by July. I made several water stops in an attempt to rehydrate.  I needed to scoop water out of barely flowing streams, create wooden spouts to funnel trickles of spring water into my CNOC water bag.  And, without much deliberation I hiked 0.4 miles each way to Rutherford Shelter to get water only 2.4 miles after I had replenished at the water cache maintained by an angel at Mashipacong Shlelter.  My knees were holding out but I sensed the effects of dehydration and hyperthermia.  I was wringing out my bandana and shirt every hour or so. I figure I wrung out a half cup of sweat each time. Thoughts were clouding.  I'd check my guide for mileage to the next waypoint and seconds later struggle to remember what I had read.  This was serious.  I made it to High Point State Park two hours after my "slower" hiking buddy, Bonus.

We were both cooked - he gently sautéed, my overbaked like the worst, dried out Thanksgiving bird you've ever had.   Luckily we found a single hotel room with a king bed in this resort region on a holiday weekend hours from Manhattan.

And, here I am.  Cleaned up a bit, laundered and writing at the library.

Tomorrow, I will head north again. July 4th I will be in New York somewhere.  Hopefully it will cool down after thunderstorms that never came.

Rocksylvania - A Special Report

I have so much to share about Rockslyvania that I'm saving it for a special post.  Til then suffice to say that the only two words that I masochism and sadism.

Whoa!  Rewind the Story a Couple Weeks to June 12

If you will bear with me, I'm gonna roll back the tape and let you know how I got to New Jersey.

Writing on June 12 ....

After two more weeks of physical therapy I am ready to return to the trail. My painful right kneecap is cooperating by staying in its pre-ordained track.  My legs feel stronger.  I’ve enjoyed the comforts of home too long.  I gotta get back out there.

Damascus, Virginia might seem like an odd re-entry point for my return to the trail.  I hiked out of there over a month ago.  It’s 600 miles south of US 60 in Buena Vista, Pennsylvania where I limped off last.

But, Damascus is Trail Town USA.  And, mid-May it fills with AT hikers for Trail Days.  

Trail Days

A festival of everything AT. Gear, music, food and hiker reunions.  A small Burning Man in the woods.  So, with Lizzie again as my driver and co-conspirator I was off to Damascus for one last luxurious weekend filled with friends new and old.  Keep in mind … my concept of luxurious.

Lizzie and I at the Damascus gateway

Lizzie & I run into Giving Tree, an angel from my past

Lizzie & I with my hero, Strider

Two lovely hounds, Sweet Caroline & Savannah

Peach & Lizzie amid parade

With Poet who with Hippy Chick, runs Shaw’s Hostel in Monson, ME
 I’m wearing my favorite AT T-shirt that I bought there in 2018.  It reads: 

 SHAW'S At HOSTEL

Every day is a journey and the journey itself is home.  ~Matsuo Basho

With a local, Chuck, & Lizzie

Will, a new friend from Tennessee

Tree House, running the Broken Fiddle in style

Feeling happy at The Broken Fiddle

I wasn’t alone

Fathom and I enjoying the evening 

Back to the Trail Again

May 15

So, after all the fun and love of Trail Days Lizzie drove me 600 miles north to Shippensburg Rd, tween Gettysburg and Carlisle, PA and once again at 9:30 I headed north on foot

That night I arrived at my campsite late but just in time for the 1 AM lunar eclipse [but my pictures suck]. The five mile flat hike-in was easy in the moonlight and the knee felt fine.  

May 16

In the morning, Martian and friends will arrive.  Juice Box, Laps, Teddy Bear, and others.  I notice how small Masshole’s pack is.  I’m enthralled.

We hike out.  I’m intentionally going slow today to give my patella a chance to stay on track.  I let the others hike ahead.  Only an hour into my day I notice that I am experiencing incredible tightness behind both knees.  Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome is quiet.  But, going down gentle slopes my leg won't swing forward like it always has.  As I  swing my legs forward the backs feel like taught Saran wrap and my stride goes from 4 feet to 3 feet.  Both knees are suddenly tight, swollen and constrained.  I'm worried something is gonna pop.

I meet the crew at Pine Grove Furnace State Park General Store where 40 plus years ago a smart manager realized that at around the half-way point of the trail hungry hikers would love ice cream.  Since then about half of the hikers have taken the half-gallon challenge by attempting to eat a half-gallon of ice cream in one half hour.  If you succeed you win a small wooden spoon that reads "Member of the Half Gallon Club".  And, since the ice cream industry downsized half gallons 20 years ago, modern hikers must buy and eat a "what used to be a half gallon" and a pint.  At $12.      Now that's retail genius.  With my unpleasant history with dairy and an eye for a rip-off, I passed.  

Half Gallon Challenge - Half a Gallon in Half an Hour at the Trail’s Halfway Point

After eating lunch and watching Agent Penguin and Marathon both win their spoons, we took a dip at the lake and again headed north.  Again, I purposely went slowly as other strode ahead.  And, to make sure they got way ahead, I had to return to the General Store to recover the phone charger I'd let people share there!  An extra two miles!!

May 17

Continuing north toward I meet a trail maintainer who has spent the morning trimming branches and thorns back from the trail.  Thank you, Dennis!  It's a lovely day.  Hot but flat easy ground.  However, at the end of the day I pull up short at a under-renovation Super-8 by Windham ... for the ice machine.  I recover.

Lovely views from an easy ridge-line trail.

Flat trail through the Cumberland Valley

Trail maintainer, Dennis Hurley(?)

Though the Cumberland Valley was flat my knees were sore.

Picasso and Macy shared some trail joy with me

May 18

Refreshed I hike north across the flat Cumberland Valley.  Knees complain even though the trail is soft.  I begin to consider that my knees were not ready to return.  I have big doubts about my hike.  But, I hiked through the lovely Boiling Springs, the tired town of Duncannon and pitched my tent ahead of heavy rain at Clark's Ferry Shelter.  It was a flat, easy day.  I had done the miles deliberately slowly.  But, things were not right.

Eye Nut - local hiker and trail maintainer heading SOBO to PennMar

George, Sharon & Jackjack enjoying a hike

Sharon, Anna, Julie and Angela enjoying the trail

Rob & Julie with Juice Box lunching at Darlington Shelter

Lady Slippers and an Oak

Look deeply into nature and then you will understand everything better.

~Albert Einstein

May 19

In the morning I pack up and head out.  Juice Box kindly gave me some water, saving me from a 0.4 mile rocky steep excursion to the spring and back.  Old friends, Bard & Croc Eater pass me while I'm taking a break to stretch.  Rollz comes along and I pass along the news that had been sinking in for days.  My knees are botched and I’m getting off trail again!   Mile 1167.2  Hike well, I said as she walked out of view.

At PA 325 my thumb goes up.  I start thinking of ways to not look like a murderer.  

My strategy: 1) make the pack and poles visible so they realize that I am an AT hiker or at least pretending to be one, and hope they know what what an AT hiker is.  2) when car appears remove the hat and the mirrored shades 3) BIG smile that can be seen by cars approaching at 60 mph. 

When they fly past turn away and cover eyes nose and mouth til the dust settles.  PA 325 is not heavily traveled.  And, much was commercial trucks who almost never stop.  And the big dump trucks, 18 wheelers loaded with lumber and utility trucks just fly by.

But, this has always worked for me before. I just need to relax, enjoy the solitude, look at the trees, listen for birds, and someone will stop.

Trying to look like a non-murderer while hitching the Wrong Way

And, here he comes.  A lime green sport coupe with a big happy smile in the drivers seat calls out “Where you headin?”  “Duncannon”, I enthusiastically reply.  His face softens and the smile fades.  “Oh man, Duncannon is the other way!  I feel so bad, I don’t have the time to head back.  Gotta get home.”  I tell him it’s OK.  Thank him for pointing out my misdirection and we part wishing each other well. 

So, I cross over to the shady side of the road, and resuming acting like a non-murderer.  And, a while later Buck (I might have this wrong.  Reach out to me friend and let me know!)  pulls over and takes me all the way back to the Doyle Hotel in Duncannon.

Angel named ????  Thanks and send me an email!

Ice on the knees, an icy cold one in hand I begin to plot my next steps …. back to Pine Grove Furnace (site of the Half Gallon Challenge).

It was Thursday, and I was determined to be at Pine Grove Furnace State Park by Saturday when my friend, Sarah “Serendipity” Robison, was speaking at the AT Museum.  And, after her Heather “Anish” Anderson would speak about her thru-hikes of the AT, the Continental Divide Trail (CDT) and the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT).  All three of which she has hiked in the Fastest Known Time (FKT).

The journey back to Pine Grove Furnace was going to require superior hitching.  Three roads would be needed.  I was explaining my strategy to a fellow hiker:  “It’s an hour to Pine Grove Furnace SP.  I figure I can hitch to Carlisle and then from there hitch to Pine Grove Furnace.  I have all day to do it. Should be a piece of cake.”  A woman at a nearby table asks, “Where you trying to get to?”  

For the next hour, Stacy and I talked about education (she is a teacher in Harrisburg), hiking and all sorts of good things as she drove me all the way to Pine Grove Furnace State Park.  We exchanged info and said goodbyes. Then she drove back home to Duncannon.

Sweet Stacy who kindly drove me an hour out of her way!

May 21 - AT Museum

Heather Anderson and Sarah Robison enthralled the folk who had gathered in the lawn behind the Iron Masters Mansion.  And, my girl Debbie, arrived to enjoy the day and take me and my knees back to the Burgh and my medical team.

Serendipity at Big Hill Ciderworks

Graem Timmons, who still needs a trail name

Jay Wanders Out

Lucky, heading SOBO from Pine Grove Furnace

And, then I spent three lovely relaxing weeks at home getting more amazing physical therapy and great times.  

I am now about to hop off the Amtrak at Harrisburg, PA.  My friend, Jonathan “And So It Goes"  Desmarais, is waiting for me.  We hiked together in Massachusetts and Vermont in 2018.  Today he’s gonna be an angel and drop me back off where I left the trail, and again I'll hike North.

And So It Goes

So, my next report will be of my hike through Rocksylvania, the sadistic and masochistic section of the trail north of Duncannon.  I'm about three weeks behind but working at it!

Be well, 

Buddha

  

What's Buddha Got To Do With It? May 11, 2022 Day 71 Mile ???

This is where I left you on April 25th:

I'll be back on the trail tomorrow hiking NOBO again with Martian.

And, trying to post more frequent, shorter posts about my knee, my crown, my hearing aid, my blood pressure, my new tent, my second new pack and so many wonderful people.

Be well.

Buddha

Back on the Trail

On April 27, Liz Murphy, my daughter by choice if not by name, drove me back to the the Blue Ridge Mountains.  With some luck and skill we found Martian at the Cornelius Creek Shelter in Virginia. He was settling in with Spillz, Juice Box,  Laps, Marathon, Penguin and others. We surprised them with some Miller High Life, Gatorade, and fatty snacks.  

I was excited to be back and true to form Martian suggested we watch the sunset from the Blue Ridge Parkway nearby.  Liz and I pitched our tents and set off with Martian to watch the sun set from a nearby clearing along the Blue Ridge Highway.  Afterwards, excited to sleep in my new lighter weight Gossamer Gear 2P tent .  I slept like a baby - as I always do in the woods.    

Martian, Liz & I catch the Blue Ridge Mountain sunset

In the morning we awoke to the sound of songbirds.  My new tent worked great but I'm determined to pitch it better next time to minimize condensation within.  After breakfast, Liz headed out in the car to do some hiking and exploring on her own.  I threw on my pack and again hiked north with Martian and the gang.  With my newly "repaired" knee, I decided to lighten my load and left my food, tent and sleeping bag in the car.  At 3pm, after 20 miles of hiking Martian and I met Lizzie on trail as she hiked south from the VA 501 trailhead to meet us.  She shuttled us into into Glasgow, Virginia for the night.  

Liz and I cross the James River behind Martian

We stayed at an Eagle Scout built shelter in Glasgow's park right behind the Ricci's Italian Restaurant. Hikers love a good Italian restaurant. Muggles share pizzas.  Thru-hikers eat them whole then look at the dessert menu.

Back at the shelter, with some new friends, I was compelled to introduce one of my favorite trail games.  I ran across the street to the convenience store to find Oreos.  The hiker resupply products, in an aisle of their own, were so expensive.  Oreos: $5.99!  I found generic vanilla sandwich cookies for $2.49 and ran back to the shelter.  Then, to demonstrate, I placed a cookie tween my eyebrows and then maneuvered it into my mouth without using my hands.  Laughter and cookies. Smiles.

Juice Box attempts to Oreo game while Laps looks on.

In my tent later, fun and games aside, I assessed the knee situation: I had felt some knee pain on some of the steepest terrain, but it wasn't bad. The 20 miles had overall felt easy.  This might work. Yay! I slept like a baby in my brand new ultralight tent, eager to hike on the next day.  

In the morning Lizzie shuttled us all back to the trail head in two trips.  Then she was off in the Subaru to visit her 28th national park - Shenandoah. Our next campsite at Brown Mountain Creek lay 22 miles ahead.  About 8-9 hours of hiking.  Crossing my fingers I set out.

As I hiked, the supportive but concerned face of my physical therapist, Michelle Lucas, appeared before me.  I was coming to realize what she surely knew but I had refused to acknowledge. I had returned to the trail too soon.  I had spent weeks bashing up my knee.  I gave her a week and two one hour sessions to show me how to heal. I did my exercises.  And, she did a fabulous job.  But, she is no magician and I am not a patient patient. I knew right then I was heading home again.  Home to the Burgh.  Back to my therapist, and ice packs, and rest.  And, patience.  This hike is a marathon not a sprint I reminded myself.

The decision made I hiked on enjoying the gorgeous Brown Mountain Creek mesmerized by the wildflowers, and curious about the remnants of the small community of freed slaves that settled here in the early 1900s.  Stone walls, chimneys and other structural remnants were all that remained of the community in this beautiful valley.  It was forested as I walked through it, but must have been logged before these refugees settled here to farm.  I hiked on smiling and realizing once again how easy my life is.

Interpretive signage along Brown Mountain Creek

When I walked into camp I let Martian know he was again going to have to hike on without me.  I'd meet him up trail when I healed up.  Martian continued to hike north - at a blistering pace covering hundreds of miles without me.  Then I jumped back on where Martian was - where my friend was and ahead of the bubble - a relative crowd of hikers only a hundred miles or so behind.  At this point, I've left hundreds of miles of trail in Virginia that I will have to hike after I reach Mt. Katahdin in Maine.  

So, in the morning I hiked a short two miles til the first road crossing and said adieu to Martian one more time.

Martian hikes on without me, again
Notice the boxes of shoes left for hikers.

Off the trail on a country road, I needed to arrange my extraction.  Lizzie was still in the region and could collect me if I could only communicate with her. Step 1: get a cell signal. Smile on the face, thumb in the air. Twenty minutes later, a lovely couple (I regret not getting their picture and likely bungling their names, but I want to thank them all the same - Amy &  Brad?) made a U-turn, and drove me 20 minutes back in the opposite direction to drop me off in the nearest town.  A message to Lizzie, a couple hours hanging out at the Hardee's in Buena Vista, Virginia, and I was extracted!

My thru-hike interrupted again, Liz and I chose to combine retreat with fun.  We headed west toward Pittsburgh, but on our way enjoyed a lovely night of riverside camping at New River Gorge National Park.  Liz prepared the fire,

Relaxing by the fire Liz conjured along the New River, WV

and cooked up a fabulous camp meal for us.  I love my ramen bomb.  I really do.  But, this was real food, in a cast iron skillet.  We dined on vegan pulled pork sandwiches, mac n' cheese and a lovely green salad accompanied by a some hoppy beverages.  Another night of heaven on earth for me.  We rolled home toward Pittsburgh in the morning.   But not before meeting other campers who ... this is the way my life works ... were moving into our Pittsburgh neighborhood and were passionate - like me - about urban farming.  We promised to connect when I return in the fall.  New friends!!  

I Feel Good

Saturday morning, April 30, and I'm back home on Pittsburgh's South Side Slopes.  I can see the roof of the physical therapy office from my window.   It's only three blocks away, on the other side of the railroad tracks.   I'd spent weeks  bounding down hills too fast and knocking my knee cap off its track.  Now I'm home in the city.  Not in the woods. Not on the AT.   It's gonna take more time.   I'm hoping two weeks more work will be enough.  That's becomes my plan.  Two weeks more should do it.  I book PT appointments. Two per week with daily exercises at home should do the trick.

I get a text from my friend, Dips (see Post 1) "How are you mentally?"  She knows this kind of setback can be tougher psychologically than it is physically.  "I'm mentally good.", I reply.  "Thinking 1-2 weeks / wait n see.  I'm optimistic."  

I love that she checked on me.  Then she asked, How ya feeling?  

I replied "Other than my knee which feels meh." 

What The Heck Am I Happy About?

I live a charmed life every day.  My worst days are better than most folks good days. 

Granted, my knee hurts enough today to make the odds of completing this thru-hike lower.  How much lower?  I don't know.  But, only 1 in 5 finish the hike.  A bum knee is not an advantage.  This would seem like a bummer, bad news, something to get me down.  

Well, it's not what I had hoped for. But, how can I be bummed when I am:

• spending months out in the beautiful mountains and valleys within a compassionate community (more later)
• safe (other than the risks I pose to myself)
• secure (roof over my head, food in the fridge, money in the bank, etc)
• retired. And, yes, I am enjoying it very much.  And, no, I am not bored.
• healthy other than the knee and a few other minor items mentioned earlier (see below)
• loved

So, I returned to Pittsburgh happy and worked on finding more smiles in flowers.  First, I got some things scheduled:

            ✅physical therapy sessions Tuesday and Friday morning

            ✅flights to San Francisco to see my son, Jake & Debbie's family
            ✅confirm my son Jonah's plans to visit me in Pittsburgh next week 

Thursday I see a John Mayer concert with Deb.  A show postponed from February that thanks to my knee injury I was able to enjoy. We had a fabulous night!

John Mayer gave a great show at PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh

Saturday, Deb and I flew out to spend the weekend in San Francisco with my son and some of Deb's family.  We watched her grand niece, Brigit, play kiddie soccer on Chrissy Field with the Golden Gate Bridge in the background, walked along the bay, enjoyed dinner with my son Jake and provided him with a modicum of packing assistance.  A wonderful weekend.  

My next AT stop: Apparently, Powell & Market, San Francisco

Posing in front of the famed Painted Ladies Victorian homes in San Francisco with Deb.
NOT!  The Painted Ladies were one block to the right! Oh well

Deb & I help Jake a wee bit with packing up

Flight Delays - An Opportunity

Before we could get back to Pittsburgh, Deb and I had to spend some extra time at Oakland International Airport enjoying flight delays.  There are a few places you can find serenity in an airport: pricey airline clubs, chapels, and rooms for nursing mothers (so I imagine).  But, for Deb & I its Vino Volo.  

While we were  enjoying a flight of World Value Reds the gentleman at the next table asks me about a book I'm holding.  Moments later we welcome Tai Sheridan, our new friend to our table.   We had a delightful conversation that made our layover a wonderful retreat.  Tai is a delightful writer and a gift to the world.  Among many books, he has written my new favorite introduction to and complete treatment of Buddhism … in 39 pages: Buddha in Blue Jeans (free on Kindle).  Thanks Southwest for the delayed flight.

Smiling flowers everywhere.

Jonah Rosario and Clover in the Burgh

Returning home to Pittsburgh, I am lucky to be visited by my Brooklyn-based son Jonah and his lovely girlfriend, Clover.  We walk, we talk, we hug, we laugh. we break bread, we clink glasses.  What more could I want?  What more do I need?  Not a thing.

Jonah snaps Clover at Clover St, Pittsburgh

Louie in bed at home in Pittsburgh. 
Wish I could take him with me!

Learning to Smile Again

Find a smile in a flower
                                        ~Thich Nhat Hahn

I heard Thich Nhat Hahn recommend this as an aide to finding your own smile.  Lucky me - I look at flowers all day when I'm hiking.  And, often bend over to take a rushed and blurry shot.  Some passable pics from Virginia follow:

Rock harlequin

Philadelphia (common) fleabane

Rue-anemone

Azalea

Trillium

Fire pink

Dwarf crested iris

Flower also smile at me in Pittsburgh ...

Magnolia

Japanese barberry (noxious invasive weed - don't landscape with this!)

What's Buddha Got To Do With It?

Do I want to finish this long hike? You bet. 

How I will do so is yet to be seen.  I intend to finish, but cannot say for sure.  Bookies have changed my odds from maybe to lookin less likely. It could not be any other way.  Thus far my AT thru-hike has been  discontinuous.  I've already left the trail three times to return to Pittsburgh or beyond.  I developed PFPS or Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome of the right knee and I've still got 75% of the trail left to hike!  

Did I ignore the obvious and cause this injury by running down soft slopes with my pack on, charging steep downhills like a mogul skier, all while failing to take the time to stretch?  Most definitely.  There are plenty who could wear the "I Told You So" crown.

So, my hike from Georgia to Maine is not going to be a fast or continuous effort. For the second time I've watched my hiking buddy hike ahead while I head to the showers, and possibly to the injured reserve list!

It will, however, be what it will be.  And, it will be perfect just as it is and has been.  I have made so many beautiful sights, sounds, scents, sunrises, sunsets, rainbows, lightning bolts, mysteries, answers, mysteries and at the heart of it all: friends.  

So why do I hike around as Buddha?  First, it's better than Wrong Way - the other name my behavior suggested in 2018.

Second, I am happy with my lot.  I live better than 99% of the world's inhabitants.  I expect that my plans for the future may not play out.  My past is littered with unfulfilled dreams, failed efforts, mistakes, and redirection.  

Instructive maybe. But, it should be kept on the shelf like a reference book not read and reread like some thrilling historical novel.  

Accept the past for what it is.  Like a leaf that floated by on a stream.  Bright, crisp and green,  Or, brown, cracked and curled.  Either way they're gone downstream.

I've had hopes dashed.  A marriage of thirty years.  Several business ventures.  My 2018 thru hike.  But, I watched that shit float away like a leaf on a river.  I try to let the past go easily with a friendly good bye.  Good bye shame.  Good bye failures.  I try not to hold onto the past or grasp at the future.  So, my AT hike will, apparently, include knee injury, interruptions, separations from friends, sections to make up.  Will I be able to hike the remaining, 1,500 miles or so?  We will find out.

But, every day I am at home within my happy journey. Lucky me.

I invite you to join me.  Reach out to me.  My hands are outstretched and I'll gladly put my poles down for a hug.

Be well my friends

~Buddha (the one you know, not the one who lived 2500 years ago)

The moon and sun are eternal travelers.

Even the years wander on.

A lifetime adrift in a boat or in old age leading a tired horse into the years, every day is a journey,

and the journey itself is home

~Matsuo Basho

P.S.  I still haven't mastered the art of hiking or blogging and certainly not both together.  But, going forward I'm gonna take a dedicated zero weekly in order to rest my older bones and get the blog published in a more timely manner.  And, if you can teach an old dog new tricks I will try to post frequently and regularly to Instagram Feed (not stories which disappear).  Thanks for your patience.