Slow and Steady: Hiking the Appalachian Trail
Since completing my hike of the Appalachian Trail in 2008, I have continued to lead a busy life.   I have not done any hiking since coming off the trail. But I keep asking my brother Tommy and my other brother George to give it a go with me one day. So far, their answers are 'Hell no!' and 'Double hell no!' I have pushed the idea with my son, but he is not interested at this time. Several years ago he and I did 500 miles of biking in Florida and North Carolina, and he was a strong biker. Hopefully, I will get him to change his mind one day.  As mentioned several times in the book, I am introverted and do not go out of my way to make friends. But during my trail experience, I found myself going out of my way to help other hikers, like driving them to the trail or to town and providing information about water sources and giving away trail maps. I had universally positive but usually brief interactions with fellow hikers, motel workers and grocery clerks. I never had an argument or altercation with anyone on or off the trail during my hike. So, despite Tommy's concerns about my introversion and about my hiking alone, I seemed to do okay. But I don't plan on throwing any parties anytime soon; I would be uncomfortable doing so. I took a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) personality inventory recently, and I do test as an introvert.   I do yoga and meditate regularly and find those practices more satisfying and fulfilling than the guilt-ridden approaches of the conservative Protestantism I grew up with as a child and young adult.   At age sixty-eight, I continue to run regularly. I enjoy reading novels, doing math problems, teaching math as a volunteer to students having trouble with it. I even read popular physics books by geniuses who try to make QED, gravity and relativity understandable to people like me. I probably don't really understand the physics concepts, because after closing such books I can't convey such information to others. But maybe it helps slow down mental aging, so I read as many as I can get my hands on.  So, for now, life is good.