Date: 2012-04-12
From: Sam's Gap

To: Spivey Gap
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: clear sky

Today was a great day for Trail Mama to give out trail magic. When I drove Rog to Sam's Gap to start his day, BP and Step Ahead, were just walking up. They needed to resupply so I drove them to the nearest market which was 6 miles away. After they got their groceries, I drove them back to their start place so that was my first magic of the day. I spent the day in town and picked up double cheeseburgers, cookies, and water to take to Spivey Gap when I drove back to pick up Rog. This road was about 1/3 interstate and 2/3 winding twisting BUT the blessing was that it was paved...not a dirt path! I have learned in life that you can find a blessing in almost anything if you look hard enough :-) The trail magic was supposed to be for Tortoise and Hare but they didn't show up...so we heard coughing in the woods and when we went to investigate we found Runner getting ready to cook his evening meal. We gave him one of the burgers and told him the other two were for Tortoise and Hare but if they didn't show up he could have them all. He was thrilled to be just sitting in the woods and have hot burgers show up with cookies and water...fun for us, too. Back in town Rog wanted Mexican so that is where we ate dinner. We drove to the edge of town to see Rog's pick up point for tomorrow and there were two young guys who needed a ride so we took them where they wanted to go and that was the 3rd magic of the day. What fun! We give these young kids my number and tell them to call me if Trail Mama can help them out.SOS here. This is the touchest program; I just get the privilege to rewrite everything, I spent the last 45 minutes writing.Today was one of those blue sky all day days. It was cold. But, a good hiking day cold. The elevation at the start of the day was 3,850 feet and it climbed steadily for the next 6.5 miles to an elevation of 5,516 feet. Sometimes when you reach the top there maybe no view or a great view in one direction. But, when the summit is a bald "Big Bald" in this case at mile 323.9 miles of the AT, you have a 360 degree awesome view of the majestic mountains in every direction.It is at this point you lift up your praises to God. You give thanks to God for this incredible world he has created. You give thanks to God for your hiking buddies who invited you to hike with them in New Hampshire three years ago. You give thanks to God that you can walk and you are healthy enough to walk. You give thanks to God that you have spouse who lets you hike and comes along to be a part and support you on this thru hike. Talk about counting your blessings. At the top I meet Tortise and Hare and they are reading their bible and are in one of the books of Samuel. I can not think of a better place to be reading the Bible. They recognize me and start asking about the hiking for HIM pledges that Trail Mama and I are gathering for HIM. What is interesting, is that is the first question I am getting as I meet new hikers. The hikers already know that Trail Mama and I are hiking for HIM and they want to know more. This is great, because we get to share our faith and our mission for HIM.At the top I called my cousin Barbara (Bowman) Thiel - This hike has got me back to communicating with cousin's I have not talked to in years. Thanks for following along cousin Barb and that goes for you too cousin Jerry.The last thing I did at the top was to eat my lunch - trail mix, dehydrated rasberry jelly - absolutely the BEST and jerky. I did not buy any of my lunch prepared - it was all made for me by soul mate Judy. (Known on the trail as Trail Mama - thanks Buck for the great trail name.)We pray that the hiking for HIM will inspire the United Methodist of Indidana to "Make Room for the next Generation" by making our UM Church camps second to none and a place where we will train the next generation to be disciples for Christ.Please tell others about our website and give them our blog address www.trailjournals.com/sos and our pledge address www.rightfuture.org.A final note - our son Josh and his family just got back from a spring break trip to Washington DC. He had set his trip odometer before they left and it read just over 1,200 miles round trip. He shared that it put our thru hike effort into perspective for him, when he realized that our AT thru hike would not only be that 1,200 mile but nearly a 1,000 miles more.Pray for trail Mama and I's health and stamina to complete the hike.THANKS!