Date: 2004-05-05
From: Wise Shelter

To: Dickey Gap - Troutdale Baptist Church Hiker Hostel
Miles today: 16.1

Day 52"Two more days until I see Trail Widow, but who's counting? At least two people..." KrispyKritter Fire Marshal, Pegasus and I had the shelter last night all to ourselves. The moon was bright and beamed us most of the night. Overnight the wind picked up and we woke up to a cold, windy, dismal morning. Our spirits were not dampened as we were still high from yesterday's events. We had a pleasant day and reached another mile stone. At a bridge, crossing a stream, we past the 500 mile mark. We knew it by following the thru-hiker handbook Mileage Index. There were no signs or markers to indicate this milestone so we etched into the dirt of the trail before the bridge the numbers 500 and all took turns taking their picture of the event. Arrived in the afternoon at Dickey Gap and hitched a ride into a small community called Troutdale. As I enter this community I was surprised to see Boo Boo standing at the pay phone. I told the driver I wanted to stop here, thanked him for the ride and walked over to Boo Boo. He said everyone is in the Trading Post, so off I went. Eating one of the best cheeseburgers at the Troutdale Trading Post, I heard how Boo Boo, Blaze and Vagrant spent several high 20 degree nights freezing and how hiking into Troutdale was thawing them out. Boo Boo and Blaze were a day ahead of us so we got to read some of their chilly entries in the shelter registry. Spent the night at a hostel at Troutdale Baptist Church. The accommodations were great: bathrooms, showers, washer/dryer and phone. We slept in the bunkhouse currently under construction, all for a donation. During the early evening Beatbox walked in from just completing a 33+ mile day. He was tired and zombie like, laughing at the littlest thing. I asked him why he did it, thinking the response would be for the pizza and beer tomorrow at the Partnership Shelter. Instead, he answered that he wanted to catch Pegasus, Fire Marshal and I because he liked the good company and we have all developed a bond of friendship he did not want to leave at this point of his journey. Beatbox is a rhythmic young man, knows his songs, can sing the songs, enjoys life, loves to laugh, has a heart of gold, and has a devote faith in God and Christ. Unlike most Christians I've met who push their faith onto others, Beatbox does not. He lets you know about his faith, does not preach it to you and lets you know he is there if you feel the need to reach God. The difference in faith between Beatbox and I is simple. His faith conducts services of worship inside manmade buildings called a church. My services are held under the cathedral ceiling-sky, the pews made of logs, rocks, cliffs and stones with the earth as an alter. My church is the outdoors in the beauty God created. Native Americans call God "The-Spirit-That-Moves-Through-All-Things." If you think about it, isn't that what God does? Anyway, I believe faith and how you worship your God is up to you. Just like we say on the trail, there is no wrong way to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail; it is up to you, "to hike your own hike," there is no wrong way to worship God.