Date: 2011-06-25
From: home

To: home
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

06/25/2011-p>I took my eyes off of my wife and family and put my selfish ambitions first.Namely hiking.Here goes¢¦..Fraser FirSection HikerGeorgia to MaineYear Eight- entry from home.Well, I am ¢done¢ with new mileage for this year.   8-----)))    Basically, this year, I hiked from Catawba (mile marker 696.9) to Front Royal-Chester Gap (mile marker 957.6)That would be 260.9 miles less around twenty to twenty five miles that I missed in the Shenandoah.You can read my early May entries to see the why/what/where of bailing out early in Shenandoah.I hiked for ten days along new tread way in Central Virginia and Shenandoah National Park.To date, I have hiked about forty four percent of the trail. I started getting serious about this in 2004.At that time, I aimed high to section Georgia to the Virginia state line.Little did I know that I would make it this far.   8-----)))Little did I know how much it might cost to section hike the A.T. Both the trust my wife has in me and financially.I am not one to complain about the cost of something. I pretty much have the attitude that it is what it is.The problem arises when my precious wife starts adding up the cost of these wild trips and the time away from home.David (Fraser Fir) did the unthinkable.I did not plan for it to work out this way but this last little journey from Buena Vista to Rock Fish Gap: I never told my wife Stephanie that I was going.It started innocently enough with an inquiry.¢Honey, since you will be at your parents¢ house next week, I may camp out in the woods and do a day or two hike on the Appalachian Trail¢ this was my intro- a bogus one at best.¢David, you just got back from Virginia a few weeks ago and there are a million things to get done around this house.¢Well, I asked my beautiful pregnant wife to be specific in what she wanted to get done and I started right away.In fact, after work, I would give the boys a bath, do some dishes and go outside with a head lamp and get started on some of the outside projects that Stephanie wanted done.Stephanie could see that I was busting my wazoo to try and get this long list done before she went up to her parents¢ house for the week. The boys were going to go to Vacation Bible School up in Anderson, S.C.At one point earlier in the spring, I do believe that Stephanie pretty much ¢squashed¢ my dream of heading to Maine. ¢Like David, do you honestly think that you are going to make it to Maine?¢¢Yes¢¢How? and do you honestly want to spend your vacation every year hiking by yourself instead of being with the family?¢ ¢ouch¢ I was thinking.I was devastated. It was not like that I decided in 2004 that I would make it to Maine but every year, the urge has gotten stronger and stronger. For those who know me, besides my wife and kids, I talk more about hiking and my faith than anything else. 8----)))) !So, at the last minute on Monday, June 20th, I manipulated my work schedule and manipulated my lovely bride.I told Stephanie that I was headed north of the Smokies to hike.I left work early on Tuesday and drove until I made it to Buena Vista (around 10:00 pm) and camped literally on the trail.Shall we call today doomsday??Today, when I got home from work around 6:00 pm, Stephanie was on the floor in our living room and she was not happy. She had my receipts from the two day rendezvous to the Pedlar Ranger District.To back up here a little bit, it is important for you to know that today is Saturday. Stephanie and the boys got home just a few hours ago.Yesterday, Friday, June 24th, before I left for work, I left out all of my receipts including the gas that I pumped in my car in Daleville and the receipts from McDonalds and Taco Bell in Virginia.Stephanie knows enough about Daleville and Roanoke to know that these towns are not near the Smokies or Gatlinburg, Tennessee.Although I regret the dishonesty and regret the manipulation, I wish that we could have a conversation beyond surface level stuff where we could get to the ¢heart of the matter¢I am not here to defend myself but I give my family my all when I am not hiking.Homer Witcher reminded me that when a hiker marries someone who is not a hiker: (Actually Stephanie likes day hiking and loves to camp all week at the campground!)* frustration starts to increase on both ends.What a crummy way to end a spectacular hike. If I had been straight up with her from the get go, the answer would have been absolutely not.I was bummed because I had a ¢hole in my hike¢ when I took off a bigger bite than I can chew hiking earlier this year. I had to bail, regretfully and wanted to take another ¢crack¢ at it with a couple of thirty mile or so days. (you can read the entries from earlier this week)Thank you for reading my open and honest comments about my life, my hike and some of the costly mistakes that I have made. It is going to take time to earn Stephanie¢s trust back.Stephanie, I am so sorry that I lied to you. I love you Stephanie.