Date: 2008-07-11
From: Rutland, Vt.

To: Inn At Long Trail
Miles today: 19.3

We met Ranan in front of Simon the Tanner outfitter this morning at 6 o'clock for a ride back to the trail. He had made egg sandwiches for 3 of us hikers. He also used to run restaurants in Denver, Colorado for 20 years. Two years ago while on a thru hike he got rained on and came to the hostel to dry out. He never left and now runs the caf© and hostel. They really do pool all their income and assets in one community. He is very happy and content with this lifestyle. They are a community of about 60 people. The time for me to have joined this community would have been years ago when my debts exceeded my assets. When we arrived at the trailhead there was a van parked there, it was a homeless man living in the van with all his worldly possesions. I had spoken with him the night before when I came out of the trail. He language was laced with vile profanity. I told Ronan how profane he was. Ronans reply was, that's why he's homeless. That statement reminded me of a conversation Padre the Priest and I had in Dalton, Mass. last week. We were talking about life after death and I asked him who goes to Heaven and who goes to Hell. I would have expected a reply such as, all who have accepted the Blood of Jesus go to Heaven and the others, do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars. However his reply was this, Hell all the way to Hell, Heaven all the way to Heaven. This was a quote he had heard from someone else. I like statements that make me think. If you are living in anger, spite or a profane life you are already living a life of Hell all the way to Hell. On the converse if you have assurance of salvation you will already be experiencing Heaven on the way to Heaven in your family life and your dealings with other people. I was reminded of that statement while reflecting on the profane homeless man. On a lighter note, I have been craving Mountain Dew for the last several days. Last night at ten o'clock I walked over to Wall Mart to satisfy my craving. The money went in, clunk went the can, but it never arrived. It was stuck somewhere inside the machine. I admit I grabbed, pushed and kicked that machine to no avail. Wall Mart was already closed so I had no other recourse but to go back to the Hostel without my Dew from the Mountains. This morning after hiking a few miles I came across some trail magic in the form of an ice chest sitting in the woods. I opened the lid and there sitting on a block of ice were a family of Mt. Dews and Pepsis. You talk about Manna from above. I usually am considerate of hikers coming after me and only drink one soft drink, but not today. I freely admit I drank two Mt. Dews and one Pepsi. That on top of the 20 oz. coffee I had on the way to the trail pretty well gave me a caffeine and sugar buzz. We had a 3900 ft. climb over Mt. Killington and my feet almost couldn't keep up with my poles. It was a huge climb but I jumped from rock to rock like a mountain goat on steroids. I felt stronger and faster than I had in weeks. I told Site See, my hiking partner I am thinking of buying a 2 litre bottle of Mt. Dew and pouring it into my Camel Back water bag to help me get over the mountains in New Hampshire. There are hiker warnings out for the Green Mountains tonight for high winds and low 40 temperature. At 19 miles the trail came out close to the Inn at Long Trail, so we got a room there and are warm and dry tonight. The weather today was the best its been in 6 weeks. The high humidity was finally gone. Yesterday I had both poles in one hand and the other hand was like a wiper across my face keeping bugs away. Today the pesky bugs were also gone. It really was a golden day. This inn we are at has a popular bar called the McGrath Irish Pub. Perhaps I will go tip a Guinness. This may be a good time to clarify something, I am not a Christian writer, I am a Christian writing. I write how things are and were, not how I wish they were or are. That is another one of those statements that made sence when I was thinking it. Back to the issue of profanity, about 45 or 50 years ago an encyclopedia salesman came to our house, he was doing his sales pitch and used a profanity. My dad told him he does not approve of that language in his house. It must have been a good salesman because he ended up selling us a set. Dad ordered the red set because it was cheaper but when it arrived we were sent the more expensive white set. I promptly set about to read the entire collection. I made it to around page 100 in the A book before giving up. Another time when I was with my Dad at work at Mt. Hope Elevator a salesman was using profanity. After he left my dad made a statement i'll never forget. He said, profanity is a weak mind trying to express itself. I don't know where he heard that, but it could have been Paul Harvey since we listened to him in the feed mill at eleven o'clock. That's the influence of a Godly dad. Good day.