Date: 2007-11-19
From: Springer Mountain, GA

To: The FINISH LINE!!!!
Miles today: 0.0

I FINISHED THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL!!!!!!!!!! And it was finished in style! Once again this is an account of people supporting me. I had three delightfully wonderful nights at friends Eric and Lori's house before finishing on Saturday, November 10th. Starting on Wednesday evening Eric drove the hour and a half to the trail "take out" point at the top of ridge of the South Mountains. I came home to friendly faces, a yummy hot meal, a playful new puppy, a refreshing shower and cozy bed. The next morning Lori drove me to the place I had left the night before so that I could slackpack (carry a daypack with lunch instead of my full pack). That night Eric picked me up again and once more I indulged in delicious food,etc... The pattern repeated until Saturday morning. Those three days happened to be COLD days with temperatures ranging from 24 to 44 degrees. The next to the last day it snowed all but two hours of a ten hour day. I thought it great that it had snowed during the first days of my hike and then again at the end. You can imagine that going back to the warmth of the farm was awesome! Saturday turned out to be totally special. The anticipation of finishing in addition to the expectancy of seeing hiking buddies made for an excitement unequaled to any I had experienced before. I knew that two friend with whom I had hiked earlier were planning on coming out to meet me and that one other person would possibly come out. As it turned out, BP and his buddy, Andy, met me at the trail head and hiked the whole 12.5 miles with me. Blue, who was planning all along to meet me at the end of trail was there as expected. I was on a mission that day spurred on by the thoughts of the finishline. BP and Andy had to keep pushing to keep up. I had just suggested we take a break for lunch when I looked up from my forging ahead to see hiking friend, Just Bill, smiling as he came toward me. At first I didn't realize who he was. Then it clicked. Bill had come to hike the last couple of miles with me! What fun to celebrate the finishline with folks I had hiked with in the beginning month(s) of the trail. Yes, I even had chances during that day's hike to talk with the missing crew members, Caboosy and Bum Bum. As we neared Hwy 70 (Maryland), I could hardly contain myself as I was so excited. Unfortunately in the my madness, I forgot to check the parking lot as I passed by it on the trail to check for Eric who was waiting in his car. He would have enjoyed sharing the final moments of the walk with me. After crossing Hwy 70 on the pedestrian bridge, we walked the 10th of a mile to Boonesboro Mountain Road where I had left the trail to skip North some months earlier. The actual finishing spot was in the yard of the some folks who had taken my son and me to Greenbriar State park when we left the trail in August. After some encouragement from my entourage, I got up the courage to knock on the door of these kind folks who actually remembered me! It turned out that they had been reading my Trail Journal entries. What a fun time that was with even more fun to come! We then drove back to the Eric and Lori's wonderful organic farm. Lori and friend, Tibb had prepared an absolutely delicious turkey dinner complete with farm grown baked apples, wild rice and tasty wine. And of course, to salute the evening we just HAD to polish off the Ben and Jerry's Ice Cream-the hiker's ice cream of choice. It's hard to put into words the intensity of joy I felt that day. My heart and spirit just could not have held more. It was incredible to celebrate the accomplishment of completing the Appalachian Trail with people who had shared part of the experience with me and with people who love me. I will never forget that day, nor the many others experienced on the Appalachian Trail. So now I have been home for one week. My son drove to Maryland a week ago to "fetch" me and bring me home. That in itself was great in that we had nonstop conversation from Middletown, Maryland to Asheville, North Carolina. (He might think twice before offering to bring his talkative mom home next time!! :-)) We reminisced about the trail, about hiking friends and about all the spring and summer adventures. When we got back to my house I just wandered through it aimlessly. It seemed so very unreal to be home. A week later it still seems unreal to be home. I only really relax when I take my dogs out for walks in the woods. While it is certainly enjoyable to see friends, to take long showers and to sleep in my own bed, the transition to homelife is a challenge. I miss the long walks, the quietness, the unhurried and unharried climate of the trail. I miss the physical challenge of pushing my body and the feeling of strength that came with that. I miss breathing fresh air. I miss the sounds and smells of the woods. I miss the long conversations with God that were a part of everyday trail life. I miss the states of walking meditation which produced calmness in me. I catch myself often feeling so very uptight even when the events around me are pleasurable. It's like I just don't know what to do with all the sensory overload that is coming at me (and everyone else) all the time. The challenge of recallibrating to being home has just begun, I'm sure. I will need to take lots of "walk-a-bouts" so that I can remember the feeling of "centeredness" that had become my more natural state while on the trail. Before I close this chapter of this journal, I want to express thanks to all of you who have read about my hike. It's been fun to share the journey. I will complete my entries by using two quotes sent to me from a woman I met on the porch of The Homeplace Restaurant in Catawba, VA. Walt Whitman says, " Now I see the secret of the making of the best person. It is to grow in the open air, and to eat and sleep wtih the earth. Morihei Ueshiba Osensei writes, "Now and again, it is necessary to schedule yourself among deep mountains and hidden valleys to restore your link to the source of life. Breathe in and let yourself soar to the ends of the universe, breathe out and let the cosmos back inside. Next, breathe up all the fecundity and vibrancy of the earth with that of your own, becoming the breath of life itself." PS. In the coming weeks I will sort and revise photo collection.