Date: 2008-06-05
To: Done!...for now.
Miles today: 0.0

I had a great time at New Song's house. Her family was extremely welcoming and my visit was a perfect transition back into the world.We said good bye to Crabby when we dropped him off at the airport to pick up his rental car this morning. I'll miss him a lot, but I know we'll stay in touch. He's been a great friend. Maybe we'll even do some section hikes together. New Song and I had lunch together before she brought me to the bus station in Lynchburg. I'm sure I'll see her again, too. She's really a great person...selfless almost to a fault.My bus was over 4 hours late in Lynchburg, so I went to the local library to use the Internet for a while. When I ran out of time there, I returned to sit in the bus station, taking useless camera phone pictures of my feet and watching a group of ants gather crumbs. There was a little guy in the bunch and I spent a lot of time wondering why one of the others didn't offer to help him move a crumb that was 5 times his size.When I got to Richmond I had to wait 5 hours for the next bus to New York because I had missed my connection. It was smooth sailing after New York and I was home just short 26 hours after New Song dropped me off.In conclusion...I don't ever want to see trail mix again.I've learned to appreciate every inch that belongs to a mile. You have no idea how long a mile truly is until you've walked them in double digits for days/weeks/months at a time.I have only two regrets. One is obviously that I didn't accomplish my original goal, but even that's really only a slight regret. My bigger regret is that I never got to go to Pizza Plus in any of the towns we stopped in for their all you can eat $4.95 pizza buffet. People who know me well will ask how I could possibly have passed this up. I don't have an answer.I've made some great friends on the trail and I'll miss them. We went through some hardships and some great times together. To everyone still on the trail, I wish you good times, good weather, and whatever success means to you. To Strider, Tracer, Mustang Sally, Tailgate, Cayenne, Y, Vigil Auntie, Raccoon, Sky Surfer, and Happy: nothin' but love. Stay strong.My relationship with Tara seems stronger than ever for having been apart so long and getting through it together. She's not the reason I've left the trail, but missing her definitely added to the challenges of the trail. She's been very supportive of my hike and I hope I have the opportunity to support her in something equally important to her someday.I agonized over my decision to leave the trail, constantly waffling and trying to find reasons why I should stay. But I knew it was definitely time to leave the trail when I watched the beautiful sunset from Rice Field Shelter and thought, "Eh." It was a tough decision, but I truly think I've done the right thing by leaving the trail. It'll still be there waiting for me when I have the time and inclination to section hike.I didn't thru-hike, but I'm very proud of what I've done. I'm even impressed with myself...650 miles and all the challenges that came along with it have given me the confidence I was looking for. Hopefully that will last. Al Bundy always had his four touchdowns in one game and I'll always have this. Try to take it away and you'll pull back a nub.