Date: 2012-09-04
From: Atlanta, IN

To: Atlanta, IN
Miles today: 0.0

It felt good to be home. Over the next several days I ate a lot of ice cream and pizza and relaxed and got rid of most of the scabs. However, there was still something very much gnawing at me. I hate quitting anything. I had completed 1,868 miles and I had been on the trail for five months and two days. Everybody was very glad to see me, everybody praised me for being able to do that much but it just wasn¢t enough. It kept gnawing and gnawing at me to the point where I had difficulty sleeping. Finally, about three days ago, after I had gotten rid of most of the scabs and after I had gotten rid of a lot my soreness, although my knees were still sore when I tried to straighten them out, I decided to return to the trail. My decision to return to the trail was met with mixed emotions from my family. My daughter and son did not approve. My stepsons thought it was cool. One of their wives, Kim, thought it was great. The grandkids were mixed, too.   They pretty much just referred to what their parents thought. In any case, it¢s something that I have to do. I feel like I have cheated the friends out on the trail, I cheated the trail, and I cheated myself. So I¢m going back, and actually at this very moment I am driving through Massachusetts, back to the trail. I got off at Gorham, but I¢m going to go Southbound, heading to the AT Lodge in Millinocket, and will be taken to Mount Katahdin on Wednesday, hike Katahdin, and head Southbound. I will head Southbound because of issues about potential weather, snow, etc. and also because I want to head Southbound and run into all the people who were hiking ahead of me or around me, or possibly behind me when I got off, and because I want to see them, say goodbye properly, and enjoy their company one last time. So, the final line is Wednesday (September 12) I¢m heading Southbound; it¢s going to take me about another four weeks to finish the final 300 miles. I¢m driving my car so I will have my car with me, which will be a good thing, and also a bad thing, as far as having to move it from town to town and the shuttling that will be required, but I have food in it, I can sleep in it if I need to and so on. So anyhow, it will also give me some flexibility to visit some friends I have met via the trail along the East Coast. So the final story about me hiking the trail is not over; I am going back, and with a little luck and God¢s blessing I will be finishing the trail in about four weeks. Mission Accomplished.Second part of that last thing-One of the few things; one of the most valuable things that we can receive is a second chance. I think my going back to the trail ¢ with or without my family¢s blessings and their understanding ¢ is important. I realize that having a second chance is very much a blessing for me. It is completely my fault that I left the trail in the first place. I should not have done it then. I should have gone in to town, kicked back for two or three days, relaxed, recuperated, ate some food, and thought about it, but I was just too hasty and in the moment I jumped off the trail, jumped on a plane, and was home in less than 24 hours after getting on the gondola. The old saying on the trail is ¢Never quit on a bad day¢ and I did that, so I broke that rule. They also say ¢Think about it for a while before you quit¢ and I did not do that, so I broke that rule. So, hopefully, I have learned from my mistakes, and hopefully the hike will continue on and everything will go well, and I will be able to join the select few, who can proudly call themselves ¢Through Hikers.¢