Date: 2005-02-19
To: Whatever you can do, or dream you can do...
Miles today: 0.0

Goethe wrote: ¢Whatever you can do, or dream you can do, begin it. Boldness has genius, and power, and magic to it.¢        That quote is ringing so true for me as I prepare for what I refer to as ¢my little walk in the woods.¢ The very boldness of the idea of walking for 2000 miles, and living in the woods for six months, just captures the imagination. And the idea, once captured, frees up the mind to explore new dimensions of life and new possibilities for the future ¢ a future well beyond the trail itself. Once set down as a goal, and articulated to others, the power of the idea opens doors previously closed, and even some not previously envisaged. Suddenly, people never before met are willing, indeed almost anxious, to help.           The whole thing has become magical beyond words ¢ an adventure made manifest simply by stating: ¢I shall go. I shall do this thing.¢        Much of the power, and the magic, come from the incredible people I¢ve met ¢ almost all of them just since December 28 when I posted my first Journal Entry. Amazing, caring, joyous, brilliant, fantastically funny people ¢ and suddenly, they are a part of ME. And what is more astounding ¢ I am a part of them.        One of my goals for this adventure is to learn to be a friend. A good friend ¢ tried and true. You see, I have HAD friends before. Not a lot, but some. Only I haven¢t always been a very good one. I¢ve been close to people, and then lost touch. Not from a lack of interest, but simply a lack of time. Oh, I know, ¢you make time for what is important to you.¢ Sure. But when you have the kind of demands that my career has imposed, not just the hours ¢ all too often the ¢24/7¢ hours ¢ but the travel ¢ the 120 days a year out-of-the-country kind of travel, and then you add the demands of a family ¢ however welcome those demands may be, and however much the real burdens fall on your partner rather than you, its just not all that easy to make time for friends.        What is absolutely clear to me about the trail ¢ at least for through-hikers starting out together from Springer Mountain every year, is that it is, first and foremost, about the people that you meet. It¢s about a community. A traveling circus of the most amazing characters ¢ and you get to be one of them! You can make of that opportunity what you want, of course, but for me, the most important thing IS the opportunity. It¢s one of those possibilities for change.         Without even having left home yet, I¢ve already met wonderful people like Mothergoose. We¢ve never met in person, of course, but already we¢re close. Yesterday I got an email from her with the heading: ¢You OK?¢   Seems she¢d noticed that I hadn¢t posted anything on our ¢M Company¢ Web page for a couple of days and she was worried. She¢s really funny, and cracks me up just about every time I hear from her. I like her spunk!        And Scholar. What a great mind, and what a warm and caring person she is. We haven¢t met yet either, but we¢ve em¢d. We¢re ¢simpatico¢ not because we necessarily have a lot in common ¢ though I suspect we may. But we share the same dream and the same excitement. We have the same passion for all that the trail may hold ¢ known and unknown, seen and unseen. We are family.         And then there¢s Break-a-Leg. Utterly, incorrigibly, irreverently brilliant. If you haven¢t page-marked her Journal yet, stop reading this and go do it. She brings spark and wit and wackiness, and ¢ yes, every so often, philosophy ¢ to the table. I hope her knees hold up as well as her pen. I haven¢t actually met her yet, either, but she has already had a profound impact on my psyche. (I¢m hoping it will recover¢¦)        I did get to meet Wyatt, at the RUCK up in Pennsylvania, and he is a hoot. He¢ll be hiking with a pirate flag in his pack, complete with a skull and cross bones and the legend: ¢Surrender the booty¢. It sort of goes with the nose ring, doesn¢t it. Did I mention I¢m a big fan of ¢wacky¢?         I won¢t try to mention all of them here, but you get the idea. We¢ve actually formed a sort of pre-hike community called ¢M Company¢ ¢ originally made up of those of us planning to set off in mid-March. Since then it¢s pretty much been expanded to anyone leaving in the month of March. There are more than 30 of us officially on the company roster, but I¢m sure there must be a dozen or more ¢lurkers¢ who just are too shy to sign up officially yet. But they¢ll be out there, and they¢ll all be a part of ¢M Company,¢ too, like it or not! (You can find us on the web page that Traction set up at: http://atmidmarch05.proboards43.com/index.cgi)        One of the things I like about the trail is that it is ¢the great leveler¢: it doesn¢t matter one wit whether you are rich or poor, young or old, educated or illiterate, tall or short. All that matters is that you share the dream, you¢ve made the commitment, and you¢ve shown up. If so, you¢re in. And after that, all that matters is whether or not you can haul you¢re a$$ up and over one mountain after another, day after day, through cold and heat, wind and rain, week after week, until you reach Maine. But one of the things that make that possible are the people you¢re with. For a lot of folks, and I know that I will be one of them, it¢s the glue that holds the whole thing together.         I was already convinced of that, but yesterday I got a sort of confirmation. One of the ¢05 hikers that started out from Springer Mountain on January 3 ¢ ¢Jaws¢ ¢ has hiked over 350 miles already. But he¢s stopped his hike for the moment, and is thinking about staying there in Erwin for a couple of weeks and then returning to Springer Mountain to start ALL OVER AGAIN. Why? Because he¢s been almost the only one out there ever since he started his hike, and the lack of companionship, fellowship, community, call it what you like, has really gotten to him. That¢s how powerful it can be. And that¢s how important that particular kind of magic will be for me. I can¢t wait!Stay tuned,