Date: 2012-07-25
From: Fort Wayne, IN

To: Wickliffe, OH
Miles today: 0.0

SOS here:Today turned out totally different than I expected. I was expecting to leave to head back on the trail about 1:30 PM. Instead I would go to Huntington IN by way of Columbia City IN and from there I would go to Rome City and back to the North Side of Fort Wayne, IN.The day started with reading TB's email written last night. The email was sent to set a date for the shakedown for the hike in September. TB also let us all know that he was going in for glacoma surgery today at Huntington Parkview.This led to the first alteration of our plans today. How could we leave for the trail without seeing NR/Rod, TB/Larry and Dr. Wilma/Wilma. We called Dave/Pitchit and we arranged to meet him and go to see TB, NR and Dr. Wilma at Huntington Parkview. TB knew Pitchit was coming but Trail Mama and I surprised him. It was great to see TB, NR and Dr. Wilma before we left to get back to the AT.The second change in our plans for the day occured when I received an message from my cousin Jerry Chapman. I called him back and he said his Mother, my Aunt Dolly wanted to be baptized and she wanted me to do it. This was the second Chapman family member to ask about baptizing my Aunt. I said I could not do it but my good friend Pastor Dave/Pitchit could and we could do it today before we left to go back on the trail. We would all drive from Huntington IN to Rome City after stopping to see NR, TB and Dr. Wilma.After stopping to see my Mom and Sister and Megan and Jon with their children who were visiting my Mother at her home on the way back to MI, we went up to Aunt Dolly's house to baptize her. It was a special moment for me because I grew up in Rome City and my Aunt Dolly and Uncle Dick Chapman also lived in Rome City. Her daughter Susie was born the year before me and was in my sister Diana's class. Her son Richard was born the year after me. Jerry her third child was in the same class as my younger brother. Memories are countless of the many times the families did things together and the many times that my young brother and I did things with Richard and Jerry. It meant a lot to me that her children told me she wanted me to baptize her and that she was still willing to let me be a part when she was baptized. She has been a part of my life since the day I was born and I am glad she still is a part of my life.Uncle Dick Chapman and my Dad both worked at Newnam foundry. Uncle Dick was an iron pourer and dad was a molder at Newnam Foundry in Kendallville, IN. They both knew what hard work it was to work in a foundry. They were not the only relatives I had who worked at Newnam's. I worked there while attending undergraduate school at Indiana University Bloomington and so did my older brother work there while he attended Indiana University at Bloomington undergraduate school. I also had Uncle Wayne Summers, my Dad's brother work there and My Uncle Delbert at times work there, his wife was my Dad's next oldest sibling Aunt Vivian.One of my first memories of my Aunt Dolly, was when I had my tonsils removed just before I started first grade and she came to McCray Hospital to visit me. She brought me ice cream and a chocolate bunny. It always meant a lot to me. I also remember her taking on a couple of town ruffies who were throwing rocks at myself my brother and her two older boys from the top of tumbles down towards us at the bottom of the tumbles. No one messed with her - she could always hold her own. The Chapman's will always be a part of who I am as a person.It was great that we all grew up in the same small Indiana town. All of my siblings and my cousin Chapman's were educated at the same school and we all went to Rome City Methodist church.I remember going sledding on Kerr Island on Sylvan Lake and my brother Rusty and I and Jerry and Richard using one of those big CocaCola bottle cap signs as a sled. What do you suppose it would be worth today?Both families, the Summers and the Chapmans, attended the Epworth Forest Methodist church camp and it shaped who we are today. Because of the camps influnce on my family, the Chapmans and other families I knew from Rome City, Brimfield and Kendallville, IN and God calling me to do so I am raising funds for each mile hike on the AT. To date I am over $37,000 pledged for a thru hike. Please change other lives by pledging to the right future campaign at the www.rightfuture.org website.Thank You!Trail Mama: My day, of course, changed also! I had expected to be finishing up Grandma Camp and then repacking to go back to MA. I was still feeling disappointed that the kids were disappointed about camp...especially since the fickle weather then turned better than it was predicted to be! What a surprise SOS had for me when I learned that good friend, Juanita...a.k.a. Fajita Bunny...was coming back with us!! She had just returned from babysitting grandkids in Denver and turned right around (after doing her laundry, checking her house and mail, and jumped into the car with SOS, Pitchit and I!! What a friend! SO after making the rounds of hospital visits and seeing Mom S. and Megan's family, the baptism which was very special, and picking up Juanita at Starbuck's (wonder why that place got picked??)(THANKS Jeff, for bringing her over), the 4 of us started for Massachusetts! We talked and periodically listened to the book on CD that SOS and I had started titled, Unbroken, by Laura Hillenbrand. It is hard to listen to but a great story of one man's will to survive against all odds. We stopped for dinner at a very nice rest stop and then on to find a room somewhere outside Cleveland. Ladies in one room...gents in another. We will see what adventures tomorrow brings as we head on east.