Date: 2007-06-04
From: Harpers Ferry

To: Harpers Ferry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

Today has been a bittersweet day for me. I awakened this morning and went down to get coffee in the motel lobby. I sat there to drink it as Toto and Symbol were still in bed when I got up. Toto and I had talked before about me getting off the trail at some point. I had thought about leaving the trail when our daughter came out to see us in Carlisle, PA. But the decision was hastened by the fact that I have not enjoyed very much the slack-packing we have been doing. Oh, I love being able to get a shower and do laundry every day and being able to sleep in a bed with a roof over my head but I have felt less focused on the trail and more focused on logistics of where to start and stop and finding a place to stay, even though I did not have to make the decision alone since it was agreed upon one by the 3 of us. I guess I just felt like I wasn't having the trail experience I should be having. Toto has enjoyed it very much and he and Symbol get along so great together that I decided this was a good time to go home. Toto's driver's license expires in July so I suggested that before we get any further away from home and we were planning a zero day today that we go home so he can get his license and I can stay home. We talked it over and although he says he does not really want me to go he understands. Besides, I have been over most of what lies ahead and am not particularly anxious to do it again. Yes, I would like to finish the section someday between Pinkham Notch and Katahdin, but if I never do, it is fine with me. I have walked over 2850 miles on the AT and that in itself is an accomplishment. Also, I am tired of getting eaten up by the flies and mosquitoes. Everyday I have more bites on me in spite of using insect repellant that just runs off the skin with the sweat. So I am home and Toto will return tomorrow with the rental car. Symbol is waiting for him near Harpers Ferry so they can continue on together as long as Symbol stays out to hike. When we got home I called our son to let him know we were home. He said he couldn't come in to see us because he had accidentally gotten poked in the eye with a stick when he was in the woods near his home. I offered to take him to the doctor when he said he hadn't seen one in spite of having pain and having constant tearing from the eye. He declined the offer but afterward Toto and I got in the car and went out to his place to talk him into letting us take him somewhere for treatment. He agreed quickly. He could not even open his eye it hurt so much. He scratched or tore the cornea according to the ER doctor so now our son has an antibiotic eye ointment and is taking Ibuprofen. So maybe it is good I was here--or so I like to think. He had no one around to take him when it happened and he wouldn't ask anyone to take him. He was planning to go somewhere to have it looked at tomorrow but by then it could have been too late to prevent infection or worse. Also, I feel like I can help my mother who is having pain in her leg due to a pinched nerve. She has just started physical therapy. Toto is a bit nervous, or so he says, about being by himself to do the journaling, carrying the extra stuff, and doing everything else by himself. But I've assured him that if I was able to do it in 05 he can too. Anyway, that is the story for today. The next journal entry will be from Toto. I ask everyone that is reading this journal to please remember us as we struggle through this change. It has been a very difficult decision to make.   Life is Great!Dorothy & Toto