Date: 2003-10-07
To: shoeless jon rocks my world
Miles today: 0.0

the gathering is out. the knife edge is out. shoeless jon rocks my world.this past weekend i decided that maybe i should do a little training hike before i begin my thru-hike. it couldn¢t hurt to do a little hiking to get into shape. especially since i haven¢t done anything athletic in over a month. so, shoeless jon and i drove to hot springs on saturday morning, parked my truck at the trailhead, and started the 20 mile hike to max patch at 10:45. the weather was incredible, the hiking kicked my butt, and shoeless jon proposed to me.say what? yeah, shoeless jon proposed to me. not in the sense of he asked me to marry him so much as he proposed an idea to me.we¢re hiking along enjoying the day and he turns back to me and says, ¢so, i¢ve got a question.¢ to which i reply, ¢okay.¢¢how would you feel about me taking you to maine this week?¢¢i¢m sorry, what was that? it sounded like you just asked if you could take me to maine.¢¢yeah. i¢ve been doing some thinking, and i would like to take you to maine.¢¢well, i¢d like to let you to take me to maine. i think that is a great idea.¢after jon told me that he wanted to take me to maine the hiking didn¢t really seem quite as difficult. i was a little lighter in the step. it was all a little easier going. the rest of the day seemed to fly by. we stopped and took a couple of breaks during our hike- on bluff mountain, at the roaring fork shelter (where we saw a hiker that must have been at least 100 years old and he only had one eye and i wanted to stay with him because he intrigued me), and at the largest tree i have ever seen. (you can see a picture of it at- http://www.trailjournals.com/photos.cfm?id=6661 from the first time that shoeless jon and i did this hike, in the night, with no headlamps).ever since i got back on the east coast, my allergies have been rocking my face off. there have been a couple of times that i have thought i could very well be dying. because i have been so stopped up and congested lately, i had a lot of trouble regulating my breathing during the hike on saturday.shoeless jon and i summited max patch at 6:15 (twenty miles in 7 12 hours?) and our friends showed up a little while later. we all had a wonderful night camping out beneath the stars on top of the mountain. the sunrise was amazing on sunday morning.yesterday afternoon i went to the local outfitter -blue ridge mountain sports- and wandered around for a while, waiting to be inspired by some crucial piece of gear that i am most certainly forgetting. i started talking to one of the guys that works there. his name is kurt and he hiked the AT last year. i told him that i did a large section of the trail last year as well. we started trading names back and forth (realizing that we both had hiked with or heard of lots of the same people) and talked shop for a long time. cap¢n (as kurt was known on the trail) and another former thru-hiker, underdog, gave me lots of insight and pointers about the trail in new england. they both wished me luck as i left the store empty handed. does that mean that i have everything i need or am i still just forgetting that one piece of gear? i hope that it is the first one.when i got back to the house, there was a package sitting on the kitchen table with my name on it. my friend that just moved to santa fe, girl next door, sent me some presents to take on my hike. she hiked the AT last year as well. the funny thing is- on a note that she enclosed in the package she told me that i should look up one of her friends from the trail that works at an outfitter in greensboro and goes by the name, cap¢n. didn¢t i just meet a guy fitting that description? interesting.so, yeah, it is now less than 24 hours until i leave for maine. i haven¢t even started packing my pack or anything like that. but, it is okay. i no longer have to worry. i now have a ride to maine and that is the important thing. shoeless jon, his lady friend- miriam, and i are hitting the road bright and early wednesday morning (i guess that would be tomorrow) and making the long drive from north carolina to maine. (about a thousand miles). i¢m no longer going to maine by way of the gathering in new hampshire. there is no need. i will hit the trail bright and early on thursday morning. i¢ll make the climb to the summit of katahdin, no longer going by way of the knife edge (the woman at baxter state park told me yesterday that it was closed because they had snow up there a few days ago), i¢ll snap my picture beside the sign, and start the long walk south to georgia.i am a little nervous with anticipation. i know that as soon as i set foot on the trail, all the nervousness will go away. everything will fall into place. i¢ll be hiking again and it will be great.in the meantime- shoeless jon rocks my world.