Date: 2015-06-30
From: Fort Montgomery, NY

To: Shenandoah Tenting Area
Miles today: 23.9

One rainy night in the Smokies, Die Hard and I were talking about how we lost both of our Dad's far too early. The conversation eventually led to us both wanting to know what they would have thought about our hikes. After a couple of minutes Art from Two Bad Dogs looks at us and simply says, "Your Fathers just wanted you to be happy".Out of every conversation I've had with everyone on the trail that one sentence has stuck with me the most. I had never thought about it being so simple. When I had that interview in Harper's Ferry she asked me if I've ever cried on the trail. I think you've missed the point of all of this if you haven't. Jim Valvano's ESPY speech says it best:"To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. Number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that¢s a full day. That¢s a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you¢re going to have something special."Every day since I've been here has been a full day. I usually would never talk or write about something like this but it's been on my mind since somewhere in North Carolina. It's been 13 years today since I lost my Dad. I think about him every single day and today is no different. It just seemed appropriate to write about it on the anniversary. I've realized a lot of things about myself over the last three months, both good and bad. One thing I can say is that I'm happy and Art made me realize that, for once, it's good enough.Alright, back to trail talk. We all woke up a little before 7:00 and started packing up. Shortly after that we ate breakfast at the hotel and walked the mile and a half back to the trail. We crossed the Bear Mountain Bridge at 8:45 and made the steep climb out of town.We all needed a resupply and the guide listed the Appalachian Market as a good, long term resupply. It wasn't. It's only redeeming quality was Kinder chocolate. So, my food bag is stocked with Kinder Buenos to get me to Kent, CT. Most of the day was just more New York ups and downs. The quick, steep ups wear on you after about number 30 for the day. My knee is not happy tonight.We'd all been discussing whether to camp at Clarence Fahnestock State Park and when Jeopardy and I got to the turnoff we texted the other guys to see what they had done. They had decided to stay so we headed over. While climbing to the road we ran into all three who had seen the free campsites and said they were terrible. They were going the five miles to the shelter.I was already pretty done by that point but headed back up the side trail and onto the AT. When I finished the climb up Shenandoah Mountain I was out of gas. I told Poboy to go on and sat down to eat. By the time I got done it was close to 8:00 and 2.8 more miles to the shelter wasn't happening. I did a mile and a half and went to an earlier campsite. To my surprise nobody was here and I had the place to myself. I've since set my tent up under a roof to stay dry in the predicted rain. I'll make up the 1.3 to them tomorrow.No idea where tomorrow ends but I plan to be in Kent, CT on Thursday. Today is my three month trailiversary.   I never considered being this far by now. I'd always told Mrs. Rock Boat that I'd be somewhere in Pennsylvania or New Jersey on July 4th. Being this far is crazy.