Date: 2004-08-06
To: my toenail's growing back! and so's my buttfat!
Miles today: 0.0

i never thought i'd forget how to post an entry, but the whole login/scroll box questionnaire process took me a while to figure out. anyway, i figured i'd send out an update to let everybody know that we didn't actually fall off the face of the earth. since leaving the trail, i couldn't possibly be happier. i've been laying around, watching tv, reading wedding mags, and getting fat on food that's never even thought of being dehydrated. about 4 days after i flew to maine from TN, ross called and told me to come and get him in erwin. while i was en route, he called again and told me to pick him up in hot springs instead. even though i was getting a lot of flack from the peanut gallery and plenty of yoko ono accusations, i couldn't have driven faster to be able to smell those stinky limey armpits once again. some things transcend both the ego and the hike, if you can believe it. the eventual meeting scene was straight out of a lifetime special. a molly ringwald one. i think i freaked him out a little bit in my street clothes, though. he'd never seen me without my high fashion wicking crap. that night we sat outside the paddler's pub with baltimore jack and discussed trail politics and slackpacking routes for a good hour. even though he can be somewhat michael moore from time to time, jack tarlin's one of the good guys. on his recommendation, ross and i set out for max patch the next morning on a trail magic mission. we stopped at elmer's on the way to see squirrel. sanford--i mean freight train--was there as well and i was glad to see that his injury was getting on well. that day on max patch i gained a little understanding into the views of the long distance hiker. we had carted a fine spread of fruit, cookies, and beer, and laid it all out on a quilt next to the highest marker. while ross was still in his hiking clothes and carried his pack, i was groomed in cotton and carried the shopping bags. most of the hikers who stopped to chat were only concerned with ross and his hike, and didn't even ask my name. only when i was recognized did a hiker acknowledge me at all, and once recognized i couldn't escape intense conversation. i'm not saying that i blame these people for such snobbery. i must have behaved the same way with my pack on. long solitudes, intense pain, and more personal goals than most will ever encounter don't leave much room in one's conscience for others. it's a wonder hikers even remember the word "you", much less use it on each other. in fact, i've never experienced so much judgment and competition as i did while hiking, so i'm sure there must be some natural connection. so, i wasn't so much offended as i was glad to be out of the whole circle. i was no longer part of the race to salvation or the stinky clique or whatever you want to call it. for the first time in over a month, i could take the day in context. and the sun was blinding.from hot springs we spent a week in erwin. ross spent the days slack packing with snowman (who is one of the best people i've ever met) and marzipan (who i miss terribly and who'll email me if she knows what's good for her) while i spent the days gardening with dutch and shuttling hikers to and from miss janet's. unfortunately, the slack packers tasted a bit of the last paragraph in the act of slack packing. ah well. at kincora, the three slackers slack packed while syracuse and i wasted time in johnsonville. a quick trip to greensboro to see my grandma, and ross and i were off to maine, stopping once in winchester at my uncle's.we had planned to return to va the following week for trail days, but were foiled when ross developed a major personal infection, which cost him a couple weeks of activity and a few hundred in hospital bills, poor chap. as soon as he was feeling better, i drove him and bailey up to gulf hagas for a day hike. the falls were beautiful, bailey was a perfect lady, and the day was good until i took a bad fall on a connector trail and folded my ankle in half. i'm pretty sure ankles aren't supposed to fold in half and i'm pretty sure only grace such as mine can manage such a fall on the first day hike after a month of hiking. poor bailey was beside herself with worry and played velcro-dog the whole three miles back to the car. with all the pressure of the hike, the ankle had swollen right out of the shoe and turned out to be even more sexy than the dangling toenail. if you can imagine.back at the hospital, the sprain was classified between a grade 2 and a grade 3, 3 being the worst possible. complete healing was due about a month ago, but it's still slightly swollen, painful in the morning, and unable to be completely flexed. hiking is out of the question for me at this point, and i'm beginning to think that the sprain was accompanied by a fracture. ah, well. i guess the trail hates me almost as much as the armchair hikers do.xena and bloody cactus came for a visit last month and we all had a grand old time. xena and i stayed in alna and learned how to knit while cactus and ross made an attempt at the 100 mile wilderness. they spent the night, turned around, and called us from monson. we found them at a gas station, kilted, disgruntled, and covered in blood. you'd think they'd been mauled by a rabid bear but instead they'd been mauled by a million black flies. the buggy wuggies were just too much for the baby wabies, so we took them home and attacked them with an ammonia stick.in all the excitement, ross found time to propose. we realize it was a bit quick, but when you know, you know, and anyone who's hiked knows how fast you get to know those who hike with you. (no, we're definitely not pregnant) after weighing all of ross's residency options, we've decided to get married this coming tuesday, aug 10th. ross's parents and little brother are here from england, and the 10th is mr. nolan's birthday. this ring on my finger comes as an unexpected conclusion, but i wouldn't trade ross's company for a thousand summits. so, that about sums up what kind of trouble we've been getting into. if we get into any more trouble on the trail, we'll post in a joint journal. if we post at all, that is. to our friends on and off the trail- we both keep up with your progress via your entries, and hope you'll let us know when you're in maine. lots of love, and best of luck in all that you choose to accomplish this season!