Date: 2009-10-14
To: Let's get spiritual!!
Miles today: 0.0

I elluded to this several times in my jounral during the trip, but I really do believe we live in the Garden of Eden. The name of the place, or where it is located, hasn't changed. It's right here. We humans have been given the choice to have The Garden any way we want it. If we want it to be "perfect", we can have it that way. We just have to tend to it so it grows that way. Obviously, we're not there yet!! The Appalachian Trail gave me a very small glimpse of what it could be like. And I think that is why I was always ready to leave a town and get back on the Trail.The Appalachian Trail Community (the Trail itself + the other thru-hikers) was a great community. A group of people with a singular purpose, moving together forward, helping each other when possible/able, all equal. No one was in charge, and no one needed to be.Obviously the Trail itself gave us hikers a perfect setting to become a community. No distractions, immersed in the beauty of nature (it is the Garden), and as free from the institutions of man as I have ever been.It will be a "hike" that I never forget. Now here's the secret to the future. I have no idea how to make it happen. But the secret is to not have to go back to the Appalachian Trail, but make the rest of the whole world, the "real world", like the Appalachian Trail. Well, yeah, in time, even better than that!! Got a ways to go eh?The second part of my hike, after the break, really allowed me to settle in and enjoy just "being". I was fit now and could hike without thinking about hiking. I was hiking "along" with a community of other hikers, getting to know them, enjoying the Trail. Very peaceful and perfect ending to the journey.The Appalachian Trail is a great place to get back to basics and get away from the constructs of man, and envision the world any way you want it to be. Or it can just be a walk from Georgia to Maine. For those that see it as the latter .... do it again, you're not finished!! There was a time when it wasn't perfect. I'll share:I really got offended one time on the Trail when someone asked me "hey Bison, when is this herd of yours moving out today." Until this very weekend I had not figured out why I was so offended. By the way, the person meant no offense and was literally just kidding around asking a benign question. See, we had been hiking in a big group for a while heading into Harper's Ferry. I needed to get there on a certain day to be there on a certain weekend so that my sister and best friend could visit me on a weekend. They still had real lives to tend to! Mr Buffalo Man's mom was also coming into visit .... and there was the possibility of other visitors. So this put us on a timeline.Anyhow, Mr Buffalo Man, Goof, and I had a hiking plan to get us there at the appropriate time. "The Group" I was hiking with also needed to be there that same weekend. The Group was Miss Scarlett + Newt, Squeegie, Half-Moon, Sunbeam, Rapunzel and Mississippi. Miss Scarlett and Newt's parents were coming into town, and needed to be there, so they decided to just follow our plan. So we became this huge group moving together following a plan, which kept being referred to as "my" plan, Bison's plan.Ok. That's where I was getting offended. I didn't want it to be "my" plan. I wanted it to be "our" plan. And I definitely didn't want to be looked at in any leadership role! I had had enough of that in my 25 years in the Air Force!Understand that Sunnuke, Mr Buffalo Man, Goof and I had been moving as a group for 3 months now and had a great rythym going. No one was in charge, no effort was being made in getting us down the trail. Briefly, Sunnuke and I would sit down and map out a plan for the next segment, to the next town, basically because Sunnuke and I enjoyed planning. It was fun to us. Goof and Mr Buffalo Man would make inputs now and again but really didn't care at all .... "just let me know what you come up with" was usually their input. They didn't enjoy the planning aspect. But we would all agree on the final plan. We all moved as a group to meet any needs the group would have .... meeting their friends or family .... getting gear worked on, etc.OK. I think you get the picture. I was offended because I liked the community of equals and wanted it that way .... no one in charge. And I didn't want to be the one to mess that up .... so I found it so repulsive that I would be the one looked at as "in charge". It meant I was messing up the equality of the community.I will always be a planner .... it is my nature. I do realize that people around me sometimes don't care, or plan, so will just follow simply because I do have a plan. I was always an "informal" leader in my Air Force units, if not sitting in the actual lead position. Most of the time, it was simply because I had a plan, or understood the plan. So I have something to work on there. I need to learn how to "lead" while making sure everyone "following" understands we are all equals, and that I have no "command authority" over them, or better said, I want no "command authority" over them.My Appalachian Trail journey has cemented in my mind that I'll always be looking for a community of people that are looking to move forward together!