Date: 2012-06-29
From: Little Gap Road

To: US 30 at Wind Gap
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: clear sky

An amazing sight this morning when we got to the drop spot...a large group of Amish hikers...men, boys, women and girls...ALL with full size backpacks. I was in a new spot since SOS was hiking south today so he set the GPS for the town of Bath so that I could avoid the interstate on the way back to the hotel. Our car needed the oil changed so when I got to Bath, there was a auto shop right there on the left side of the road! I pulled in and they said they could do it right then...hooray!! The young lady who was writing up the order told me that the diner across the street had good coffee and would be a good place to wait the 1/2 hour for the car to be done. So I crossed the road to the diner. And she was right..the coffee was great and so was the walnut pancake which I was eating on Walnut Street! As I was eating and reading a book, an elderly man was leaving and stopped to talk to me...he called me "kitten"...that is a first! I kept a straight face and we talked a wee bit. Back to get my car and be on my way...relieved to have the car taken care of one more time. On down the road and back to the room. It is very hot here so I tried to park the car in the shade...that worked for a while anyway... I did some laundry in the hotel guest laundry...I love it when the hotel has a laundry so I don't have to go looking for one. I knitted and watched a little mindless TV and then went to pick up SOS at the spot where I picked him up yesterday. My troubles continued with rude drivers...when I am trying to find the pick up spot on curving roads, I have to drive slowly and these roads all have double yellow lines so cars can't pass. I always try pull off somewhere to let everyone pass me before I get too close but that wasn't possible today...so I had a line of 5 irritated drivers behind me when I came around a curve and did a fast left turn onto a deeply rutted narrow strip of parking space. Two of the cars honked at me!! Patience is at a premium, I guess...couldn't they notice that I am an old lady driving an out of state car?? :-) Anyway...here he came and off we went. SOS was obsessing about an ice cream milkshake so we found an ice cream stand and they had NO strawberry...his favorite...so he settled for lemon. I had this bright idea that SOS should drop me off at Barnes and Noble which is about 2 miles from the hotel and then go and shower and come back. Sounded good until we realized what a pain it was to get to B&N. It was on the other side of the highway which was divided by cement barriers. EVERY traffic light did not allow left turns so it takes driving a long ways out of your way to be able to get on the other side of the divider and back to Barnes and Noble. We figured it out but we both wondered how the mall people feel about having such a traffic problem for people trying to get there...it is like the old "you can see it but you can't get there from here". Anyway...I spent some time there waiting for SOS to return and when he did he knew that there was a German restaurant in the mall. Loving German food as we do, we decided to eat dinner there...that was a food mistake...I don't think there were any Germans in the kitchen because the food was very bland and didn't taste very "German". So we treated ourselves to really good chocolate from a store in the mall...yummy, brother Bill! and back to our tiny room that we are very comfortable in and will hate to leave tomorrow. Everyone here is so nice and helpful. Road Name of the day: NAZARETH ROAD...which leads to Nazareth and is close to Bethlehem! Funny story of the day (a new sometimes feature): Daughter Megan called this morning and said, "Mom, could you do me a favor?" Of course, I said, Yes, what is it? She said, "Could you pray that Max (one of their two dogs) likes chickens?" I laughed and said, "sure, but why?" It seems that Max does not like to stay in the yard and since they live at the corner of a busy road, he sometimes gets on the road....so Animal Care and Control came to their house and told her if he got on the road one more time that it would be a $250 fine! (that is NOT the funny part) So she found a lady on a farm who would take Max IF he got along with her chickens! She took him to the farm and the great news is that Max DID LIKE THE CHICKENS so now he has a new home...but he didn't like the goat! Aahh..the power of prayer!SOS here:What can I say about the last five days? I think it can be summed up in two words ROCKS and HOT.In five days with Trail Mama's always present help we have covered 85+ miles.The first four days we started out by leaving Blue Rocks Camp Grounds and going to the Trail Head at 3 different locatins. Only three locations because two days I started at the same trailhead. I can start hiking at the same location, because the first day I start at a trailhead several miles north of my previous stop and hike south back to it and the second day I hike north from that trail head. Monday was a frustrating day. I had taken a nero miles day on Saturday a zero on Sunday and was hoping for a big mileage day on Monday. It was not to be. When Trail Mama dropped me off at the trailhead, it started raining and lightning. One does not start hiking in lightning - I only hike in lightning when I am already on the trail and I have no choice.Tuesday thru Thursday we made up for the low mileage Monday by hiking 59.9 miles. These three days were to make me "eat my words about the rocks were not that bad in Pennsylvania". Oh my aching feet. By the end of the third day I welcomed the foot rub Trail Mama gave me. Even thought I flinched each time she gently rubbed my feet because they ached sooo bad!Tuesday was uneventful except for the ROCKS - no real spectacular views. What I did get was 11 miles of rocks UGH! I also managed to lose two pages from "AWOL"'s 2012 Northbound A.T. Guide Book, which meant I was hiking basically blind for the next two days - DARN. I can not stand hiking blind. AWOL's book has what I call markers that let me know how I am progressing during the day. Thank God for Trail Mama and cell phones. Trail Mama was able to give me markers from the Appalachian Trail Thru-Hikers' Companion for 2012 (This book is published by the Appalachain Trail Conservancy and updated each year - it is not nearly as good as AWOL's book but it did help. Wednesday continued like Tuesday with lots and lots of rocks but unlike Tuesday had two spectacular views. The first spectacular view came at Pulpit Rock. Pulpit Rock is aptly named because it juts out over the awe inspiring view of the valley below and I could see any of my pastor friends preaching their hearts out from this spot. Only three tough miles more up rocks and down rocks and you came to second incredible vista called The Pinnacle. This vista could be reached the hard way by hiking or by a short hike from a parking lot.There were two bus loads of teenagers who got to see the awe inspiring view.The next 5.3 miles of the AT was a teaser because it was a level surface road. I met David Braud (pronounced bro) at the start of this portion and he told me he was training to do a section hike of the AT starting at spring and wanted to hike about 159 miles in a 10 day period with 4 others in about a month. He appeared like he probably could do it, but I would expect it might be challenging for some of the others. I reminisce about my first section hike in 2009 in the Whites and know how unprepared I was. The last 11.5 miles of the day was more challenging rocks and I can not tell you how blessed I felt when Trail Mama was there waiting for me at the end of the hike.Yesterday would be my most challenging hiking day since I left Springer Mountain. It would provide two of the scariest hiking sections I have seen, the first was traversing the Knife Edge - the name speaks volumes. The second scary moment was the climbing up the mountain just North of Walnutport PA and Palmerton PA. It would be a much discussed section in my hike today. I would suggest it is a matter of perspective. I say this because every thru hiker I talked to except two chattered about how difficult it was. The two who loved the challenge were from Switzerland and cherished the challenge - go figure. I can say I was glad I was hiking it with "Hillbilly" another north bound thru hiker and not doing it alone. It took me an hour to climb it with some assistance by two young adults who helped us relocate the trail after wandering off course. The two who helped us were like billy goats who were just enjoying the spectacular view. The last four miles of the day were on a ridge that was basically treeless because of an enviromental disaster and the trail in this area is called the Superfund Trail for obvious reasons because a Superfund was setup to restore the area. Today I learned from others who also hiked this area yeaterday that black berries and blue berries were bountiful on this portion of the trail. Probably just as well that I did not notice them since it was a superfund area.This brings me to today and once again I hiked from the North to the South. Today there was basically NO ROCKS - thank you Lord! The conversation was all about WATER and the HEAT. It would reach 95 degrees before the hiking day was over. I would encounter many hikers on the trail as I alway do when hiking South - the privilege of hiking assisted. Thanks Trail Mama. Everyone has a trail name and always quite descriptive. Before the day was through I would meet Bob going south also, Breezy, Domino and Thawed, One Speed, a ridge runner who had thru hiked the trail with his spouse in 2010, Daystar, Tater Tot, Ray Oswald & his niece Amy Oswald Lutte from Nazareth PA, Hungas & Pace, Superstar, Snagglepus (who I met at Woods Hole and who is leaving the trail to attend Grad School), Flower & Daisy, Fire & Radical, Atlas & Cheeks, Lighthouse and Connect 4.I would also meet for the second day in a row both Overdrive & Peach and Hillbilly. Peach had a gash on her leg she managed to get not by falling but by not lifting her leg high enough as she was stepping over a bolder. Her injury did not even compare to Hlllbilly's who had fallen face first into a rock and had dried blood in his mustache, on his nose and on his forhead. I gave him water - a scarce commodity in this heat to clean himself up.The last two people I met on the trail today were from Switzerland - Den (not Ben) and Anita. They told me they were from the German speaking part of Switzerland. I could tell by the accent. I said would that be near Bergenz Switzerland and they said yes that is only a twenty minute drive from their home. They were both teachers and started hiking the trail on March 3, 2012 and must complete the trail before they fly home on the 19th of September. They sang a 300 year old Swiss tune for me and I recorded it with my cell phone. They sang the song when they learned I was raising funds for the Indiana UMC youth camps. They wanted to do anything they could to help youth and hoped the song would inspire people to give. When I figute out how to put my videos on the internet you will be able to hear them sing. Trail Mama my soul mate was there as usual at the end of the day. I would not be who I am if it were not for her. She is the most influential Christian in my life who I met on February 10, 1976. We were both flying to Haiti on a mission trip and she sat down next to me. We had our first date on May 20, 1976 and were married in a nursing home on July 11th, 1976. You do the math. Our parents had the deer in the headlight look at our wedding because they each met their future son-in-law and daughter-in-law for the second time at the wedding. When people ask us how did you get married without knowing each other that long - we just tell them it is "The just know theory" - we just knew we were just right for each other. I can not tell you how many times I have been blessed by Trail Mama. She has been my rock in every crisis - the loss of my father, the near loss of son Joshua with diabetes, the near loss of me with broken neck in 1999, the loss of our granddaughter Larissa to a terrible disease with initials SMA, the illness of our grandson Gabe and Sammy and the loss of her father in December 2010. I am soooo blessed to have such a soul mate.Trail Mama has never never never given up on me. She has been there to share my military career every step of the way but one when the US Army sent me to support Bosnia in Hungary. It was a tough 8 months without her and I alway feel like I just exist when I not with her. She has always supported me in my legal and financial planning careers. I am sooo blessed to have such a soul mate.We have travelled the world together - more place than I ever expected I would see. We have raised and taken part in all 5 of our childrens lives. We now have been blessed with 14 grandchildren - 7 boys and 7 girls. I pray God grants us many more years together. I am sooo blessed to have such a soul mate.Trail Mama is even good to me when I do not live up to how blessed I am to have her as a soul mate. When I was overseas in Hungary and I would talk to her on the phone about the family and the business she continued while I was mobilized; I would be critiqued by MAJ Joe and CPT Luke on my conversations with her and many times they would tell me I was too rough on her. Today would be one of those days and I apologized to her. In fact today they would have been very hard on me as well they should be, but you know she has already forgiven my crummy attitude. I am sooo blessed to have such a soul mate.I must remember I am hiking the trail because God asked me to and he did not ask her to. But here Trail Mama is making sure I am dropped off and picked up at the trailhead each day, making sure that we have a place to stay each night, driving on interstates and terrible back roads even though she does not like to drive, gettinG maintenance done to our Honda Pilot and the list goes on. Trail Mama spenDs lots of time seeing the journal is written everyday. Trail Mama also finds things to do while I hike everyday. As you can see I have the easy job and she has the tough one. This would be an incredibly harder thing to do if she was not by my side and I would not want it any other way than having Trail Mama beside me. I am sooo blessed to have her.Most of the time Trail Mama is the forgotten one when the Hiking for HIM is talked about by others and I often do not correct them. I want all who read this to know we are doing this TOGETHER and when it is accomplished it will be TOGETHER. I am sooo blessed to have Trail Mama as my soul mate.Thank you Trail Mama for loving me and sharing this journey and all my journeys through life with me.