Date: 2006-06-19
From: Leroy Smith Shelter

To: Deleware Water Gap. PA
Miles today: 20.2

A thought kept going through my head all day as I hiked. Lillian said that when she first saw me, she thought I looked like our brother Al. You see, Al was always the skinny brother, he had 2/3s of his stomach removed in one of his battles with cancer. Now that I don't have a lot of body fat, there is a resemblance that really shows. I don't see myself in the mirror much, but the weekend Sue was here I, too, saw the resemblance.Al is always in my thoughts, he was one tough guy. He battled Cancer seven times in his life, and he was an inspiration to anyone who knew him. I am honored to be his brother and to carry a resemblance of him. I haven't had a song of the day for a long time, today I did. The song "He ain't heavy, he's my brother" kept going through my head.I don't know if I mentioned this yesterday, but the climb out of the Lehigh Gap was very steep and hard. It reminded me of Albert Mountain in North Carolina. And so I had another reminder of Al, I guess that is why I'm having the thoughts I am.Today I crossed under the highway PA33. This is a highway Sue and I travel on when we go to New York City, and we've stopped at the trailhead a few times on our trips. Now I can say I've hiked there from Georgia.I had foot problems today that were worse than any I've had before. My orthotics have the leather liner separating and moving. This caused hot spots on the bottom of my foot in the heel area. I thought it would help if I removed the orthotics for the remainder of the day. That was a big mistake - I soon had an ache in the balls of my feet. I stopped again and put the orthotics in my shoes. The ache went away and the hot spots returned. My plan for tomorrow is to tape my heels and to only hike 10 miles. I hope that works.The long range plan is to have new boots sent to me at Bear Mountain. I wanted to get through Pennsylvania before getting new boots because this state is supposed to be rough on boots. I may have waited too long and the pain is the price I'll pay. The next pair should last the remainder of the trip, I hope.I hesitated to make a final judgement because of the stories I had heard about PA rocks. I only have a road walk left, and I then cross into New Jersey. I don't think I'll jinx myself by saying the following. The stories of the Pennsylvania rocks are over-rated. I felt the rocks weren't any worse than those in Virginia. Also, I think I hiked more level trails here than anticipated. All in all, I personally didn't mind hiking in Pennsylvania.Tomorrow there will be 7 states done and 7 to go. I think I'm on the home stretch now. I estimate finishing by hiking Katahdin in the third week of August. Old Goat Sue's Note: Old Goat said there was thunder and lightening today, but he was very lucky. He prepared for rain when a few drops began to fall, but he reached the hostel 10 minutes before the downpour hit! When he arrived at the hostel, he was greeted by "Silver Back," who was sitting on the porch. Old Goat is looking ahead - talking about how many miles he's done, and the milestones he's looking forward to (e.g., hiking across the caged AT walkway over the Mass Pike...which we've driven under many times). He is still enjoying the hike, but he's ready to be finished, too.