Date: 2011-04-30
From: Louisville, KY

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Once again, it has been way too long since I have wrote in this journal. Although the thru hikes for the 2010 hikers may be long over and the hikes of 2011 are taking their place, I feel as if my thru hike was only the beginning of a new life for myself, and when I feel myself longing to be back where I called ¢home¢ for six months, I feel this is my way to share those feelings.So much has happened since my last entry, Kentucky has brought me joy and hardships all at once, perhaps the worst of all was the loss of my precious horse Quest. Quest arrived in Kentucky last month, three weeks later he mysteriously escaped out of his pasture and was hit by a truck, I received the phone call just past midnight on April 8th. The loss of Quest has been very difficult and I feel so fortunate I have had the support of so many great people (including Jeff) to help me through. It¢s hard to ignore the ¢what-ifs¢ that keep playing through my mind (What if he wasn¢t speeding? Was he sober? How could he not have stopped?) but everyone says asking myself those questions over and over will do nothing but drive me crazy. I am only thankful that no lawsuit was filed against me as the women who was boarding Quest offered to write the driver a check to replace his totaled truck. She has been nothing but great to me and they buried him in a beautiful and quiet area on their property where I can visit any time I like. I met Quest eight years ago and two years later he was mine and on a boat from Hawaii to Washington. He went everywhere with me from school in Wyoming, my internship in Utah, and finally to Kentucky. At the end of a stressful day, or when it felt like I had no other friends, Quest was always there. The day Quest arrived in Kentucky I was on my way to see him and totaled my car. Although uninjured, I was upset, but when Jeff¢s mom came to pick me up she drove me over to see him and turned my day around- that is the power of a horse and Quest was truly one of the best and is greatly missed.I haven¢t been hiking as much as I would like to lately, a few months ago I had surgery to remove a pilonidal cyst which involved an excision of the entire area. The wound was left open and it was a few weeks before I felt comfortable enough to hike, the incision is still not entirely healed however I have been able to resume activity and Jeff and I were able to make a short trip out to Red River Gorge a couple of weeks ago. The trip ended abruptly as we narrowly escaped before being trapped by flood waters. The day we arrived was beautiful and warm, and we set up near a small creek. That evening it started to rain. The two of us, Kelly, and his 85lb dog Rocko spent the rest of the night fairly cramped in my two person tarp-tent hoping to wait it out and attempting to stay dry, but when we woke up the next morning to the sound of rapids coming from our ¢small creek¢ we decided to hike out early. Sections of the trail that only yesterday were high and dry I now found myself wading through a thigh deep muddy river. We took the packs off the dogs as they swam sections at times in upwards of 50 feet. It was nice to get out, but conditions such as those ease a little bit of the homesickness I feel for the AT¢¦ for a few hours anyhow¢¦I still have a job working at the same outfitter, Quest Outdoors, and almost daily I hear the question ¢So what brought you to Louisville?¢ So many people love the story of how I met Jeff and I never get sick of talking about the amazing experiences I had on the trail and how they led me here. I may have had a bad string of luck lately, but I have no regrets coming here and am so fortunate to be here with Jeff. Things are going very well between us, him (and my mom of course, who flew to Kentucky after I lost Quest) have been the greatest support in my life lately and I feel so fortunate to have that.Danette (from Elk Park) and I still keep in touch often and have become good friends. Jeff and I have a beach trip planned for August and are hoping to visit Danette and let Kelly dog visit for the week. There are so many amazing people on the trail and I am so lucky to have met some of the best!I started the trail hoping to figure out my life, little did I know the journey would completely change it. Although my hike may be over, I just want to say that I wish the 2011 thru hikers the best of luck on their journey, don¢t take a moment for granted for down the road you will want it back.