Date: 2007-10-27
To: "YDG's" House, Liverpool, PA
Miles today: 0.0

Good day of watching college football & appreciating my decision to get off of the trail. I could barely walk down the steps at "YDG"'s. My knees are shot. #####Mid April to early August 2006: Yes, if you did not know: I tried to hike the AT in 2006 as well. Im not going to get into the whole thing; but, I had something fairly unusual for me. I hiked with this guy named "Roni"(aka as "John MacEnroe, Johhny Mac, Mac" for about 1000 miles. We hiked from the Spence field shelter in the Smokies to Duncannon, PA. I dont think he will care if I tell you a few stories about him. We are pretty good friends and some off the stories may seem derogatory; but, he does not care about peoples perceptions, at all. His self professed motto was, "leave no trail" vs "leave no trace"(the stewards motto for trail and wilderness preservation). Im not quite sure where to start; so, Ill start with: I was sitting at the Sasafrass Gap Shelter, waiting for a rain to taper off in April 2006 when I was talking with a thru hiker named "Johnny Appleseed". I asked him why he was called that; but, he would not tell me. He could ask me to use my stove fuel(which he later professed that he did not buy his entire thru hike), twice; but, could not tell me about his trail name? I found out later, it was because he would spread pot seeds all over the trail, just like Johnny Appleseed spread apple seeds across America. I asked him if he had heard of any bad characters on the trail. He said, "this guy named 'roni'. Not the Isreali 'Roni'; but, another one". He said that he had picked up a guidebook that was not his at Neel's Gap, GA. Later, I was staying at "The Hike Inn", NC. It is about ten miles from Fontana, NC. I stayed there about 5 days, if I remember correctly; so, I got on good terms with the proprietors(The Hochs). Nancy said to me one day, "man, they are coming out of the woodwork. I dont know what it is with people from Ohio, lately?" They have this little note taped onto a trail sign at Yellow gap that says, "This is not a free ride; but, if your injured or need help: come on down to The Hike Inn. It is about 4.3 miles down the road." As the trail goes, this brings them down; both, paying hikers and drifters. So I was laying in the newly remodeled Spence Field Shelter, NC; after a short day from Mollies Ridge Shelter, NC. My left knee was killing me. About 2 pm a guy came in that I did not pay much attention to, until he started speaking. He sounded just like "Chong" of the "Cheech & Chong" movies. Several day hikers showed up and he went into this long tale of his life. I thought this was alittle unusual as it was a heartbreaking story and he had just met these folks. Little did I know that this was what he did. It was his "Yogiing" pitch. It was actually panhandling and he did it with everyone he met. So dont think that I am being calloused because he would tell you the same thing if he met you today. First of all: he saw his father shoot his mother and his father did hard time for what he did. The father became a minister; but, Roni said that he never apologized to his children for leaving them without a mother and father. So, Roni had to fend for himself most of his life. He did go and live with his mother's sister, though. He was loved. Then he went into his girlfriend burning down his house. She thought he was in his house with another women; but, he was actually not at home at all. This left him with no place to live because he did not have home insurance; so, he lived through the winter behind his house in a tent and would have giant bonfires each night. He said that the whole neighborhood would come over and hang out around the fire. You could not live behind your house in a tent in Nashville or Dallas; but, evidently, you can in Pleasant Grove. Then as he was getting ready to come down to Ga to hike the AT: his mechanic stole his truck. The police found the vehicle driving around town and chased the truck all over town. During the chase, his truck was totally destroyed and now he had no house or transportation. Then he was in the bus station in Columbus with his girlfriend(yes, the same one). He was on his way to the AT. She got "rip roaring drunk" and made a big scene in the bus station; and could not board the bus to Atlanta; so, he left her there and boarded the bus. This was not only an emotional blow, losing his girlfriend; but, he was going to live off of her SSDI(federal mental disability income) while on the trail. Lord, he pined for that women. I did alot of counseling. So this left him living out of hiker boxes, yogiing, and an occasional package from his sister. When the section hikers heard the story: one of them got right up in his face and while laughing; jokingly said, "so you lost your house, truck and girlfriend right before you got on the trail?" I really wanted to confront the guy; but, he and his friends, left the shelter laughing. Now, from being around men most of my life; I knew he was not a "bad guy" and I am a sucker for stories like his; so, I kind of adopted him. I did this even though he had a bad reputation on the trail for burning things; yogiing thru hikers(it is taboo to yogi thru hikers); and possibly being a thief. As "Pokey" told me later: people wondered what I was doing with him and as she said, it made people think I was like him. I was kind of cognizant of this; but, I did not care. He was very resourceful and did not mind hitching into towns; cooking; building fires; or waking me up. He later told me about walking down to the Hike Inn with a hurt leg after reading the sign at Yellow Gap. He said he paid 10 dollars for a ride from Nancy to Fontana Village, NC to pick up his package. I also told him what Johnny Appleseed said. He said that the book was left by someone that quit the trail. The worst thing I saw him do was when we were sitting on a cliff and when his fuel container ran out: he threw it down the mountain. I said, "Man, do you know it will take 500 years for that thing to decompose?" He said, with all sincerity, "You dont think anyone will pick it up and carry it out in that time?" I could not help to laugh, to keep from getting mad. I said, "that is not the point!" This was the beginning of the end of our relationship. We stayed together as we became more and more upset with each other. "Trail Marriages" are tough. Just like in normal marriages: the things that you originally are cute or interesting in this case, often become/became annoying. I got tired of hearing aboout all those Ohioan presidents(we dont like US Grant too much in Nashville); Eddie Rickenbocker(though he was an amazing man); and how the heat was just as bad in Ohio as it was in the south. The summer of 2006 was way hotter than it was in 2007 and he was getting slower and slower and we "trail divorced" in Duncannon, Pa. That story will be told soon. The last I heard about him was that he was in Vermont when a big snowstorm hit in October 2006. What a character!