I know you couch potatoes will have trouble believing this, but even after two aborted attempts to hike the Appalachian Trail (AT) the dream still appears at the strangest times. We are resigned to the fact that we won’t be hiking on the AT anymore. Short of a knee replacement I will never have the knees to do it. We waited too long to try.
The next best possibility is not practical either. While I can hike a week or maybe two at a time, we live too far from the trail to hike it a few miles at a time. So that won’t happen either. We had our shot and we were shot down. Over three different hikes, we managed just about 800 miles. We are going to have to be satisfied with that.
Knowing and submitting to the facts doesn’t keep the dream from reoccurring. Today after lunch I was going out to the deck to sit in the sun for my vitamin D fix. (Dr.’s Orders not laziness) I decided to take a cup of coffee, but I didn’t want to make a pot so I settled for a cup of instant. When I sat on the deck, in the cool air, a slight breeze causing the remaining leaves to fall, and sipped the instant, it felt like an afternoon on the trail.
The only coffee we had while hiking was instant. I almost never drink instant any other time. But when I took the first sip I was transported back to the trail. I spent the first 5 minutes of my vitamin D time daydreaming and wishing. It is crazy.
