A Dr. Visit

Before you read this post there are two disclaimers. 1.) You may just want to skip this post if you are only interested in the trail adventure. This is about my stubborn knee. 2.) This is a fictionalized account. Dr Heiden did not say everything I quoted him as saying, nor did I for that matter. Jennifer thinks I should tell you what parts, but that wouldn't be any fun. I think you can determine it on your own.

I was looking forward to seeing the doctor about solutions for my knee. I am not old enough to sit the bench for the duration. I still want to be active, so what can we do to help my knee recover. 9:30 AM was the time, the Orthopedic Specialty Clinic was the place. It was 9:10 when I arrived. 9:10! I am never this early, I must be excited.

It is a good thing I was there 20 minutes early. I sat in the waiting room reading the book I brought along until 10:35. The fact that I had an appointment scheduled at 11:00 to share my own doctoral wisdom with another didn’t seem to faze them. I sat with both feet on the floor because crossing either leg over the other eventually makes the old knee hurt.

Finally I get called to the examining room where, as usually happens, you have to tell the whole story to the nurse as a warm up for telling the whole story to the Doctor. I kind of wish they would both listen the first time so I can be sure I get the story correct.

My Orthopedic Dr. is Eric Heiden of Olympic speed skating fame. He has a very good bedside manner and was very agreeable. We had a good conversation. He began with the Dr approved manner of poking, pulling, twisting, and pushing trying to find the painful part of the knee. He was able to find a few tender spots that none of the other health care professionals were able to find.

“Does it hurt when you sit like this?” demonstrating the way I had been sitting for over an hour in his waiting room. Now I knew why I had to sit there that long.

“How long has this been hurting?” he asked me as he pulled and twisted.

“Well, I hurt it on April 4 when we were long distance hiking. For 250 miles I hiked along, one step after another, and all of a sudden I took a step that hurt.”

“Do you like hiking?” was his next question.

“Well,” I replied, “I really do like my wife and she really likes hiking.”

“So she drags you all over the country to hike?”

“Pretty much.”

“Hmmmm, Lets look at the MRI.”

He read the MRI report and went over it sentence by sentence, telling me what each sentence meant. Then he sent me for some x-rays. The x-ray tech was all business so after a couple of attempts at conversation I went through the x-ray motions silently. When I returned to the room, the information I was waiting for, the answer to 2 months of waiting and wondering, here was the answer to my question, “what can I do to get back in action?”

He pulled up the x-rays on the computer. He then proceeded to show me each and every problem and where the lack of cartilage was affecting me.

“Here is a little bit of arthritis right here and here, but it is nothing unusual nor should it be giving you any problems.” Then he switched views to a side by side of both knees. “Ahh,” he said. Don’t you hate it when the Dr. says that. You don’t know if he is saying “Ahh, we are going to have to amputate the leg,” or “Ahh, now we know the problem.”

In this case thankfully it was neither. He pointed to the unevenness of the bones and said, “do you see this gap here in relation to this gap here?”

“Yes, it is pretty obvious”

“Well this is where you have used up the cartilage and this bone is causing the pain. The unevenness is like you have been living for 50 years with your front end out of alignment.”

“Oh,” I said. “Is that why I could never run very fast or jump very high?”

He looked at me, grimaced and said, “No that is because you are white!”

“Well as long as I have a reason. So basically you are saying that I was hiking along and after being out of alignment for 58 years, (I corrected his estimate of my age) and 264 miles on the trail, all of a sudden, my knee got old.”

“That’s about it.”

“So what do we do about it. I am not ready for a rocking chair.”

“You can consider several things. I could scope the knee and try to clean it up, but I really don’t think that is your problem. We could give you a cortisone shot and that will keep the pain out for a few months, but that isn’t a long term solution. We could give you something made out of the protein in a Rooster’s Comb. That will lubricate the knee and help what cartilage is left and that will last for 6-9 months. It works well for some people, not so good for others. You could get some orthotics made for your regular shoes and your hiking shoes that will bring your knee into alignment. That has about a 50% chance of doing some good. And finally you can consider changes in lifestyle.”

“Uh oh,” I thought. So I asked, “what does that mean?”

“Well,” he began, with the mantra that all of us big people are used to. You need to watch your weight and exercise the muscles around the knee. Knee bends, squats, ham string curls, etc.”

Then came the hard to hear part. “And you need to quit hiking down hill with a 40 pound pack on your back. When you are going downhill you are multiplying the force on your knees 11 times.”

“But Doc,” I protested. “We want to finish hiking the AT.”

“How far do you have to go?”

“Well,” I fudged. “Over a 1000 miles.” Yeah I know, It is more like 1594.7 but whose counting that closely? I mean if we were really counting it is only 1593.2. Of course from where we will have to restart it is the larger figure. He didn’t give me a straight answer.

“Ok,” I asked. What do I do for cardio exercise?”

“The best thing you can do is speed skate.”

“Uh, I have ice skated twice in my life, although the first time was on racing skates, about 41 years ago on a frozen pond at the local park.”

“The next best thing you can do is swim.”

“Do you think I could swim?”

“Sure.”

“Great, I have never been able to swim before. I am looking forward to getting to the pool.”

“Oh,” things don’t get by Dr. Heiden. “Maybe you better get a bicycle and ride a bike, or use a stationery bike.”

“How about the elliptical trainer.”

“That is better than the treadmill, you need to be careful. And hiking is ok, just don’t go up and down, hike on the level.”

So now we know my activity for awhile. I didn’t ask him about golf because his answer didn’t matter. I didn’t ask him about basketball because the answer is pretty obvious. I should have asked him about mowing the lawn though. He might have told me I needed to let Jennifer do it.

“OK, I decided. Lets do the chicken treatment I guess. That will eliminate the pain while I work to build up the muscles so I can maybe continue our hike next spring.” I didn’t say the last part out loud.

“We need to check your insurance, we may have to get a pre authorization.”

A few minutes later the first person I told my story to came in and told me the insurance said no dice. I can’t get chicken until I have the cortisone treatment. That is the same thing they told me when I asked Dr. Hill for one of the new medicines they treat psoriasis with. “Nope, can’t have the medicine that works until you try the medicine you have been using for 25 years that doesn’t work.” To be fair, they don’t know I did the cortisone for psoriasis years ago when we had different insurance.

Now I have a knee full of cortisone. I am ready to hit the gym. Then one more restriction before I go. “Give the cortisone a week to start working before you start the training.”

Now after only 8 hours, my knee feels worse than ever. Hopefully that is the cortisone at work. That is what Nancy nurse told me to expect. Hurt knee Hurt!

ARE YOU FAMOUS?

Have you ever been identified as someone famous? Has anyone every mistaken you for a movie star, a politician, or another public figure? It is an interesting experience. Early in our hike we stopped for water at a trail side spring. A young solo hiker whom we later came to know as Chico passed by. We were friendly as was he and when he went by he looked back at me and said, “Are you famous?”
I said I was not, at least not in Georgia since there are probably not 5 people in the whole state who know me. He looked at me intently once again and then hiked on his way.
It was a couple of days, maybe a week before we saw him again. We were camped above a hiker shelter and I needed to go down by the shelter for water. When I got there, he was sitting on a log reading a book. I got our water and sat down for a minute on the opposite side of the small fire he had going just to talk a minute. We talked about the book he was reading and then he said to me, “are you sure you are not famous?”
I laughed. I forgot that he asked me that question when we first met. I assured him I was not famous. Over the next week or so we met him a few times. On one occasion he said to me, “You have to be someone famous.”
“Who do I look like to you?” I responded.
“Well,” Chico said, “I am not much of a sports fan but you sure look like a famous baseball coach.” Jen and I said in unison. “Joe Torre.”
“Who is that?” Chico asked. We told him the coach for the Yankees and he looked at me intently again and said, “Is that who you are?”
“Uh, it is baseball season in a few days, what would I be doing here on the AT if I was a baseball coach.” We laughed and then he was gone. He hiked much faster than we did and we didn’t see him again until Hot Springs where his wife had met him for the weekend. He introduced us to his wife as the baseball coach for the Yankees. She looked pretty hard at me and then shook her head. She didn’t believe it.
I have been mistaken for Joe before. One time at an outdoor concert a I saw a young man on the back row of the choir looking at me persistently. Usually you can’t tell who a person in a choir is looking at, but this kid was definitely looking at me. When they finished their set, he jumped off the back of the risers and made a bee line straight towards me. I figured he must be someone I had known in the past. He came right up to me and said, “Do you know how much you look like Joe Torre?”
I am honored, being as how I am a Yankee fan. I was wearing a Yankee hat at the concert, but I was wearing a Salt Lake Stingers hat on the trail. I would like to have Joe’s contract and his dollars, but I wouldn’t want his headaches for anything. The most expensive team in baseball and they have lost 5 of the last 7 and are not even winning half their games this year.
I think if there is any career that compares to being a pastor it must be coaching. You never know what you will be blamed for, you never know how those in your charge will perform, and you never know when you will be ready to move on to another team. At the same time, though there are the agonies of defeat, there are also the joys of victory. It is great to be the coach of a team and watch as that team performs well, either from the dugout, the bench, the sideline, or the pulpit.
What do you think? Do I look like Joe Torre to you?

A Tale of Two Churches

Last I told you about trail angels and trail magic. Thru hikers are men and women in need of a cold drink. When someone offers that drink, they are seen as angels. There are some other things hikers are in need of. Many times they just need a place out of the rain to dry off. At times they need a ride, either to town, to the trail, or to a store. They almost always need a shower, and usually need a laundry. All along the trail there are those that help with those needs.

One hot day on the trail we exited the woods at this road crossing. Directly across the street was this church. You cannot see the sign, but it is a Baptist Church, not unusual seeing as how we were in Tennessee. As you can see it is a well maintained church, had a nice sign of identification, a neat lawn, and a good parking lot. I was totally not impressed. While all of those things are good, what I needed was a cold drink.

I told Jen, “I think if I was the pastor of this church I would make sure that not a single hiker could pass this way without being offered at least a cold drink of water, if I had to move my office out here and do it myself.” We talked about the ministry opportunity lost. Some 2 to 3 thousand people begin a thru hike each year, and those that make it to Tennessee have to pass right by this church.


A couple of weeks later we came to the town of Troutdale, Virginia. The story was quite different. Troutdale Baptist Church is 2 ½ miles off of the trail but that doesn’t stop them from ministry to hikers. They offer every hiker a dry place to sleep, a shower with towel, and a cold drink of water. They used to offer free laundry facilities until the county closed down the laundry because they didn’t have proper permits. We knew about this church before we arrived because they are mentioned in the Thru-hikers handbook. The pastor’s phone number is in the handbook in case a hiker has an emergency and needs help. They charge nothing for their kindness and hikers very much appreciate them.

We stayed in their hostel on a Saturday night and on Sunday morning the Pastor came by and invited us to church. We were planning to attend even before the invitation and we enjoyed the service. After the service the Pastor and his wife invited us to their home for lunch after which he drove us back to the trail to continue our hike.

As we hiked out of Troutdale I thought back to the church right on the trail in Tennessee.
What a contrast. I am sure both churches had great ministries for their own members, Senior Adult ministries, Youth Ministries, Children’s ministries, and preschool ministry as well. But one church was reaching out to a community of people with no thought of gain, except a heavenly reward. Hikers are not prospects for their church, but they do represent a people with an identifiable need who could be prospects for the good news.

I know that I am making some assumptions about the Tennessee church I know very little about. They may hand out cold water on every day but the day I passed for all I know. To me they represent the large section of Christianity concerned with themselves while neglecting ministry to the culture around them. The other church represents those who go out of their way and are willing to be inconvenienced in order to reach people.

“Lord help our churches see the opportunities around us.”

We Met An Angel

Our journey was stopped short. We were looking for 2174 miles, we only made 548. While we are disappointed we didn’t get to finish, we feel blessed by what we were allowed to do. In addition to the simple joy of hiking and our trail education, Jennifer and I learned some things about ourselves, our world, and our faith that were unexpected.

One of the most encouraging aspects of the trail was angels. We met angels along the way. Angel is a hiker term for good hearted people who go out of their way to make the hike more enjoyable. Most of them are former hikers who want to repay the angels they met on their hike by passing along the gifts they received to the next generation of hikers.

Imagine being out on the trail for two, three, or maybe four days. All you have had to eat is what you have carried and all you have had to drink is water. As you walk, your mind plays video of burgers and fries, pizza, or maybe steak and potatoes. You dream of a tall glass of ice tea or, in my case, a cold Dr Pepper. But you are still miles, perhaps days from town.

Coming to a road crossing, you notice a measure of human activity that is out of place for the trail. You realize, you are about to experience trail magic. Magic is the term for the food and drink the angels give away. They give it to hikers for free. Their payment is just to see the joy and gratitude on the faces of the hikers they have blessed.

The first angels we met on the trail were in North Carolina. Three single people, in their mid 30’s, from Jacksonville, Florida had driven to North Carolina for no other reason than to give out free food and drink to hikers. They were planning to be there for the whole weekend. Jennifer was not feeling well, she had a bug of some kind, so she drank an orange soda and lay down on a tarp and took a long nap. I had a ham and cheese sandwich, some potato chips, a couple of Dr. Peppers, a moon pie, another sandwich, and had a real chair to set in while Jen slept.

Some angels had a simple set up, some more complex. Later in NC we came across a camp of angels. These were mostly middle aged men from Tennessee, Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia who all hiked the trail last year. They had a grill going and were fixing burgers and hot dogs, they had fruit, candy, chips, etc. and chairs to sit in. We rested and ate for a couple of hours there. One of the angels was a young man who grew up in and whose parents still live in Murray, not too far from our home.

One angel was a young man we met in the Smokey Mountains just before the weather got cold. He was hiking southbound with a box of Crispy Crème donuts and some homemade brownies. “Eat as many as you want,” he told us.

On the Tennessee-North Carolina border we met some angels who were pretty serious about it. Their hike had come about 7 years ago. They were so impressed with the trail and the people on the trail they purchased a home about 300 yards from the trail. Every day during the hiking season they opened their home with an invitation to hikers to come for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. In addition to the great food, we had waffles, stew, and apple pie, they offered counsel and prayer to each hiker. Their real purpose was akin to the purpose of Biblical angels, to share the really good news about Jesus Christ.

Jennifer and I have talked about our angel experience. We would like to go and give out trail magic. We had talked about it for next spring, but now we are thinking we will probably hike again for 3 or 4 weeks. Before we left Virginia we went by Wal Mart and purchased 4 boxes of Caprisun Lemonade and Cherryade along with Little Debbies and Honey Buns and took them to the trail where we left them for hikers. It was our small gift for all the kindness we had received.

The other effect it has had on us is our determination to live each day with more of a servant attitude. We experienced grace from these trail angels, we would like to give grace in return. It is much like our Christian experience. The forgiveness of sin and promise of heaven we have received for free from Jesus Christ, we would like to share with others so that they might have the same experience.

Wheres the Bears?

Today we tested the knee. It has been 2 days short of 3 weeks since we got off the trail and except for a short walk or two on level ground I have rested the knee. I have had some treatments designed to reduce the swelling and some stretches trying to overcome the pain. So today we headed to the canyon to give it a test.

We chose the Bowman trail and hiked steady for 1 1/4 hours and arrived at White Fir pass. After a short rest we headed back down, the real test. While the knee felt very uncomfortable there was no pain. We walked back down without stopping to rest either.

Of course there are two problems here. 1) I had juiced up with vitamin I. (800 mg of Ibuprofen) and 2) I was carrying only a liter of water and a few snacks. On the trail I was carrying 40+ pounds and was beginning to be a little concerned about the amount of Ibuprofen I was taking.

On the Appalachian Trail we saw very little wildlife. In two months we saw two deer and a herd of wild horses. Nothing else larger than a cottontail rabbit. There was a little excitement the day we saw the rattlesnake. Today, 30 minutes up the trail from the parkinglot we ran into this big fellow. I walked around a bend and thought, "someone is riding a horse on the trail." Then I realized I was looking at a bull moose.

It took a little while to convince him to move off of the trail far enough that we felt somewhat secure in slipping by him and continuing up the trail. He was much more interested in his breakfast than he was in us.

So it was a good day. I am somewhat pleased with the progress in my knee. I have another Dr. appointment in the morning. While we are way past the chance to continue on the AT, we are still holding out the hope that next spring we can hike either the section from where we stopped to Shennandoah National Park, or perhaps just do the park.

The Blog I Had Hoped Not To Write

Well, it is over. After a week off the trail, resting, getting treatments, stretching, the knee is still very tender and will not abide the extra 40 pounds. I had trouble carrying Andrew and his 20 pounds, especially down the stairs.

The Physical Therapist’s diagnosis without the help of a MRI is a strained Illiotibial band, the ligament on the outside of the knee. That is good news in that it means there is no structural damage. She recommended 2 to 3 weeks of rest, therapy, stretching, etc., and then take it easy when we start hiking again, like 2-3 days on the trail, then 1-2 days of rest.

We decided that wasn’t practical for us, living so far from the trail, and it would prevent us from finishing in a year anyway. So we made the decision to call it off, try to get some healing, and then perhaps hiking for shorter periods of time in the future.

We are planning a 3 week hike next summer. Anyone want to tag along? We learned an awful lot about long distance hiking, and one of the things we learned is all kinds of people in all kinds of physical shape, can hike for a couple of weeks.

We are thankful for the time we had. We really did have a blast. We made 548 miles of the AT, just over ¼ the total distance. See the blog below for a longer account of our last days on the trail, how we realized we needed to stop, and how God showed up even in the disappointment.

Too Many Conincidences

1. The Original Injury

We began hiking on April 11 at 8:40 for what proved to be a very eventful day. Our plan was to eat lunch at Roaring Fork Shelter and then camp somewhere around Walnut Mountain Shelter. We made a long hard climb up a mountain called Max Patch. It is a bald mountain, they used to land planes on it. When we got there it was windy and cold so we pressed on.
Just before the Roaring Fork Shelter is where we saw all the bear sign and read the account in the journal log of a hiker who had a bear encounter. (See Hot Dog, Hot Springs, below) By the time we reached Walnut Mountain Shelter the wind was howling, the sky was getting dark and it was obvious we were in for a storm. The shelter was on top of the mountain, the opening faced into the wind, there were no flat spaces to pitch the tent, so we made the decision to press on.
We at this point is Jennifer, Myself, and a hiker we had been with for about two weeks, Fred Davis, trail name Kiwi. We thought it would be good to get down off the mountain, out of the wind, and out of the clouds.
In order to stop and camp we needed two things. A water source and a flat spot. That is all. And if they are close together that is great. We hiked down, down, down, and the weather got worse, worse, worse. Finally about 2 hours before dark it started to rain on us and we still had not found water and flat. So we plodded on down hill in the rain. About an hour before dark we crossed an old logging road, then just a few yards down the hill a stream that would serve nicely as our water source.
“Let’s camp here,” I said, with water dripping off my cap from the rain. “We can get water here and pitch our tents up on the old logging road.” Kiwi balked, said he wanted to try to get to Hot Springs tonight even though it was another 8 miles or so. Jen said, she would do what ever I wanted, but it was clear to me she would like to get to town out of the rain as well.
“That will call for our first night hike.” I reminded her.
“Well we have to do it sometime she said.”
Kiwi said, “You guys can do whatever you want, but I am going to go on.”
We thought about it and followed Kiwi down the trail.
After a while Jen thought we could probably go faster if we traded positions. “Let’s let Rodger go first, he hikes a little faster, and we can make better time.” She has regretted that statement a lot in the last few days, but I have tried to assure her that she wasn’t to blame for what happened.
As we continued to slog down the trail in the rain and the mud, all of a sudden my knee just burst into pain. I didn’t twist it, fall on it, bump it in any way. It just gave out. I could barely stand to put any weight on it at all.
We were reduced to limping down the trail, rather I was limping and Jen and Kiwi were following slowly. We tried to get Kiwi to leave us and go on to Hot Springs but he wouldn’t leave us. He said we were in this together and no amount of persuasion could convince him to go on.
I struggled on down the trail, very slowly as dark crept up on us. We came to a road crossing, I found a flat spot, and Jen and I stopped and pitched our tent, Kiwi went on to Hot Springs. We didn’t have water for dinner or breakfast, but according to the map the next water was 2 miles on down the trail. I didn’t think I could make it that far.
The next day we hobbled on into Hot Springs where we were planning a few days rest while meeting Krista and Andrew, our grandbaby.

2. The Next Few Weeks

The knee was never pain free again. It would get very stiff at night. I could hike uphill without pain, but I had to be very very careful on down hills. If they were very steep down hills I had to be careful not to take too long a step.
However, to keep going I was taking 1600 to 2400 mg of Ibuprofen every day. We knew that couldn’t go on forever. There were good days and bad days, but we suffered through them, slowly making progress towards Maine. Whenever we were someplace we could get ice, we iced all four of our knees. But we continued on.
We were getting into the Virginia country where the mountains were not so high and we were making better time. We needed to make around 15 miles a day here and we were doing it regularly.

3. The Beginning of the End.

After a week or so of 15 milers the knee began to act up. On the day before we quit it hurt both going uphill and down hill. It was a miserable day. I began to think for the first time about quitting. I wasn’t sure how long I would be able to endure. In addition to the ibuprofen I took some Tylenol to tide me over between doses of Advil. Even that didn’t help.
We finally stopped about 3½ miles short of our target that day when I finally had just had enough and we found good water with a great camping spot.
The next morning we hiked about 30 minutes, all uphill, and the knee hurt every step. When we reached the top and started down the pain was just more than I could handle. I stopped and told Jen, “I just can’t do this anymore.” She was disappointed, but very understanding, so we turned around and went back to the last road.

4. The Hand of the Lord, we believe.

The day before I began to hurt so bad we stopped at a road crossing where there was a Forest Service Campground. Some one had left it in a mess. There was trash everywhere. While we were waiting for water to be ready I went over and kind of kicked around in the trash and found a Virginia Road Map. The maps we have are of the AT only and sometimes you just wonder where you are in relation to everything else, so I told Jen I was going to keep the map. I put it in my pack.
The next day was the day I hurt all day, up and down. We crossed a road, VA state road 42 just before we found the campsite that we stayed at.
On the fateful morning we changed our morning prayer just a little. We prayed that God would make it clear, the choice we needed to make. When we got to the top of that first mountain and took the first step down, He made it very clear that I wasn’t going on, at least not today. So we hiked back down to the road, VA 42.
The AT map showed us nothing about where VA 42 went. If that was all we had we wouldn’t have known where to go. But. . . we had the Virginia road map. So we were able to make a plan of action.
The closest towns were too far to walk to. So we needed to hope for a ride. VA 42 is a country road through farm country with very little traffic. For 30 minutes or so we tried to get a ride the direction we needed to go, only one car passed and one water truck. Several cars went the other direction. We decided we would try to go either way, which ever we could get a ride.
The next car came along, going the wrong way, but we put out our thumb anyway. The man driving the car slowed down, rolled down his window and asked, “Can you tell me where the Appalachian Trail crosses this road?”
“You can’t see it from here,” I told him. “Your car is on top of it.” Actually we told him he was at the place and he pulled over into a parking area and got out of the car.
“My brother and I are section hiking but I was feeling sick so I didn’t go with him today. We will be hiking this section tomorrow and I brought some Dr. Peppers up here to hide so they will be here for me when we get here. Let me go put them up the trail then I will come back and I can take you anywhere you want to go. I don’t have to do anything today until I pick my brother up at 4pm. (It was about 9am) ”
So this 64 year old section hiker, Dan Martin, took us to Marion Virginia and took us right to the roadway inn where we checked in. Then he took us to the Laundromat where we could put our clothes in the machine. Then he took us to Wal Mart to get something besides hiking clothes to wear. Then back to the Laundromat to put the clothes in the dryer. While the clothes were drying he took me to the bus station to buy bus tickets.
After he dropped us off at our motel again he said he was leaving to get his brother. After they got back and his brother cleaned up they would be going to dinner. He said he would be glad to come back and take us to dinner with them. We did.
Then he came back at 10:30 to take us to catch our 10:45 bus. He and his brother waited there with us, even though we told them they didn’t need to, until the bus came, 30 minutes late.
What a blessing they were. People like him reminded us what hospitality is. Jen and I are both determined to put in to practice some of the hospitality lessons we learned on our hike.

Virginia At Last

We have hiked the 459 miles necessary in Georgia, North Carolina, and Tennessee to make Virginia. The next 500 miles are in Virginia. We spent one last night in Tennessee on Sunday night when we ran out of gas after 17 miles. We camped just short of the state line then hiked the 6 miles into Damascus, Virgina on Monday morning. The plan is to leave here on Wednesday morning. We are spending time today (tuesday) trying to lighten the load.
Just a few pounds lighter makes a big difference on feet, knees, and hips. When we leave town tomorrow we will have around 16 pounds of food between us. We are learning to carry less water, 2.2 pounds per liter, but that means spending more time locating and preparing water for use. So we are also looking at possible ways of treating water.
We sent our water filter home from Elizabethton, TN. It weighs about 2 pounds so we went lighter and tried to treat the water chemically with bleach. Supposedly 3 drops of Clorox per liter of water is sufficient. Well, it may kill the germs but it leaves my thirst unquenched and leaves Jen with an "alum" taste in her mouth. So we have decided against that. We have a few options such as other chemicals and some higher tech methods, we just need to determine which is the best for us.
Hopefully you have checked out our photos on Nathan's web site. I am sending him some more, this time with printed captions since something in his education failed to teach him to read handwriting.
Amy is posting my journal to www.trailjournals.com, she is probably having as much trouble with my penmanship as Nate. Remember, I am writing in a little tent, with a headlamp, after a long day hiking, with Jen bumping my elbow every time she moves. No wonder they can't read it.
Thanks for your thoughts and prayers. God bless each one of you.

photos

hey everybody.

This is Nathan. I have hacked into the blog long enough to let you know that we now have full photo albums up of this little adventure here. you can get to the pictures here, or by clicking on the link on the sidebar.

We'll keep it updated as best we can.

Ear Worms

Do you all know what an ear worm is? When you are hiking long hours, just going mile after mile, up and down, around and over, it can get pretty boring. An ear worm is what you find yourself thinking about in your subconscious. Usually it is a song that just replays over and over.

One day back in Georgia this esperienced hiker, he had hiked the trail a couple of years ago, told us that he had seen a big clump of poison ivy on the trail that day. He spent quite a bit of time telling us what poison ivy looks like since we don't know.

The result of all of his teaching was my main ear worm. It is a song from the 60's called Poison Ivy. It is a stupid song but it goes on in my head over and over till I think I am going crazy. "Poison Iiiiiiivvvvvyyyyyy. Poison Iiiiiivvvyyyyy. Every night while you're sleeping poison ivy comes a creeping around." You don't have to know all the words for it to be an earworm, just the words you know over and over. "Poison Ivy Lord will make you itch, You're gonna need an ocean, of calamine lotion., etc."

All it takes is someone mentioning poison ivy, or sometimes for no reason at all I realize I have been singing this stupid song for miles. You fight them by singing other songs, and that can work, at least until you go back into the subconscious and there is the old ear worm again. I spend a lot of time thinking about a lot of things. Like, if I ever agree to Pastor another church I have made a list of things I am going to require them to agree to first. That is another post. One day I made a list of things a church should expect from their pastor and the pastor should be able to expect from the church. Yep Another post.

One day I spent trying to figure a way to finish the trail if my knee just won't go on. My knee doesn't bother me when I am not carrying the pack so I figured out a way to hike without the pack. Fortunately my knee is doing better so I don't have to resort to that tactic yet. Maybe that is another post. This one is about ear worms. What I want to say is even thinking about things doesn't stop the ear worm. You realize that under your conscious thoughts, there is the ear worm. Usually for me, Poison Ivy.

On Good Friday though I realized that the ear worm was "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord." I was singing over and over all 5 verses. (If you look it up and there are not five verses I must have made one up.) Then on Easter Sunday the ear worm was "Up From the Grave He Arose". Guess what it was the Saturday in between. Poison Ivy.

One way to get rid of it temporarily is by getting out the Ipod and listening to something else. I really find that more distracting than helpful. But today I realized that after a full month of Poison Ivy the ear worm was now Willie Nelson's Red Headed Stranger. "You can't hang a man for killing a woman who tried to steal his horse." I got so sick of it I wished for Poison Ivy back.

By the way, I don't know if I have really seen Poison Ivy or not. It is kind of like the Poison Oak signs at Old Mill golf course. They discourage you from looking for golf balls out in the rough by putting up Poison Oak signs. I have found a lot of good balls by ignoring the signs.

Today we hiked 16.5 miles to make it to Erwin, Tennessee for a burger, a shower, clean clothes and resupply of food. Tomorrow we are heading out towards Damascus, VA. So I guess you could say we are on the Damascus Trail. Erwin is 338.7 miles from Springer Mountain, GA where we began.

Amy is going to post my journal at www.trailjournals.com and Nathan will post our pictures there. I don't think they are posted yet, but look for them in the near future.

Knee update. You know that I am slow to proclaim a miracle but let me just tell you what happened. On Monday morning when we left Hot Springs as soon as we got off of the pavement and onto the trail my knee began to hurt as bad as it did going into Hot Springs. The rest and the brace didn't help at all. We were hiking along side the river on a very slight uphill and every step was so painful I was sure that our hike was over. We stopped and I told Jen and she was as disappointed as I, but there didn't seem to be any hope. But we stopped and had our morning prayer and she prayed for my knee once again. I told her that I would try to make this climb but I didn't think I could do it.

I turned and took one step, which was a step up onto a rock and when I did my knee popped and the pain went away. The knee remains very sore, I have to be very careful not to overdo it especially on long downhills, but since Hot Springs I have hiked 14, 12, 11, and 16 miles. Praise the Lord.

Thanks for all your responses. May God bless you all.

Flint and Jubilee

Hot Dog!! Hot Springs

We hiked into Hot Springs, NC yesterday about 2pm. Hot Springs is right on the trail, there are actually AT markers in the sidewalk down the main street. Our trip into Hot Springs was not without incident.
One morning, just before we arrived at the shelter where we were planning to eat lunch I saw a large foot print in the mud. We talked about it a while, unsure what kind of print it was. There was a hiking club of older gentlemen on the trail and they were pretty sure it was a bear print, of a small bear.
I wasn't too sure, having never seen a real bear footprint before. So we went to the shelter for lunch. Each shelter has a log for hikers to sign so we can keep track of one another. Reading the log told the story. One hiker, an older man hiking alone, spent the night in the shelter. He said about 1am he awoke to a bear pulling on his sleeping bag trying to pull him off of the sleeping platform. He yelled at it and it let go and ran away.
After we left the shelter we saw a large pile of bear poop on the trail. We were pretty glad that we were not staying the night in the area. We hiked on another 10 miles or so before stopping for the night.
The night before getting to Hot Springs I messed up my knee somehow. Hiking is a limp along right now. Pray for me please. I purchased a knee support and will rest it for the weekend in Hot Springs. Krista is coming to meet us today with Andrew our Grandson. Hopefully three days rest and a support will allow us to continue at our needed pace.
thanks for the emails and responses. It is good to hear from each of you. We feel pretty much out of touch with the world. Not always a bad thing. You mean, Tiger didn't win the Masters?

Pictures
1. Hiking in the snow in the Smoky Mountains
2. Bear Track, I will spare you the poop
3. Snow depth, chest deep to a naked chicken

Goodbye Great Smoky Mountains

Today we hiked out of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and good riddance. Whew!!! what an experience. We wanted to finish the 70 miles in 7 days and we were able to, but not without some difficulty. You want to know about it?
We hiked out of Fontana Dam (not Damn) although that might be a good name for the Smokies on Tuesday the 3rd. 11 miles, uphill and spent our first night in a shelter. At 1am the thunderstorm struck and rained and blew all night long. We moved on on the 4th for 11.7 miles and spent our second shelter night among the snorus chours. The noise would drive any bears away.
The third day we planned a 14 mile day, over Clingman Dome which is the highest place on the whole Appalachian Trail. (6643 ft.) After 10.1 miles we made the Dome we realized that it was going to be very late when we made the shelter so we hitched a ride from the Dome parking lot to Gatlinburg, TN. Jen is learning to hitch a pant leg up, stick out her thumb and get us a ride. A nice couple on vacation from Maryland gave us a ride. At Gatlinburg we had Pizza, spent the night at the Quality Inn, sharing a room with Kiwi, had pancakes for breakfast and were back at Clingmans Dome at 8:45.
The fourth day we hiked 10.9 miles, then holed up in Icewater Spring Shelter as it began to snow. We woke up on the fifth day to 17 degrees in the shelter, about 5 degrees outside the shelter, and 6 inches of snow and it was still snowing. After a few miles that morning we caught up with Grambo. She is a 65 year old retired nurse from South Carolina who is hiking the trail solo. She was struggling in the snow without treking poles and we were hiking the most trecherous terrain yet. Some steep cliffs and slopes so we spent the whole day helping her to the next shelter. We only made 7.4 miles.
On day six we woke up to 19 degrees in the shelter, rock hard boots, frozen water in all our bladders and bottles. Nothing to do but get up and hike so we hiked 12.9 miles. On day seven, today, we woke up to a toasty 28 degrees in the shelter and all began to sing Beach Boy tunes. We were able to thaw out our water. Some nice guys from Dayton Ohio built a big fire in the shelter and we got everything thawed out. We hiked 10 miles to Standing Bear Farm and that is where we are tonight. 7 days in the Smokies and are we ever glad to be out. Tomorrow night back to our tent and the snorus chorus will be left behind.
At somepoint I need to tell you about Standing Bear Farm. It is beyond Rustic to more like primative. But, we are clean, our clothes are clean, we have food for the three days to Hot Springs where Krista and Andrew will meet us.
Jen celebrated her 58th birthday with a hostess cupcake. Oh and Mark Russell, you will appreciate this. I went with some guys to "town" to have BBQ. Town turned out to be A BP gas station off the interstate with a BBQ counter in the back. So we had Barbeque Pork at BP.
The internet connection is dial up and no where to post pictures. Hopefully we can post pictures at Hot Springs.
Thanks for you prayers and good thoughts. The Journey continues. Hopefully warmer. Actually, cold weather is great for hiking. The snow actually pads the trail and covers many of the rocks. Sleeping is better because our bags are made for lower temps and sleep better at 20 degrees than 60. But it is miserable between hiking and sleeping and between sleeping and hiking.

Eeeeiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!

Trudging up the trail. One weary step after the other. Will we ever get to the top of this gigantic mountain? I was following Jen, someone asked me, "Is that your woman in front of you?" I laughed and said, "Yes, I guess so. I have been chasing her since we were 16 and now I am chasing her to Maine."

Anyway, we were trudgin up this trail, tired, sweaty, worn out, when all of a sudden, Jen Let out a shout, jumped at least a foot in the air, 25 pounds on her back and all and came running back down the trail with her eyes as big as saucers.

BEAR! I thought. Finally something besides squirrels. "Did you see a bear?" I asked as I hurried to the place she yelped. "No! It is a snake." How disappointing. "What kind of snake?" I asked her. "A boa constrictor python rattle snake" she said. Actually it was about 2 1/2 feet long, little brown and yellow snake. When I touched it with the end of my hiking pole, it took off like a red racer.

I didn't get a picture of that monster. My camera is broken, I sent it home. Amy is sending the old digital camera to our next mail drop on the other side of the Smokies. Until then, we only have Jen's camera to take pictures with. I am going to be upset if I see a Bear and don't get a picture. According to the book, there are 400- 600 bears in the Smokey Mountain National Park, where we will be for the next 7 days.

When we leave Fontana Dam tomorrow, we will hike across the Dam. It is on the Little Tennessee River and we will be in Tennessee. Our third state. And sometime during the hike, before we sleep at Mollies Ridge Shelter we will drop under 2000 miles to go.

I asked Jen today if she had any thoughts of giving up. If she was thinking about how nice it would be just to go home and resume our other life. Her answer was, "not at all, how about you." "Nope I said, I am still committed to walking this thing to Maine."

I have started a journal at trailJournals.com. I have done that for the sake of the hikers we have met who keep track of one another there. If you would like more detail of our days, you can read them there. Go to www.trailjournals.com click on Journals and you should find us there under Flint and Jubilee.

I don't know why but this compter won't allow me to post a picture. Sorry. Talk to you on the other side of the smokies.

Call Us Tarheels

I think a tarheel is what they call someone from North Carolina. A couple of days ago we crossed the line from Georgia to NC. The picture is Giblet sitting on the border sign. (sorry got the wrong picture. The picture of Giblet is her sitting on the sign where the Chatahoochie River gets its start. "A way down yonder on the Chatahoochie, it gets hotter than a hootchie coochie." That is for you country music fans. The second picture is the red salamander, and the third is a picture of the trail.

At the risk of being repetitive we are having an absolute blast. We end each day with sore feet and weary knees, but a good hot bowl of Ramen Noodles and a nights sleep and we are ready to travel another 10 or so miles. We are two days ahead of our schedule and getting stronger every day.

Problems? We have had a few. The day after we reached NC Jennifer got sick. She woke up nauseated in the middle of the night and lost it all in the morning. We either had to stay there or attempt to move on, she chose to move on slowly. We only made about 5 miles that day and a couple of times I left her asleep by the trail and hiked ahead a ways, put my pack down and went back for her and her pack.

We reached a road where I figured we could eventually get a ride to town. There were three "trail angels" setting up shop. They were giving away cold drinks, sandwiches, moon pies, cookies, chips, and had lawn chairs set up to sit in. So I toasted a tortilla over a fire, obtained an orange soda from the angels and spread out the Bill Richard Honorary Tarp for her and she went to sleep. Late in the afternoon we hiked another mile to a shelter where we spent the night. The next morning she felt fine and we resumed our hike.

Night before last I had the strangest two dreams. In the first we were in a panic trying to get Grace White's wedding done. (Sorry Grace, I didn't ever see the grooms face) At the last minute Mrs. White had given me this elaborate ceremony she wanted done and I was scrambling trying to make it work. Then in the next dream I had three golf balls with funny faces on them I was trying to mail to Dan Walker. But the post office wouldn't mail them in the box I had and they didn't have a suitable box. So I waited until that night when we were all at dinner together and I gave one to Dan, one to Mark Soltice, and one to Milford Misner. (Milford is a pastor in New Mexico who has played golf with my dad quite a bit, but never with me.) Who understands dreams anyway.

Last night we spent in a Motel room in Franklin, North Carolina. This is the town famous for Eric Rudolf, the Atlanta Olympic bomber who avoided the law by hiding in these mountains we are hiking through. We heard some interesting stories about him yesterday.

Later today we are going to hit the trail and hope to make Wesser North Carolina on Friday. We have traveled 106.6 miles on the trail. Only 2068 to go. We have met a lot of interesting people, and are definitely getting a different perspective on American Culture.

We saw another squirrel yesterday, that makes the grand total of wildlife, 2 salamanders and 2 squirrels. Of course we are still walking through the winter woods, just that the temperature has been perfect since the first two nights. In front of us several hours day before yesterday some of the hikers saw a couple of bear cubs up a tree. They never saw the momma.

Better go, the trail beckons. God bless you all, and talk to you in a couple of days.

Flint & Jubilee

Greetings From Hiawasse Georgia

Well, 7 days hiking and we are enjoying ourselves immensly. The days consist of walking, uphill, downhill, and rarely, very rarely level. We are averaging about 45 minutes per mile overall. On gradual slopes we do about 30 minute miles.

The only disagreements we are having concern water. As soon as Jen takes two or three sips from her water, she starts worrying about where we are going to get water again. I tell her than any water left in the bag or in my bottles when we get to the next source is wasted energy, but she doesn't buy that. So we fill up a lot more than we probably need to.

After the first two days the weather has been tremendous. The first night it rained all night long. We actually stopped hiking about 3pm so we could set up before it rained. Thanks Bill R. for the tarp. We used it the very first night or we would have gone hungry.

The second night the shelter we aimed for was full of boy scouts so we had to press on. About dark we finally found a flat spot, but it was very, very, cold and windy. We used the tarp a second straight night. This time to block the wind so we could eat.

Since then, the weather has been perfect. We arrived here last night after a 15 mile hike, our first for that distance. Up to then we have done 5, 12, 9, 5, 9,11. We are feeling good except for some minor aches and pains. Last night i hitchhiked for the first time since I was in college.

Today is our first zero day, meaning "no hiking." We will stay here another night to let the bones rest, buy groceries, etc. The first day out from here we will cross our first state line and be in North Carolina.

Thanks for looking in, we will keep you posted. I would post a picture but I can't get this computer to read my camera. If you email us, use rodger.russell@gmail.com. I can't seem to check the other one.

ps. Giblet is a rubber chicken making her way to maine with us as a stand in for Tina who wishes she was going. Pictures later.

Jen and Rodger's Excellent Adventure

Well, we are off. At least we are leaving Salt Lake City today. All the planning and preparation are over, it is time to walk. We begin the trail tomorrow, hopefully we will be hiking by 11am.

Adventure? We have been enthralled by accounts of adventure. The great adventures of others has been a reading staple of mine since I was a kid. Too late to try being a mountain man, or traveling the Santa Fe or Oregon trail, I was fascinated by Lewis and Clark. From The Longest Walk, (check it out), “Walk Across America” to stories about Shackleton, Everest, Texas, Alaska, etc., I have enjoyed reading about people who set out to conquer their portion of earth. This is our great adventure.

Our gratitude goes out to all of you who have helped in some way to get us on the road. There are a couple of things I would like to ask you pray for as we leave.

1. Pray that we will enjoy. The number one reason people quit the trail is that they discover they are not having a good time.

2. Pray for our health. Specifically, pray for Jen’s bones and my knees. Even though I am carrying 15 pounds more than Jen, she is carrying almost ¼ of her weight. I am only carrying 1/6 of my weight.

3. Pray for our safety. While I am not concerned about anything in particular there are some hazards of the trail. Falls are the most prominent hazard. Others are bears, rattlesnakes, weather, ticks with lyme disease, and humans with evil intentions. Pray that we will stay aware and safe.

We will post our progress when we can.

So in the words of that famous Rodger, Roy, Happy Trails to You.

Flint (Rodger), Jubilee (Jennifer), & Giblet

Chasing Katahdin

Here is a picture of Mount Katahdin. It is located in Baxter State Park in central Maine. On its summit is the Northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. There is our destination. 2174 miles of trail separate it from our starting place on the trail, Springer Mountain, Georgia.

Somewhere in the neighborhood of 3000 people will start the journey this spring intending to walk the entire distance before winter. Less than 400 will succeed, 12-13 percent. The odds are stacked heavily against us. As a matter of fact it is almost absurd that two 57 year olds who will turn 58 a month into the journey think they can succeed where so many so younger fail.

Jennifer thinks that we have to take the first step thinking of Katahdin. If we want to finish we have to keep that goal in mind. On the hard days, on the cold days, on the rainy days, we have to remember our destination is a mountain in Maine. For one as disciplined as she is that is probably a good strategy.

I, on the other hand, think the answer to success lies in keeping our thoughts on the journey. Enjoy the walk. Enjoy every day. Don’t spend too much time thinking of Katahdin, it is 6-7 months away. Think about the next place to buy a hamburger. It seems so much more relevant to say, “it is 28 miles to hamburger,” rather than “it is 1700 miles to Katahdin.”

But whether your thoughts are “keep focused on the end,” or “keep your eyes on the journey,” there are some important things to remember. 1.) Pare the pack. Keep the weight of the pack as low as possible. We are learning to be fanatical about what we plan to carry and what we plan to leave home. That reminds me of Hebrews 12:1-2. Look it up. Could the extra pounds be compared to the “Sin which so easily besets us” 2.) Pamper your feet. Those puppies have to carry us every step of the way. We need to keep them clean and dry.

We know that in the 2000+ miles we are bound to have rainy days. The questions are, “how can we run our stove in the rain,” and “how can we set up our tent in the rain and keep the inside dry?” It might help you to know that the tent itself is mainly mesh. It won’t hold out a drop of rain. It is made for ventilation when the weather turns warm. The rain is kept off by a rain fly.

Today I put the rain fly up first, then crawled underneath and put down the footprint, (the tarp that keeps the tent itself off of the ground) and then the tent. That worked great, in the living room, with no wind nor rain. The answer to the stove question is to carry another tarp of some kind to string up to cover the cooking area.

Option one. A sheet of plastic, cut from a roll, that weighs 8 oz but may not be strong enough to hold up for very long. It is free, I cut it off a roll in my garage.

Option two. A 6 x 8 silicone impregnated tarp sold for this purpose. It weighs 9.2 oz. It sells for $54.99.

Option three. A 6 x 8 Polyethylene Tarp. It weighs 13 oz. It sells for 3.99.

Option four. Just plan to eat cold foods on meals that must take place while it is raining.

Vote today! Which do you think is the right choice, and why?

The Longest Night

With under three weeks to go until departure we really needed to try out the equipment. With our schedule we didn’t have a lot of choices as to when that shakedown campout would happen. So on Friday we left Salt Lake City in a snowstorm that didn’t quit as we went south as we hoped. As a matter of true fact it worsened.

There was some talk of abandoning the trip, but hardheaded as we are, we left the truck at 3:15 in a snowstorm to hike Eagle Canyon to a drop off where you can only continue with ropes. It was 32 degrees. My pack was 39 pounds, Jen’s was 23. We hiked the three miles in two hours. The last half mile or so the wind was howling in the narrow canyon so we started back looking for a side canyon where we might be able to get out of the wind.

With darkness chasing us we finally decided on a spot and hurriedly set up camp and got some supper cooking. With a little difficulty we got the tent up. The stove worked perfectly. By the time we finished eating night was upon us and with night the wind didn’t slow down and the temperature dropped.

It was too cold to look at stars under a sky that was beginning to clear. So we climbed into the tent into the bags. It was 7:20. It was 23 degrees. It was a long, long night. Finally the night faded into dawn but the cold didn’t fade into warm. We crawled out and made coffee. We were too cold for breakfast so we packed up and headed out. It took only an hour to hike back to the truck where we headed for breakfast at Denny’s. It was 11:45 when we pulled into Salina. It was 27 degrees.

What we learned.
1. We can sleep out in below freezing weather.
2. We can carry our packs.
3. Jennifer needs a new plan for gloves.
4. Rodger needs a new plan for upper body clothes.
5. The level ness of the tent is paramount.
6. It is important to set up camp, cook and eat dinner before it gets dark.
7. 2183 is an awful lot of miles.

Pictures:
1. The campers.
2. The canyon drop off.
3. The Tent
4. Morning Coffee

Mapping The Trail

I spread out all the maps on the kitchen table. They are in 11 packets, 3-5 maps per packet. The AT is meticulously mapped. If Lewis and Clark would have had maps as good they could have cut a year off their journey. Each set of maps also has a guide book with mileage between roads, shelters, water sources. Very convenient. But who wants to carry all those maps and guidebooks with them? Not me and Jen won’t do it for me either.

So I spread them all out, separated them into sections, found the nearest post office to the beginning of each section and made a list and a mailing label. As we approach these 10 post offices Amy will mail the next set of maps to us. I have also torn the Thru Hikers Handbook into the same sections and included them with the maps.

I guess it is ok to say we are on an adventure. It is even ok to say an outdoor adventure. But it is definitely not a wilderness adventure.

All 1274 miles of the AT is marked with the white blaze. This picture is one of the white blazes we followed when we hiked in New Hampshire in 2003. So hiking from Georgia to Maine is easy. Just follow the white blazes.

The side trails are also marked with blazes, but these are colored blue. Jen thinks that is the origin of a phrase. Whenever you miss a turn and find a blue blaze instead of a white blaze you say, “What in the blue blazes am I doing here?” I thought that was pretty astute of her.

Equipment Shakedown

As we near the date of departure, now less than 6 weeks away, we are spending time trying to exorcise the demons of doubt that creep in to our minds during short moments of sanity.

First, we practiced loading our packs to see how loaded down our mule team would be. We were pleasantly surprised. My pack weighed 10 pounds less than I expected. With just a few sundry items left to pack, it weighed in at 25 lbs. Jen’s weighed in at 22. We will do some readjusting to even it out a little, maybe mine at 30 lbs and hers at 20. In any case, that is about 20 lbs less than I was thinking we might have to carry.

Then we put the pads and bags out on the floor and tried to sleep on them through the night. Jen made it til 2:30. She said she gave up because there is too much light in our living room. I managed to 3:00 before heading back to the comfort of the bed. That being said, the pads work great. They are self inflating pads. You just open the valve and lay them out and in a few minutes they are 90% inflated. You blow in the valve two or three times and you have a nice sleeping pad. They were surprisingly comfy.

Third, we took a trip up the mountain to try our stove out on the trail. We hiked 2 ½ miles up a snow packed trail, stopped and made a pan of red chile, poured it over some fritos and had frito pie, hot on the trail. The two pictures are of Jen making the red chile.

The trail was 5 miles up and down. We hiked for 3 hours and 15 minutes. We walked from 7500 feet up to 8900 feet where we ate. That is 1400 feet gain in elevation for 2 ½ miles in distance. The first day’s hike on the trail is 2500 feet gain in elevation. However we have 8.8 miles to do it. See how a trail hiker thinks?

We hiked 5 miles in 3 hours, we should be able to do 9 miles in 7 hours. See how a trail hiker plans?
We came home and slept in our nice comfy bed. On the AT we will sleep on the ground and get up in the morning and start another 10 mile day. See how a trail hiker dreams?

Trail Logistics

A thru-hike on the Appalachian Trail is an exercise in logistics. Many have asked us about different aspects of the hike, like; how do you get food, how to you cook, where do you sleep? Boy am I glad they made me think these thing through.
We are going to be like the turtle family. Our home is on our backs. Our back packed kitchen includes 2 pots and a one burner stove. The pantry is dried foods with a few treats. The most important thing about food is the weight. Water is available all along the way so we can rehydrate foods easier than we can carry the extra weight. We will have to carry 4-5 days worth of food at a time. At 2 pounds per person per day that comes to 16-20 pounds of food between the two of us.
We plan to resupply our food stuffs every 4-5 days. There are towns on or close by the trail for that purpose. We will buy some foods at the store and we are preparing some of things at home now and Amy will mail it to us at Post Offices in the towns along the trail. Jen is experimenting with possible menus now. Last night we had burritos with red chile sauce. The whole meal weighed less that 1 pound using dehydrated beans, hamburger, and chile powder. It tasted just like home made and will taste even better after a long day of hiking. When we get to a town, I plan to feast on burgers and fries.
We will be carrying our bedroom on our back as well. I am carrying a two person tent that weighs 6 pounds. We both have self inflating sleeping pads and down filled sleeping bags. Jen’s bag is good down to 0 degrees, mine to 15 degrees. Hopefully we won’t experience weather any worse than that. If the bags are too warm when we walk into summer we plan to buy lighter bags and mail these home. They will have to be mailed back to us in New Hampshire.
All along the trail there are shelters that are available on first come first serve basis. They sleep from 8 to 20 people, but you still need a sleeping pad and bag. Our plan is to not stay in them. On town days there are campgrounds, hostels, and of course hotels. We will spend some nights in those as well.
We will have a cell phone for outside contact when we make towns. Their use is frowned upon while on the trail. Last summer Jen and I took a hike in the Wasatch. After several hours of climbing we reached the summit of Mt. Aire. There was a lady at the summit on her cell phone. She was having an argument with her daughter. I have to say, it was a wilderness experience spoiler. On the trail we will only use the cell phone in emergency.
Along the trail, at hostels, hotels, campgrounds, outfitters, and other places, you can borrow or buy internet access. It is there I will post updates on our progress to this blog and send an email to Amy. Amy will send an email to any who are interested telling them there is a new posting at the blog.
“How will you get to the trail?” is another question we are often asked. “Where will you leave your car?” is another. We will leave our car in the garage in Salt Lake and catch a Delta flight to Atlanta. We will arrive about midnight on the 14th of March. After a night at the red roof inn at the airport our plan is to take MARTA, the Atlanta subway, to the northern most depot. There we will be met by a friend who will take us to the trail. Our hope is to hike 8.8 miles that day to Springer Mountain and the beginning of the Appalachian Trail. After that it is only 2174 miles to Katahdin Mountain, Maine.
One last question we are asked. “And you are doing this because?” If that is your question, read the previous blog.
48 days til we leave. 49 days til we hike.

Under Two Months

Things for the hike are beginning to fall into place. We have all our equipment saving a few odds and ends and Jen hasn't decided on a sleeping pad yet. She is still weighing (and that is a good way to put it) the benefits of a thicker pad vs the weight of a thinner one.

We have our plane tickets to Georgia. It is really strange buying a one way ticket. But, who knows when the return flight will be? If everything goes according to plan we will return around October 20 from Baltimore. But for seven months we will be one injury from having to return home with the trail unfinished.

We will be leaving March 14 and hopefully on the trail March 15. I know, I know, that is the ides of March, but as I told my friend Barbara, I am not Julius Caesar so I don't think we need to "beware." (Hopefully most of you recognize the reference. If you don't check here. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/03/0311_040311_idesmarch.html

My plan for documenting the hike is to post to this site each time a computer is available which I am told is quite often. Then I will let someone (I don't know who yet) know that a post has been made and they will send the notice out to an email list. If you want to be on that list, let me know.

For Holladay Church

This post is for the members of Holladay Baptist Church who want to know more about why Jen and I have decided to hike the trail. Sorry for its length, but it is necessary to adequately explain our seeming foolishness.

OK, friends and family. So when did I go off my rocker? What is the Appalachian Trail silliness all about? What in the world would cause two seemingly sane persons to decide to drop everything and play like a cow pattie, you know, hit the trail?

It was twenty years ago, February, 1987 when Jen and I first became aware of the Appalachian Trail (AT) when we read about it in National Geographic. “A Tunnel Through Time; The Appalachian Trail.” We discussed the article and talked about how much fun that would be, but our baby was 6 and our oldest was 13 with a 10 year old in between. The AT was a pipe dream.

Using cheap, heavy equipment we had taken several backpack trips in the days before children. They were primarily camping trips that involved hiking rather than hiking trips where you had to camp.

The next step was in 2002. Bill Bryson’s book on the AT came across our path. We read “A Walk in the Woods” and laughed and began to talk again about how much fun it would be. But it was still pretty much a far out there, maybe someday kind of thing. Jen was in a waiting room and saw a magazine article about the White Mountain Huts in New Hampshire on the AT. In 2003 we took our vacation and with son Nathan and his wife Amy we hiked through the presidential range of the AT staying in the huts. It was an exhilarating time except for one afternoon when my knee gave out on me.

After that experience we kept talking about hiking more of the trail, first in North Carolina where Josh was living, then in Virginia close to Baltimore where Josh moved to. In 2006 while visiting our new grand baby two things happened. We drove to the Shenandoah National Park and hiked on a side trail and we went to Harpers Ferry. Harpers Ferry is the official midpoint of the AT and the location of the AT offices.

In addition to a short hike on the trail across the Potomac river we went into a bookstore where we purchased, “Long Distance Hiking on the AT for the Older Adventurer.” After reading the book we became serious about taking the hike.

Then there was a Baptist Press article about a ministry that works with the AT community. As I looked into their website I read every day of the journal for a couple of hikers. We began to make plans to hike.

Here is our list of reasons, excuses, alibis, whatever.

1. Dream. You only go around once in life. When you have thought about something off and on as often as we have the AT, you either try it when you still can, or you get to the age when you can’t and wish you could. We don’t want to get to the place where we regret not giving it a try. If we don’t like it, we can quit. If we can’t be retired we can go back to work for another 10 years. But if we wait 10 years we will be too old to attempt it.

2. Jubilee. Thirty years is a long time. Since August 1976 we have been responsible for a church with no break. That is 1560 Sundays. Every week for over 1500 weeks I have had the next sermon and/or series of sermons on my mind. There has always been the list of people I need to see. There is always one more prospect that could be contacted. It never ends and you never get it all done. It has been thirty years of having one more thing to do than could possibly be done. Until today. I have no idea when I will preach my next sermon. However I will still be doing the Wednesday night Bible Study at Holladay until we leave in March.

3. Simplify. One of the real attractions for me is the opportunity to live a simple life for 7 months. What are you going to do today? Walk. What decisions do you have to make? Where do I stop and spend the night. What will you do tomorrow? Walk. How do you introduce yourself? “Hello, my name is Flint. I walk.” Flint is the trail name I have chosen for myself. Jennifer will be Jubilee.

4. Weight and health. After 200 miles of hiking a person gets into trail shape. I am looking forward to being in trail shape. The average male loses around 30 pounds on the trail. I have a little more than average to lose, I am hoping for 40. The combination, better shape, less weight, less work stress, will work together to lower blood pressure. I am counting on it.

5. Time together. Not unlike most couples, Jen and I have spent a lot of time meeting the needs of others rather than spending the time together. We are as much in love, more really, than we were 37 years ago when we decided to get married. But we have spent much of the last 30 years raising kids and working. We are both looking forward to spending seven months involved in meeting a joint goal. I don’t think this can do anything but strengthen our marriage.

6. Spiritual growth. In the same vein, we will be spending a lot of time immersed in our own thoughts while walking. I hope to spend a lot of those walking hours in communion with the Lord. I have a copy of the NIV Bible on my Ipod. I plan to listen to the whole Bible, at least once while walking. We will be meeting a lot of people outside the Pastor/lay person roles we have met people in for the last 30 years. I hope to be able to share the grace of the Lord Jesus with other hikers.

So if you have made it this far on the post you may be interested in knowing that this is where I plan to document our progress. If you want to follow along, send me your email with a request to receive posts as they arrive. Send your request to rodger.russell@gmail.com or you can just check on the page now and then.

God bless you all.

First Book of the Year

Happy New Years. I spent my first day of 2007 reading my first book of 2007. My favorite mystery writer, Tony Hillerman has released a new Navajo mystery. Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn chases the Shape Shifter in "The Shape Shifters." For you Hillerman fans, tell me, does the famous Leaphorn live in Window Rock or Shiprock? I am confused.

I have finished my list of books read in 2006. There were 45 of them. If you would like a copy of the list, I would be glad to send it to you. Reply to this blog and leave me an email address.

A New Direction

OK. the news is out and can be discussed now. After 30 years of Pastoral Ministry without a single break, Pastor Rodger is going to take one. I submitted my retirement effective Jan. 7, 2007. Since the day that Jen and I made that decision I have had a peace beyond comparison. It feels like the load of a universe has been removed from my shoulders. So what am I going to do now?

1. I am going to work to get our affairs in order so we can live on a substantial smaller income.
2. I am going to take a hike, from Georgia to Maine. 2174 Miles.
3. I am going to work on my health. Basically lose weight and decrease blood pressure.
4. I am going to finish one book that is about 75% finished. Work on another that is 25% started and begin one that is still just an idea and an outline.
5. Pray about what God has next for me.

Except for the hike, we have no immediate plans to move from Salt Lake City. Barring injury or illness, we will be on the trail from March to October. Wish us well.

Ski Day

Let'er start. Ski season. Snow = great but low. Rocks = Sharp. Skis = need repair. But the season is on.

Happy Holidays, Season’s Greetings, or Merry Christmas?

Why make such a fuss? When I am out fighting traffic and crowds shopping for cards, decorations, trees, and gifts, I think the term Happy Holidays is just fine. There is nothing intrinsically Christian about those things and I admit I am not really thinking of God’s supreme gift to the world as I am searching for the perfect gift. Until the current fuss about the war on Christmas I assumed that Happy Holidays was referring to Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and New Years Day.

When I am putting up a tree, hanging the lights outside, planning for parties and special events Season’s Greetings speaks my thoughts perfectly. It is the season for indoor trees, decorated yards and houses, parties, and special events. Greetings to you as we meet during these times.

As I put together a series of messages designed to direct our thoughts toward the meaning of Christmas then the former terms will just not do. It becomes, “Merry Christmas.”

Holidays are for gift giving and feasting. The Season is the calendar dates and walking in the winter wonderland. Christmas is the Lottie Moon Mission Offering, the worship services, the advent candles, the carols that celebrate the coming of the only begotten son of God to dwell among us, and the reading of the Gospel story from Matthew 1 and John 1 and Luke 2.

I do believe there is a real culture war instigated by those who would remove every vestige of Jesus Christ from our culture. Christmas has become one of the battlefields only because it is a time when even nominal Christians begin to think about “religious” things. But the real truth is that the materialism that is so rampant at Christmas is so far from the meaning of Christmas that Happy Holidays or Seasons Greetings works just fine for me.

“Here’s your credit card Mr. Russell” (as Grandma got ran over by a reindeer plays in the background) “Thank you so much for spending oodles of money in our store for toys, electronics, groceries, pastries, wrapping paper, etc. Have a Happy Holiday.”

“Hey neighbor, your house looks good.” (as up on the rooftop is on the radio) “ Where did you get those really unique decorations? Seasons Greetings.”

“Pastor Rodger, thank you for that service that reminded me of the blessings God has given because ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life.’” (and as Silent Night plays softly in the candlelit auditorium) “Merry Christmas.”

A Going Problem

“Go to church, go to church, all the time, all the time, go to church.” This was my little brother’s observation as a preschooler when he was told, get in the car, we are going to church.

I was raised in a church going family. I raised a church going family. My brother, the same one as above, raised a church going family. Sometimes it seemed that, yes, we were always going to church.

Some people think that going to church is a problem. The church expects way too much of them to be going all the time. Our current culture has pretty much limited church going to a once a week journey, usually on Sunday morning. The number of attendees at mid week services or even Sunday evening services has plummeted.

Ask people to make another journey to the church building for worship, prayer, study, service, or any other reason and we are accused in a busy culture of creating a going problem. If you have the additional audacity to suggest that people “go on mission,” you really create a going problem.

With apologies to Avodart, whose commercials you see regularly these days, perhaps we don’t have a going problem, but a growing problem. I may be that our unwillingness to invest time, energy, and resources to the things of the Lord doesn’t reflect so much our unwillingness to go, as our unwillingness to grow.

Happy Thanksgiving

Jen and I wish all the readers a happy thanksgiving. Last weekend was a tough football weekend around here and all the teams I root for. First, on Friday night the Moriarty Pintos lost 41-14 to Roswell Goddard. That ended their perfect season and their hunt for a state championship. Then on Saturday the Aztec Tigers, the high school Jen and I both went to, lost in the same state championships. On Saturday late afternoon the Lobos lost to BYU in a romp. Then on Sunday the Broncos couldn't hold on to beat the Chargers. And to top it all off, after Monday night's game I lost in my fantasy league for the first time in 5 weeks. Can you say Loser?

But we will have something to be football thankful for this weekend. It all starts tomorrow with the Broncos.

On a note other than sports. The Lord has blessed us this year. Our little Andrew is healthy and growing. We are loving being grandma and granddad. It would be nice to be a little closer. Video conferencing is better than nothing, but it is better for businesses than grandparents.

Once again, Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

Theology is a Bargain

OK, get ready for this one. It is a little contorted. I am warning you. In Salt Lake City there is a sports store that has a big ski sale every year. They call in sniagrab. For those who dare to ask where in the world they got the name, the answer is "it is bargains spelled backwards."

I was visiting with a friend yesterday and we were talking about the distorted view of theology many of todays churches and christians have. It was preacher talk. In our conversation I told him about the ski sale at Sports Authority and what Sniagrab stood for.

Later he said, maybe the problem is like Sniagrab, the church has theology spelled backwards thinking they are getting a bargin. So we got out a piece of paper and tried it out. Theology spelled backwards is ygoloeht. But if you sound it out and respell it you get, well almost you get, "ego less".

Maybe what we need is more Theology spelled backwards. OK, I warned you it was contorted. But that doesn't make it untrue.