Say Howdy When You Stop By

Look on the right, at the top. See the box? If the box says, "Rodger is online" it means that my AOL instant messenger is online and active. Type a message in the box that says, "type here, press enter to send", Change the name from "aimguestxxxx" to your name, and send me a message. I would love to hear from you, even if you just say "hi!"

A GOOD DEED A GOOD FEELING

We are late! We spent too much time in Durango at breakfast. The highway from Durango to Silverton is not one to hurry over. We are headed to a family reunion at Ridgeway, north of Ouray, Colorado. We are late, or did I already say that.

I had just been able to pass a few slow moving vehicles that had impeded our progress up Molas Pass. As we were going over the pass, there they were. Two hikers on the side of the road trying to hitch a ride. It was Jen’s family reunion we were late for so I asked her. “Should we pick up those two hikers?”

YES! She said it without hesitation. I am sure she was remembering the times we spent on the side of highways waiting for someone to give us a ride to town. We stopped and picked up a delightful young couple. They were school teachers from California. They were hiking the Colorado trail from Denver to Durango. They had been on the trail for 26 days. It had been a week since their last town.

As they got in they apologized that it had been too long since they had a shower. “I apologize for the stink.” Were her exact words. They were looking for a ride to Silverton. They were looking forward to a hot meal, a hot shower, and a good nights sleep in a real bed.

It brought back memories. And we were so glad to be able to help other hikers the way we had been helped. A ride is an easy thing to give someone. Amy was sitting in the back seat with them. “Would you like something to eat?”

“Oh, yes! And they began to devour the cookies that they desperately needed and that we didn’t need at all.

They were another week on the trail from Durango. We had eaten breakfast in Durango less than an hour earlier. My Starbucks I got as we left Durango wasn’t even cool yet.

Long distance hiking gives a person a new perspective on life. Before the Appalachian Trail experience I would not have even considered stopping for two hikers. If you are going over mountain passes and you see people with backpacks and a thumb out, they aren’t hitchhikers, they are distance hikers and need a ride to town. Could you give them a ride?

CONGRATULATIONS MR. ED

Do you remember Mr. Ed? The Mr. Ed on TV was a talking horse. On March 24, nine days into our Appalachian Trail hike we met another Mr. Ed. Ed Lipscomb is a 61 year old thru hiker. He was tenting at a shelter the same night we were at the same shelter. He was already hiking 20 mile days when we were still struggling to make 12 miles.

Why do I mention Mr. Ed today? Simple. On Sunday, July 22, Mr. Ed completed the trail. He hiked to the top of Mt, Katahdin in Maine. That is the end of the trail. He completed the trail in 4 months and 3 days. What a great adventure. CONGRATULATIONS MR. ED


This link will take you to Mr. Ed’s trail journal on the date we met him. Read a few of his entries, they are interesting.

The other people we were actually hiking with are crossing into Vermont this week. We miss the trail, but we are glad and thankful for the 548 miles we were able to do.

http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?id=170585

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?