Home

The Appalachian Trail will be our home for many months; we've prepared, we have packed/repacked and we're waiting or we may have already begun. I look forward to meeting many of you along the way. Happy Trails to the Class of 2013 !


I love this song. Phillip Phillips didn't seem comfortable on the big stage during American Idol but he hung in there despite kidney problems, didn't let the producers change his style, and he was the winner of Season 11. Who knows what we will encounter on the trail; it will be different for each one of us. Still, it will be our HOME ...

I hear God's voice in this song :

Hold on to me as we go
As we roll down this unfamiliar road.
Just know you are not alone
Cause I’m gonna make this place your home.



The song also reminds me that we are helping to build homes for severely injured service men and women through donations to Homes For Our Troops.

Make A Gift

I am praying each day for the Class of 2013:

Lord, you have chosen to give us this pilgrimage of life, and so we walk the Appalachian Trail to complete the course and honor you. The way is long and sometimes treacherous. Often we grow exhausted. Sometimes we might want to quit. But we have a finish line to cross; we walk to Katahdin. Lord, guard us and keep us healthy each day. You have given us this body and you ask us to care for it. Walking is a part of our stewardship. Keep our feet and legs strong and without injury. Strengthen our backs. Give health to our hearts and lungs. As we walk, increase our energy and our thinking capacity. Bolster our immune systems. Strengthen our bones. You have given us the gift of movement. As our feet walk the trail, let us soak in the richness of the world you have created. Give us patience when we can’t do all we wish to do. Give us courage to push harder and further than our first instincts. Help us to strike the balance between rest and reach. Teach us lessons while we walk. Show us your character and perseverance by putting a new and deeper perseverance into us. We thank you for the gift of feet. We walk the journey you have set for us. We do not want to stop short. With You by our side, we want to complete the course, for your honor, Jesus. Amen.

John 15:5  - Abide in Me ... for apart from Me you can do nothing.

Waiting, Walking and Reading

While I wait to begin the Appalachian Trail, I walk every day. Some days with my pack and some days without it. It's raining today so I'll go out in the rain. While I wait to begin the trail, I read. I am reading a couple of books.  I Hike:Mostly True Stores from 10,000 Miles of Hiking by Lawton Grinter -- Amazon's description:  "I never set out to hike 10,000 miles. It just sort of happened over the course of a decade." And so goes Lawton Grinter's compelling collection of short stories that have been over ten years and 10,000 trail miles in the making. I Hike brings the reader trail side with blissful moments on the highest mountain ridges to the mental lows of mosquito hell and into some peculiar situations that even seasoned hikers may find unbelievable.

The second book I downloaded to my Kindle to take on the trail but when I started to read it, I couldn't stop. I'm about 3/4th of the way through Blind Courage by Bill Irwin.  Bill is the first and only blind person to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail along with his guide dog, Orient. They were on the trail almost 9 months.

What follows is a short video clip of Bill and Orient on the Appalachian Trail; this grabbed my heart!


Amazon's book description - In a remarkable true story of commitment, perseverance and the will to survive, Bill Irwin, the first and only blind person to hike the entire Appalachian Trail, through fourteen states, along 2,168.9 miles, Bill and Orient walked, sending a message to all of us, reminding us of and encouraging us to pursue our own impossible dreams. Review by his daughter Marianne: A friend asked me if I had ever read the book and I was embarrassed to tell her that I had not. I began reading it, and I found it very difficult to put it down. I was fascinated by the details of this amazing journey my father had made, and all that went on in my father's life before, during, and after that trip. It inspired me to make some changes in my own life. I am grateful to call this man my father!

 His story could be our story. I have clipped (Kindle's way of highlighting) many passages so far from this book.  The first - "When the thought first occurred that the Lord might want me to hike the trail, I put it out of my mind. When the idea kept coming back, I told God He had the wrong Bill Irwin. "I'm the blind guy, remember?"  (I didn't put the thought out of my head but I didn't take it too seriously at first. I said, really, Lord ? I like hiking for a day and spending the night at a lodge or bed and breakfast but I have no experience back packing.)

"If people ever wonder who buys the trousers with the 36" waist and the 29" length that are always left on the sale table, it's me. My legs were too short for climbing mountains and my muscles were too weak."  (I'm 5' 4" and if I allow myself to think ahead about the rock climbing parts, fear rears it's ugly head. So, I'm only going to take one day a time.)

"I had heard people talk about living by faith, and this was going to be my chance to discover what that was all about."  (In 1983 during a Cursillo weekend I began my journey of discovery.)

"I explained that my journey was a way of saying thanks to God for all He had done in my life." (No matter the number of miles I travel, I will give thanks to God for inviting me to the trail and for walking with me.)

"Easter Sunday morning, I attended a sunrise service held by the Salvation Army at a little rural church. It was a wonderful time and filled my cup for the day. I was reminded that God was in charge of the hike, and everything was going to happen just the way He wanted it to." (I believe God wants me to attend mass during the months I'm on the trail. So I'm trusting He'll make a way for me even though I don't want to hitch hike.)

"Sighted hikers do experience visual rewards that were hidden from me on the A.T., but there are things that none of us can see unless we look through the eyes of our souls. For me, those images were like time exposures created as each succeeding day and night allowed a small portion of light to leave its mark on the file of my mind." (Looking through the eye of my soul - I know the experience and look forward to it on the trail).

John 15:5 - Abide in Me ... for apart from me you can do nothing.

Go the Distance

During the hike in October, we stopped for the night at Gooch Gap shelter. I searched the log (it's in the white tube on the back wall) for signatures from hikers I had followed on trailjournals.com. I noticed an entry from March of 2012 because of the beautiful penmanship. It was signed by Warren Doyle, a 34,000 miler, as of 2011. I should have taken a picture of the entry to record his words but I didn't think about it. The gist of the entry was that he had seen approximately 50 NOBO's on the trail that day who were tired, not prepared and probably would not make it out of Georgia. That was sobering. I keep thinking about his comments.

Mr. Doyle runs a program called The Appalachian Trail Institute to prepare people to go the distance. The link below takes you to Walking The Entire Appalachian Trail: Fulfilling a Dream by Completing the Task.  Fulfilling A Dream

I can't be sure, but I don't think it was accidental for me to find Warren Doyle's entry in the Gooch Gap log. I expect his thirteen statements of wisdom will be helpful to me as I head north and hopefully go the distance. 

Last January on my 63rd birthday my husband and I completed our first  half marathon. It was really cold and windy that morning at Callaway Gardens. We didn't set any records, we didn't place in our age groups, but we went the distance. That's my hope for the Appalachian Trail.

The finish line for the half marathon is in the background. If I can go the distance in 2013, I'll have a picture of myself at the Katahdin sign instead of a medal.

I am keeping the picture below in my mind as I walk the Appalachian Trail. This man and his family have gone the distance and they continue to go the distance every day. Homes For Our Troops Fund Raising with PrayerWalker

At the moment on the trail when I first see the Katahdin sign, which from pictures I have seen is a little ways before I actually get there, I expect to kneel down right there, give thanks to God for walking with me and allowing me to go the distance, and then walk just a little further to the sign and complete the pilgrimage. I'll have a little Homes For Our Troops flag with me which has been on my backpack from the beginning. I hope someone will take a picture of me holding that flag at the sign. I hope that people will have been generous in their support to Homes For Our Troops and will have helped me meet my fund raising goal to build homes for our brave men and women.

Gratitude

Let us cultivate the gift of gratitude during 2013 whether we are walking the Appalachian Trail or going about our normal daily routines. I'm grateful today for the gift of the Eucharist which I received at mass this morning. I'm also grateful for good health and for my legs and feet that supported me and my 20 lb. pack during an 8 mile walk this afternoon.



Let us remember that our smiles can bring blessings; let gratefulness overflow.