I broke the two week mark and still feel
good about life, so that's something. I woke up today and got into the swing of
routine. I still can't seem to improve my pack up time, which is always about
an hour and a half. And when I hit the trail it takes me a little to get into
the walking, probably because normally I'd be rolling over in bed to grab my
computer and watch TV shows until I felt ready for the day around 10:00 am.
Therefore, it's important to break the first sweat as early as possible so I
can really jam through the cool morning hours.
I can sum up today with HILLS. Holy crap all I did
today was walk up and down hills. The only saving grace was the weather, which
is decidedly chilled. I'm holed up in my tent in my sleeping bag and wearing a
pile of clothes. Surprisingly, I marched the hills fairly easily which means my
body is strengthening. I can tell I'm going to pay for it tomorrow though.
I did meet some excellent people today.
I'm now planning to stop at every fire station because firemen are awesome.
Captain Chris and Matt gave me the layout of the land, refilled my water and I
had a cup of Forest Service coffee which was obviously better than my Nescafe.
And as I was walking towards Pine Mountain
Resort, the nearest town, I serendipitously ran into an elderly gentleman named
Tom. By sheer chance, he was about to turn around at the spot he usually does
right when I was passing by and so we strolled to town together. Turns out Tom
was also an English major, so we hit it off famously, swapping book titles and
observations about my walk. Tom is very well spoken, erudite and an energetic
man for his age despite having overcome a ling disease and liver transplant. I
just had the best time walking leisurely down a mountain road with the air
crisp and bright, accompanied by a gentle, luminous soul who I sense has been pondering
the world much longer and deeper than i have. He gave me a big hug when we
parted. I still wish the road had been longer or that we had walked more
slowly. Hopefully, I will meet Tom again.
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What a wonderful encounter with Tom. And all the other guys at the fire houses! You've been so lucky to have these people help you as you travel on your journey! They are the daily gifts of life.
ReplyDeleteHope your gear has been efficient in keeping you warm at night!