Hello Friends and Family!June is coming to a close and it seems like time is just flying by. I have not taken my camera to work yet but I will soon and add a couple of pictures of the ambulance that our team transports patients in. On the job front while I enjoy my employment at the University of Virginia I will be applying for a job as a firefighter/paramedic with the City of Charlottesville. This job, if I receive an offer, would be a significant jump not only finiancially but would be a better fit for me. So keep your fingers crossed and I will keep you all posted on my progress. Anna is enjoying being at home with May while I am not enjoying the prospects of night shifts and being on call a job is a job and we have yet to figure out how to grow money. Anna somehow squeezes in a few hours here and there with her job at "creciento juntos" a NGO here in town that allows her to work from home. Big news on the Brother Joe and Sister Leah front...they have received a referral from their adoption agency and will be traveling to Ethiopia sometime soon to bring back their newly adopted 2 month old boy! Check out their blog http://montsweeney.blogspot.com/.More updates and pics soon.Love T&A&May

A new Twins fan! This was my shirt about 28 years ago maybe May will get to wear it during the World Series!

Anna and May went berry picking last week...we now have five pounds of raspberries in our freezer.

We took May out to our local CSA farm to do a little weeding and watering and picked some carrots, beets, potatoes, and greens.

The chickens were very curious about May so I took her out of her bouncy seat, she can play with chickens when she gets a little older.

Ryan and Gerald checking out the child hammock that Ryan made. Thanks Ryan, she loves it. Below is a video of the hammock in action.

Hello Friends and Family,All is well with the Sullivan clan. Our summer projects have begun with the installation of a quintessential element of home improvement, a kegerator. Anna's papa has been busy with drawing up home improvement schematics for our house which involve a skid steer, ditch witch and forty to fifty gallons of elbow grease. Anna has been going through loads of baby clothes given to us by friends and family and while many of the clothes are adorable we have found that two hundred onesies and eighteen rain jackets are a little more than we need so we've been donating some items to the local salvation army. May is getting more and more active, raising her head, squirming, babbling and experimenting with countless facial expressions. We are beginning to learn what May's grunts, sighs, smiles and furrowed brows mean or, more accurately, what bodily function is imminent. The video below is what generally happens when May is hungry.

An early fathers day gift. This was the fridge we used to have in the kitchen and is now an addition to the ever growing man cave.

We didn't think that May would like being strapped down in a car seat but she seems to like it.

Anna B and May B.

Lizzie holding May and Laurel looking on at a little house dinner we had last week for Lizzie who headed up to New York for the summer.

Anna and May sorting through baby clothes.

Nap time is very important.

May, the world cup and the USA not being trounced by England.

May with a onesie that Anna made.

It only took us four days to name her, May Bird Sullivan. Bird is a family name on Anna's side and while she was born the first day of June we both liked May a lot and we're having some fun with some nicknames. Maybe a little too much fun.

For all our Nebraska friends and family it looks like you will be meeting May at my brother Pat's wedding in October. Can't wait to see you all!

I was talking with Daniel (Anna's papa) the other day and he was asking me if I was keeping track of this experience through some sort journal and I thought that this format would be a good place to do that, so here it is. I have started back at work with the University of Virginia Neonatal Emergency Transport team and feeling a bit of stress about leaving Anna and May at home but our friends and family here have been fantastic, stopping by to deliver delicious food, visit and help out around the house. The good thing about my job is that I fulfill my work requirements in three days and tend to have the rest of the week off. The bad news is that I keep thinking I'll come home one day and she'll be riding her bike around and I'll wonder where did all the time go, an unfounded concern as I'm sure I'll at least see her walk first.It should be an action packed summer for our little family. On the docket this summer is a kitchen remodel, solar panel installations, new front porch and maybe a new back deck with a donated hot tube from Daniel. Our little garden should be kicking out tomatoes and hot peppers soon. Our fig tree from Ryan made it through the winter so we'll have a few figs later this summer. Also, it looks like Joe and Leah will be going to Ethiopia sometime in July to pick up their adopted child, more on that the more we find out but May seems excited about a cousin.I'll try and upload a few more pics sometime soon of May and our house projects. All is going well with kiddo and mama.Take care and talk with you all soon,love T&A&May

Hello Friends and Family!

All is well. Baby is feeding, sleeping, and pooping like a champ. My folks and Anna's are thrilled to have a granddaughter. She is cute, peaceful, soft and smells good. Her yawns and sneezes kill me. More to come.

Getting her footprints.

About thirty minutes after birth.

Aunt Leah, thanks for being there Leah your help was much appreciated.

Alison with her first granddaughter.

Kirby and Mary Claire with their first granddaughter.

We've got a couple names in mind and after tonight we should have a name for her.Love T&A

She has finally arrived all 9 lbs. 2 oz. of her. Labor was about 12 hours long with an intense final hour ending at 9:30 this morning.

Pictures to come soon! and a name.

Hello Friends and Family!No baby yet but it should be anytime now. Anna is having more and more contractions throughout the day and night so it seems that her body is getting ready for the big day. When that will be we are not sure but I'm thinking that this upcoming week we will be meeting our new addition. We'll keep you all posted.

Not ours. Bowen is taking a little nap he is the son of Katherine and Russ, good friends of ours.

Anna picking strawberries in our backyard, we've picked about a hundred so far and no signs of them slowing down yet.

Spreading a little mulch and more importantly, looking good doing it.

We took advantage of some state and federal stimulus funds and bought a new refrigerator and washing machine.

Anna insisted on carrying the refrigerator in the house.

A birthday party for Gabe and Lizzy over at Jessie's house, this was a while back but I thought it was good pic with the lights hanging from the laundry line.

Anna with the Handworks crowd who helped in the making of the baby quilt in the middle.

A whole bunch of tie-died onesies and baby outfits that where made at Anna's baby-shower. They had to be rinsed out in our tub. She'll be a well dressed hippie.

Hello Friends and Family,A few pic's below showing my little brother and his fiance visit to Charlottesville. Also Anna, Leah and her hubby Joe and me on our trip to Atlantic beach to hang with the Dolan clan.

Down with the messy mulberry tree and all of its poison ivy!

Kirby and I with Brian Mutchies old chainsaw, it still works!Kirbo! we're glad your back and safe.

Kirby and Jenna on the banks of the Moormans river.

Anna in a baby swaddling thing my mom made. Thanks mom.

Joe, Leah, Anna, and I in our front yard prior to the 5 hour car ride to North Carolina for a fun Easter weekend trip on the beach. A yearly trip we all relish.

Meg and Jeff and Atlantic Beach, NC, thanks for putting us up and showing us such a good time!Anna in Meg and Jeff's front lawn in Beaufort NC, we played a rousing game of Easter day street tennis, the neighborhood enjoyed it about as much as we did.

Anna and Mama Montgomery in the Montgomery's backyard.

April 10th wedding of Graeme and Nicole, here's a pic of the preacher, Graeme, Nathan, David and me in one of my dad's old suits. It was a beautiful day for a wedding, with great live music from the HoneyDew Drops, Horseshoes and friends, we all had a blast.

The lovely bride Nicole flanked by her parents.

In other news; we've been looking at houses in Charlottesville and just placed a offer on a house about four blocks away from our current house. The house is located on a much quieter street next to a park. Hopefully, the owner will accept the offer and we'll be able to move in before the baby is born. It will be quite an experience to move into a newer house with a baby on the way. I've applied for a new position as a paramedic with a Neonatal Emergency Transport service with the University of Virginia Medical Center where I currently work as a communications dispatcher in the Emergency Department. Anna has been doing great and is on her 35th week of pregnancy. Her work with the NGO Creciento Juntos has been busy but she is enjoying it. Leah and Joe are awaiting news of their imminent adoption of an Ethiopian child. Daniel and Alison (Ma & Pa Montgomery) are busy with spring plantings and the construction of a green house.

Hope you all are enjoying the spring weather!More blogs to come soon!Love T&A.

Soon, we'll be posting our AT video highlighting the trials and triumphs of our 5 month hike.

Now for a little update on what Anna and I have been up to. Anna has been working part time with Creciento Juntos (growing together) a Latin American outreach group that is part of a local NGO. At least one of us is keeping up with our spanish skills! Since the weather has been agreeable she's been getting dirty outside with various plantings but noticing that her ever growing belly is making some tasks difficult. If you haven't been informed Anna is 31 weeks pregnant with our first child, a girl! The due date is May 13th and please, hold on sending pink clothing as we have been inundated with pinkness.

I'm half way through another semester at a local community college and still on track to transfer to the University of Virginia sometime next year. I am working part time in the emergency department of University of Virginia's medical center specifically with medical communications talking with helicopters and ambulances and informing the appropriate parties of their imminent arrival.

These are exciting times for us and our soon to be family and we'll be more consistent with updates of these times on our blog.

We hope that the spring time is treating you all well.Love,T&A&...(Nora, Gertrude, Claire, well, we just haven't decided yet)

Last week I wrote a letter to the Daily Progress, our local paper, about the need for health care reform. Low and behold, they printed it!

Here's what appeared in the paper yesterday:

Reform insurance; add new option In 2000, at the age of 21, I had a rare form of ovarian cancer. I was incredibly fortunate to overcome the disease in good health and without debt. At the time I had health insurance through my parents’ employer, and the bills were minimal. Without that coverage, I would now be in debt $50,000, or, worse, I would have been denied care, and I would not have survived.

Aside from the cancer, I have no health problems. But now, nine years later, fully recovered and with less than a 1 percent chance of the cancer returning, I am virtually uninsurable. I am lucky to have insurance through my husband’s employer, but so many other Americans do not have this option. Healthy people like me are denied coverage and the medical care they need because they are a financial liability to the insurance companies.

Our system is not set up to make health care affordable and accessible. It is not set up to promote prevention or early intervention. It is not set up to offer the greatest care to the greatest number of people. It is, instead, set up to profit insurance companies.

President Obama’s plan for health care reform will make it illegal for insurance companies to deny coverage based on pre-existing conditions, to drop coverage for members when they become sick, or to cap the amount of coverage they can receive. For myself and my fellow Americans, I desperately want these changes.

Additionally, I want a public option. I want to walk into a doctor’s office and receive care without worrying about the out of pocket expenses. I want, and I trust, the government to manage my health care. They do a great job with our public schools, our military, our policemen and firefighters, our mail. Their intervention will enable every American to receive the medical attention they need and deserve.

America has the best medical schools in the world, the best doctors and nurses, and the most cutting-edge technology in medicine. Let’s give our people access to these wonderful resources. They are dying without it. Anna Sullivan

Charlottesville, VA

Interestingly, here's the headline that made today's front page: ‘Hands Off My Healthcare’ tour makes local stop

This article honored the 50 some people that attended a rally held in Charlottesville yesterday to oppose Obama's health care reform plan: "Many in attendance Wednesday held signs and cheered as speakers talked about their concerns over health care reform. Ginger Kohr, who brought her daughter to the rally, said she was concerned what the plan will do for her daughter’s future. '[With the national debt] she is not going to have the same standard of living that we have now and that bothers me,' Kohr said."Well, Ginger, I sure hope your little girl doesn't get sick between now and her debt-free adulthood.

In England, France, Canada, and just about every other educated nation in the world, you can go to the doctor's office, receive timely and thorough care, and walk out without paying a dime. Yes, their taxes are higher, but they are healthier, they live longer, and they don't go bankrupt for having cancer, giving birth, or getting in a car wreck.

Maybe we should talk about spending what we pay in taxes now on health care instead of wars, but that's another letter.

We've finished, Kaput, done, end-o-rama or however else you'd put it. It was an utterly exhausting and exhilarating challenge and I for one am truly glad that I'm no longer walking twenty miles a day with thirty pounds upon my shoulders, I think I can speak for Anna on that account as well. We completed our climb up Mount Katahdin, the northern terminus of the AT, on the 10th of August and are currently settling back into our home and life back in Charlottesville, Virginia.

It was a wet and wild ride during those 5 months in the woods and we would like to extend our gratitude to all of our family and friends who helped us along the way. Mamacita aka Alison Montgomery, your skill in dehydrating tasty foods and then sending them to odd locations was the envy of our trail companions because of you we truly ate better than most other hikers during our hike. Jessie and Sonny, Jeremy, Ryan, Evan and Kates, Anna O., Leah (big sis), J. Ben Ranz (rhymes with Hands) Kirby (papa scoutmaster) and all our other friends and family who hiked with us on the trail your smiles, conversations and laughter kept our souls happy even though it rained all the time, thank you.

Enjoy the Pics and Thanks again to all that made this journey possible.

A new sign this year.

A cow moose about forty feet off the trail.

Pop, Anna and I right before the hike up Katahdin.

A nice little lake in the Hundred Mile Wilderness and that is real sunshine on our faces.

Love T&A.

2152.0 miles.

Holy smokes. So close to the end.

I oscillate hourly between feeling thrilled -we're about to accomplish the greatest goal we've ever set for ourselves, and heartbroken -this great journey is coming to an end.

We're camped on the shore of Rainbow Lake, one of the hundreds of pristine, still lakes in the wilderness of Maine. Last night we feel asleep to the haunting call of the loons, we woke up this morning to the sound of absolute quiet.

We pushed ahead the last few days, setting ourselves up to do an unprecedented easy two ten mile days before summiting Katahdin. Alas, in typical T&A fashion, we're now thinking, 'oh, well why not just do one more 20 mile day and summit tomorrow?' That's been our m.o. the whole trip -push ourselves to the limit so we can take a break later, then skip that break later and keep pushing.

There's no right or wrong way to do this trail, and our way got us this far. But, if I were going to do it again, I think I'd take six months instead of five to complete it -more days off, fewer miles each day, more afternoons hanging out by a lake or on a summit or in our tent listening to the rain, more moments to pause and enjoy the beauty along the way.

Though we've had no shortage of beautiful moments. Yesterday a few hours before sunset, we were following a stream uphill and came upon a wide, shallow lake where a moose was feeding. She was in the middle of the bog, head under water for 15 seconds at a time eating huge gobs of whatever grows at the bottom of bogs. She saw us sitting there watching her and kept right on eating undisturbed. What a beautiful sight. A few weeks ago Tom and I came to the top of a hill and into a clearing, and a little fuzzy dog trotted up to our feet. When it heard Tom's voice, it bolted into the grass and disappeared. It was a coyote pup, probably just a few weeks old. Three days ago I watched a bear walking through the woods. It didn't see me and was headed right in my direction. I let it get pretty close -about 30 feet or so from me, then let it know I was there, at which point it wheeled around on its hind legs and barreled back into the woods. I almost wish I had just let it walk by me -but then some people do get eaten by bears here and there, even the shy black ones.

I'm not trying to say that I want to move in with a den of wild animals, live naked and never return to civilization, just that it's beautiful out here. We're surrounded by quiet, simple, breathtaking beauty. And I'll miss it.

2100.6 miles.

I am exhausted. I don't think I've ever been so worn out in my life.

We've entered the 100 miles wilderness, less than 80 miles to go to Katahdin, and we're giving it our all. The miracle of it is, tomorrow I'll wake up and my legs will move. I know that even as beat as I am right now, I'll sleep, and in the morning I'll stand up and walk, and enjoy -yes, still, enjoy- hiking through these mountains another day.

2041.6 miles.

Whew! A 19 miles day through the mud of Maine is no easy thing. And we're dragging poor Ben Ranz along through it all. He's come to join us for a few days on the trail going from Stratton to Monson, and he's hanging in there like a champ -actually, I think he's doing a lot better than we are.

With just 130 miles to go we can practically smell the finish line, and we've been pushing ourselves to the max to get there on August 11th -five months from the day we started. Looks like we'll make it, but there will be no breaks for us until we reach Katahdin.

Only nine days left of this great journey. I'm starting to get nostalgic before it's even over. I know how much I'll miss this life, its simplicity and ease, the beauty of the wilderness, and the one enormous challenge before us each day -to keep on walking.

2023.1

I met Tom Sullivan eight years ago today and loved him instantly.

He's everything I could ask for in a partner -caring, adventuresome, generous, capable, hardworking, good looking, and fun. I feel at ease when he's in sight. I miss him when he's not. Just want to tell the world how grateful I am to have him in my life.

1915.5 miles.

Well, the first 20 miles of Maine have proven to be just as torturous, maybe even harder than the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Talking to mom the other day I mentioned how much more difficult the trail is up here -really nothing like the rest of the AT. She asked what I meant -how is it hard?

Until we got to this part I couldn't envision why it would be so tough either. Today I thought of a way to visualize it -even better actually, a way to let our friends experience the trail for themselves. So, here it is: a re-creation of the AT in southern Maine during the wettest summer on record. You'll need a staircase, but most of you can do this at home.

First, fill a wheelbarrow with dirt. Get out the garden hose and make that dirt into mud. Pour the mud down the stair case, and fill up a few tubs with mud, too. Place those on the stairs in such a way that you couldn't possibly avoid stepping in them. Next, find some big, cumbersome objects -a dish washer or a copy machine maybe- and place those on the stairs (they may tip over, that's fine). Then grab some canned goods, broom handles, rolling pins, cookie sheets, whatever is on hand in the kitchen. Toss those down the steps. Now bring the hose inside, lay the nozzle at the top of the stairs, and turn it on.

Okay, you've got your own personal Appalachian Trail, and you're ready for hiking. Starting at the bottom, go up the stairs, up and over the cumbersome things, through the mud and running water, around the obstacles. Mind you don't slip or catch your foot on something. When you reach the top, turn around and go back down. Repeat for ten hours.

That's pretty much what we did today.

1887.3 miles.

Took a serious writing haitus there -almost made it through New Hampshire without stopping to reflect. Due in part to losing our book a week ago (got it back yesterday through a small series of miracles and kind people), but mostly it was those big and bad White Mountains that had us spellbound and -day after day- plain freakin exhausted.

What a phenomenal place the Whites are. We dropped our pace to 15 or 10 or sometimes 8 miles a day so we could take it all in, take the side trails to the lonely summits, take our time ascending and descending the long, sheer slabs of stone that stood between us and a reasonably secure place to stop and catch our breath. Everyone said this place would be a hard hike -I had no idea they were serious, that "hard hike" would apply to us, too. We've crossed hundreds of mountains, walked over 1800 miles, and are in the best shape of our lives. I thought, "how hard could it be?"

Hard. Awesomely, agonizingly, beautifully, hard.

And now, the Whites behind us, we'll walk into Maine today. For months people we encountered along the trail and in towns have asked us where we're headed. "Maine," we've always replied -confidence growing in that response with every state line we crossed. I guess we'll have to be a little more specific from here on out.

1859.0 miles

Whoa.

These mountains are HUGE.

We've heard about the White Mountains of New Hampshire since we began this trek. People on the trail talk about them like some mythical beast that's gonna eat you. You hear things along the way like, "oh man, this is the steepest climb on the trail -except for the Whites of course." Or, "dude, the rocks in Pennsylvania are the worst! Except for the rocks in the Whites. Those are actually the worst." Or, "you think this is tough, wait until you get to the Whites."

It's no joke. These hills are bigger than life. And we are right in the middle of them.

Yesterday we summitted Mt. Washington, the second highest peak on the trail, and the location of -as the sign at the base of the mountains puts it- the worst weather in America. Sure enough. It was crazy up there. The peaks here are well above tree line, and there was no refuge from the 80 to 100 mile an hour winds whipping us sideways. One wrong step and you could easily break an ankle, so at times I scrambled across the jagged boulders on all fours. The clouds were so thick we could barely see 20 feet. And that was a nice day up there we hear.

Coming down Washington, we followed the rocky ridge of the Presidential peaks for 15 miles or so, said hello to Mr. Adams, TJ, and James Madison, then ducked back down into the trees, sad to lose the spectacular 360 views, but a little glad to be back on the familiar trails of mud and roots and rocks. That was some tough walking up there.

People ask us all the time what our favorite part of the trail has been. This is it. Right here. Rugged, agonizing on the knees, and hard to breathe, you'd have to be crazy to drag yourself up these hills. But I love every beautiful bit of it.

With five hundred miles to go it finally feels as if we are approaching an end to this journey. We are now in Vermont only two states left after this one, New Hampshire and Maine, and then back to...more work, play, family and food that is already hydrated. Just a few pictures to document our journey.

Sunfish pond in New Jersey.

Always a helpful sign on the AT.

Always Hungry!

Yes! Bears! in a zoo on the AT at Bear Mountain in NY.

This was on Mombash Mountain in NY, if you look really hard you'll see the NYC skyline. We went to NYC for two days and hung out with our PC Bolivia friends Kates, Evan and Anna O.

Anna O., Anna B and Kates in Brooklyn.

Our first swim in a long time.

Boy did it feel good. This was at Upper Goose pond in Massachusetts.

Anna on Upper Goose pond.

Snack time, PB and whatever it'll go on. Into Vermont!Haven't spotted one yet but here's a moose track.Sometimes we fall down.

Hiking buddy

Another hiking buddy.

1619.5 miles.

Happy Birthday America!

Another messy, muddy, rainy day to celebrate our life of independence.

Sick of the rain and pretty exhausted from hiking 20 some miles a day for over a month, we pinned our hopes on Vermont and the beautiful Green Mountains to cheer us up.

Well, apparently it rains in Vermont, too.

No matter, we're excited to be here, just two more states and 550 miles from our destination. These mountains are beautiful -full of fir trees and lakes, bear and moose tracks everywhere. Sure it's rained 8 inches in the last three days, the trail is a sloppy mud pit, and our tent is growing a few varieties of mold, but Leah is coming up to meet us tomorrow to hike with us for a week, and the radio says there's a chance of sunshine this afternoon!

Rain or shine, onward we march in our pursuit of happiness.

1558.8 miles.

Supreme day.

Supreme start to a supreme day -last night we stayed at Upper Goose Pond cabin, a beautiful place on what we Virginians would surely call a lake, not a pond. We got our first real skinny dip of the season in, took the canoe out for a whirl and watched the sunset, then slept on a mattress under a roof and woke up to a pancake breakfast the cabin caretaker prepared for us. Bellies full and fully caffeinated, we set out to do 21 miles through the mud.

Massachusetts is beautiful -huge hemlock groves, pretty views, cold clear creeks. It's not her fault we've had 24 days of rain so far this month.

On top of that delicious breakfast, we encountered three doses of trail magic today -two separate coolers filled with sodas and snacks and a lady who allows hikers to get water from the spigot at her house, then gives them cookies. Too great. It was a needed lift to the spirits.

We're making great strides here doing 20 mile days, but my legs have had about enough of that. Our plan was to scale it back starting tomorrow, but we got into Dalton this afternoon, and we hear that Tom, the awesome guy who lets hikers stay at his house for free, will drive you 23 miles up the trail so you can slack pack back to the house and spend the night again, then get a lift to the same spot the next day and continue north. Too good to pass up, so how about the next day we'll start taking it easy. . .

1519.1 miles.

Raindrops aren't falling on your head. They're being shot at you from Mother Nature's own nail gun. You're wet. You're tired. You're cold. You're not gonna make it.

Or are you?

(an ad for Power Bars in a Backpacker magazine I read at Lois Rose's East Mountain Retreat Center)

I read this and smile. There's a power bar in my backpack that i'll eat in an hour or two when we get back on the trail. It will taste like peanut butter soaked cardboard and fill my belly for another few miles. I can relate to the woman in the picture -she's running, straining, pushing herself. And the rain is coming down as though on a mission to make her workout harder, to test her limits. I smile because I know it's not the power bar that will get here there. It's something else inside. Something you must dig for. Something, by digging for day after day after day, you've come to trust in.

You're going to make it. Not because of what you eat, not even because you're in rock solid shape. You're going to make it because you've decided to, because you've seen what you're capable of, and you trust yourself to keep on doing it.

Many days to go. Many miles to go. But we'll make it. All we've got to do is keep on walking.

1485.2 miles.

Remember running the mile in gym class?

Four laps around the track. The first you're feeling good, setting the pace, having a good time. The second lap you're doing okay, trying to keep your speed even, almost halfway there. The third lap sucks. You wish this thing were over, but you're not even close. The fourth lap you stretch it out and give it your all.

Hiking the Appalachian Trail is kind of like running the mile, just 2,000 times longer. And here we are in the third lap right now. I knew this wouldn't be easy -that was part of it's allure, but we were up for the challenge, and really I thought all we'd have to do is walk somewhere every day.

Walking is nice. People do it all the time -for fun, for exercise, to get to work or to the store. Put a pack on your back and it gets a little harder. Add some rocks and roots and stumps and creeks in your path and the excitement factor is on the rise. Then throw some mountains in there -and don't skirt around the side, we're going straight for the top and back down again. Finally, toss in some rain -good long soakers, and take away the possibility of a hot shower at the end of the day, a warm bed, a roof, or a change of clothes. Now we're walking.

So I get it; it's hard. Not just physically hard, though it is. Hard in ways that go beyond the body. This experience has demanded a kind of humble persistence, a slow, steady, quiet determination. A daily, sometimes hourly pep talk to the brain to stay positive, to the feet to hang in there, to the legs to keep on truckin.

Every day for the past month we've seen nearly the same thing all day long: thick forest at our sides, and rocks at our feet. The views doesn't really let on that we're actually getting anywhere.

But look! We're in Connecticut! Tomorrow we'll be in Massachusetts! We are really, truly walking north and ever so steadily working our way towards Mt. Katahdin, Maine.

Tom and I are both excited to get into Vermont; we hear it's beautiful country up ahead full of beastly mountains and epic views. One more week until we're there. I know we can do it. I know at this point, having come so far, that we'll be part of that 20% that make it to the end.

And I know, yes I'm certain, that when we're done and it's time to head back home, I'll miss the heck out of this life, this experience, this walk in the woods.

1371.4 miles. 

Lotta dam rain.

New York, so far, has been really steep, and really wet. They say this is the rainingest June on record. Tomorrow we'll head into New York City to play with friends for the weekend -a welcomed break!

p.s. New Jersey deserves a better name. The armpit of America, at least its northwest corner, is really quite beautiful. 

1283.6 miles. 

Three months into this adventure and we're still alive!

Woke up yesterday to more rain. After a rockin midnight thunderstorm and waking up many times from my legs cramping, I feel like junk. Tom's already up, making coffee and oats with the fresh blueberries we picked the day before on top of a rocky summit. He looks whooped, too. Despite the promise of a yummy breakfast -usually my favorite part of the day- and the weak high five we give to celebrate our three month anniversary with this beast of a journey, the rain's got me down. 

Our tent  is soaked and splattered with mud. I have one pair of clean, dry socks and one pair of stank nasty, wet, dirty socks. To put the clean ones on would be three minutes of bliss, then they'd soak through and I'd have two dirty pairs of socks and no clean ones. With a sigh I reach for the stanky ones and pull them onto my whimpering feet. My eyes water up and a tear rolls down my cheek. I don't know what's got me today, but it's got me good. 

Tom sees my dismay and laughs while he hugs me. I laugh, too.  This is just part of the glory. It wouldn't be an adventure if it were easy. It wouldn't be one of our proudest accomplishments if we didn't have to work for it. These wouldn't be some of the greatest days of our lives if there weren't a few moments of agony thrown in there. 

We pack up our sopping tent, squeeze into our disgusting shoes, and head back to the trail, rain falling and rocks awaiting. Tonight we'll make it to the Delaware River and the border of PA and New Jersey. With our gear wet and dirty, our legs tired, and our shoes shot, we decide to take a day off in Delaware Water Gap, just fifteen jagged boulder ridden, slippery, sloppy miles away. 

I never thought I'd be so happy to cross into New Jersey. Pennsylvania has been the toughest state so far. The terrain is pretty flat, but the rocks are ferocious, rain has been a constant, and the trail is flanked by dense forest, affording few views that let you know you're getting somewhere. 

1229.8 miles. 

For months we've heard threats about the trail in PA. Though it's pretty flat we heard over and over, "yeah, but it's rocky." The first 100 miles in we stepped over a few boulders and thought, man, this is no big deal at all. And then the rocks began. 

Fist sized rocks, head sized rocks, couch sized rocks, cow sized rocks, house sized rocks. They come in all shapes and sizes and, no doubt about it, they are right there in the middle of the trail. It's like every Pennsylvanian collected all the dinner plates and bowling balls they could find and scattered them along the path. Sometimes there's no dirt in sight, just thousands of small sharp stones that roll when you step on them. Sometimes there are boulders, big slabs of rock two or three feet high and just as far apart -up to you if you want to leap from one to the next or crawl up and over each one. But when they're wet, leaping is a risky venture. Even when they're dry they're jutting up at an angle, not nice and flat such that you could just put your foot out and step on one with confidence. We look like a bunch of toddlers walking around out here -slow penguin steps, arms out ready to catch you when you plop down, trip, or slide.

I'm sure Pennsylvania has some beautiful views, but I wouldn't dare look up to check it out. 

Oh look, just started to rain. That'll make it even more fun. 

1148.6 miles.

We are cruisin! Over the last week we've averaged more than twenty miles per day, and we're feeling great -no aches or injuries. We crossed the half way point of the AT two days back (1089.2 miles), which called for a celebratory drink from the whiskeypus -a platypus, which is a plastic bladder for carrying water, except ours is filled with knob creek. There are plenty of occasions that call for a toast out here, so it's pretty much carrying its own weight. 

Mom came up to meet us in Boiling Springs the night before last. What a blast! We went out for dinner at the tavern and stayed at a cozy bed and breakfast in town, where they cooked us up a great breakfast, then we got on the trail and went a few miles together before mom hiked back to the car and headed home. How great of her to come up and see us and experience a little slice of life on the trail. 

1056.7 miles.

Well, that hostel on the other side of Harpers Ferry where we intended to stay a few nights back was lacking a sign, and we didn't figure out we'd passed it until we were two miles too far along. It was nearly eight at night at that point, foggy, and three steep miles to the next shelter, but we pressed on, sad and tired and ever so gross from wearing clothes that had been rained on four days straight. It was our first night hike since March when we headed up Springer Mountain, the AT's starting point in Georgia under the full moon. No full moon this time, and the fog made our headlamps useless, so we stumbled along in the dark over the rocky, muddy trail. And as it was just getting pitch black we arrived at the shelter, which was chock full, but everyone scooted together to make room for the two late comers. That's how it goes out here. We help each other out, we always greet people we pass, because a little kindness goes a long way.

We spent just two days hiking through Maryland. About forty miles of trail pass through there, and this evening we crossed into Pennsylvania, the seventh state along the trail, and the one where I was born. So far it's got lots of trees and hills and rocks and someone's firing their gun not too far from where we're sleeping. Not so different from the other side of the Mason Dixon line. 

We've done a few twenty mile days this week and we're feeling good, walking fast, sleeping hard. I love this life. So simple and rewarding. 

Two young amish girls and their grandma stopped to talk to us as we passed through a park today. They were curious about what we eat and where we sleep and how far we go everyday and what we do when it rains. We chatted for a while, and I showed them our gear and said that they should think about hiking the trail one day. The look in their eyes reminded me, as I'm reminded every day out here, of what an amazing time in our lives this is. 

1001.0 miles!

One thousand miles. Whoa. Did I ever think I'd walk a thousand miles? And here we are, made it to West Virginia, and almost at the AT's half-way point. Yesterday we hiked the infamous roller coaster -13.5 miles of straight ups and downs (picture a heart beat monitor, that's what the profile of the trail looks like). If we'd hiked it a few months ago I would've been begging for mercy, but being in the shape we're in by now it was downright enjoyable. 

We passed by Bear's Den Hostel midway, ate a pint of Ben and Jerry's, then pushed on to get to the Blackburn center, a PATC managed cabin where hikers can stay for free. Helen, awesome friend from Bolivia, was waiting to meet us when we arrived, and as we walked in the door the guy who runs the cabin handed us a beer and invited us to sit down for a homemade supper. Too cool!

It was great to catch up with Helen, reminisce about Bolivia and talk about what we're up to now. She's going back to Bolivia to lead summer trips for a group of students -put some ideas in my head....

Today we'll head to Harpers Ferry, WV and stay in a hostel so we can shower and wash our clothes. It's been raining for four straight days and my smartwools have a serious case of the funk. 

We were hoping to meet mom in Harpers Ferry, but the timing didn't work out. She sent a package in her stead, but I wish we could hang out tonight. 

We've been seriously blessed with visits from friends along the way. Last weekend Graeme and Nicole came up Skyline to meet us in Shenandoah National Park. It was a gorgeous weekend, perfect weather, and the four of us hiked up to Mary's Rocks, pitched our tents, and watched the sunset unfold. Which was made all the more spectacular by the BOX of wine they lugged up the mountain with them. The next day we hiked a good stretch to the north end of the park and stayed at a great little hostel (some guy's basement in a residential neighborhood) near front Royal, where we had all the fun to be had in a small town -beers and dinner at the tavern, a gripping round of trivial pursuit with Mike, the hostel owner, coffee and breakfast at a cafe on main street, and milkshakes before we got back on the trail. 

Graeme and Nicole hiked in a few miles with us on Monday morning, then headed back home. They're hoping to come join us for the final stretch in Maine, too, which would rock. But for now, real world calls. And man does it make me ever grateful that we have this time, this fantastic opportunity to be out here. 

Well, a call to all friends and loved ones: it's a darn good time on the Appalachian Trail! Come out and join us for a few days. You'll leave sore and dirty and not regretting it one little bit. 

900.8 miles

Back at it and lovin life.

On Tuesday afternoon we hiked up to the AT from Sugar Hollow with Leah, then said goodbye to my awesome sister a little sad to leave home, but excited to continue our journey north. It's a different feeling to be walking away from home rather than towards it, as we did for the first two months of the trail.

Yesterday we stood on top of Loft Mountain and caught our last glimpse of home. We could see Charlottesville below, the university and monticello in the distance, and Fox Mountain, where we'd spent two great weeks with Leah and Joe in their new beautiful home, just below us. Now the distance between us and home has grown, and Albemarle county is out of sight.

Do I detect a twinge of homesickness? Maybe so, it's a place to be missed, no doubt about that. But I'm happy to be back out here, getting my butt kicked by these hills, feeling the thrill of a free day, taking in the air the trees the birds the flowers the wide open sky. What beautiful country we live in.

We timed where we'd pick up the trail just right. When we got to Black Rock hut the first night there were a pile of familiar faces -and some new ones, too. The trail felt downright crowded today. We were in a pack of eight or ten other thru-hikers, which felt bizarre since we'll sometimes go a whole day without seeing anyone else. Those two weeks off took their toll on us, and we stopped to camp after a fifteen mile day while everyone else pressed on to the next shelter, another five miles up the trail.

We'll get our legs back in another couple days I bet. For now, feeling good enough, happy to be where I am, and can't get over the good fortune I have to be in the midst of such a fine adventure next to such a fine adventuresome man.

I could ramble on all day about the beauty of the trees and the flowers and the freedom of life on the trail, but I know that everyone just really wants to look at some pictures. So here you go (in no particular order, actually in rather reverse chronological order, and without captions, because that would take forever, and I'm due to be back in the woods in an hour):

Right on Schedule, we rolled into Charlottesville first week of May (with a little help from our friends, one of which was a car), and we've been here for two weeks, loving life, playing with friends, resting our legs, and enjoying home. Jeremy, our good bud and fellow volunteer from Okinawa Bolivia, came and hiked with us for a few days, and then we all headed into c'ville together to play a while.

Here we are with our friend Scott and his baby goats, Marie and Elizabeth. There's maybe nothing more fulfilling than holding a baby goat. For days after this I kept thinking, man, I just want to pick up a baby goat.

Then we went to Monticello to check out mister Jefferson's place.

And the farmers' market downtown,

where there was a woman from Bolivia making empanadas! Too cool.

Then Patrick and Hanna came from Omaha to visit us for a few days, and we hung out at the cabin, did some serious fishing (serious meaning even I caught something, which never happens), and we all went to see the Boss in action. that's right, Bruce Springsteen in our little ol hometown. How great is this life!

Then, cause we hadn't had enough fun yet, our friend Meg came into town for the weekend, and stayed at Leah and Joe's with us. Leah and Joe's new place is fabulous, perfect for them, and it was so great to spend so much time with those two. While Meg was there we made a few pitures of strawberry margaritas and made a day of it. Love that woman!

Inbetween playing with friends, we spent a lot of time playing with friends. The fun is on full-time when you come to your hometown for vacation. Everyone's game for playing. i love it. Here's Tom and Jed hanging out by the river at Jed's b-day bash. On Thursday we headed down to the Tye River with Talley to deliver some trail magic to fellow hikers. We didn't know who we'd run into, and for a while there it looked like maybe no one would come through, but by the end of the day we'd made a feast for more than a half dozen hikers. It was fun to be on the giving end of magic, knowing how much it means to come upon an unexpected delicious meal. We fixed up burgers and dogs, chips and salsa and guac, fruit and salad, cokes and beers, cinnamon rolls and scones, juice, coffee, and rootbeer floats. Some of the hikers who hung out for a few hours and ate up everything we put down.

And finally, just to squeeze in a little more fun, I headed down to South Carolina to hang out with my awesome women friends from college. It was a fantastic weekend and felt to good to be around such hilarious, wise women.

Susie and Steph singing the Wood Song -a funkhouse fave. Brought a tear to my eye. And now, exhausted from all that fun and feeling fulfilled from the good time spent with our fam and friends, it's back to the trail for us. This afternoon we're heading out from Sugar Hollow into Shenandoah National Park. I love that the AT goes right through our back yard. What a beautiful place we live in. We'll be back in three months, ready to hunker down, move back into our place, and start life anew. Jobs, school, house, whoa. I think I'll need these three months just to get used to the idea. And for now, that's exactly where I want to be.

831.7 miles.

Perfect hiking day and another easy one. It was cool and cloudy and we got to where we were going by 1:00. There were gorgeous wildflowers all the way -spiderwort, pussytoes, trillium, and a pile of new ones I don't know.

Going over three ridges we climbed the last big mountain along the trail until we get to Vermont. I'll kind of miss those big ass-kickers.

Tom and I hiked this same section a few years ago for a weekend trip, and we have a picture of us about half way up the mountain looking like we're going to keel over. I remember when we got to the top and down the other side thinking I was going to barf. This time I was hardly out of breath. Sure is nice being in shape.

Skipping ahead 200 miles has landed us up the trail with the young and ambitious. All the hikers we've met up this far are guys in their young 20's covering 20 to 30 miles a day -kind of makes us look lazy. I think I'll be glad when we're back in with our cohort of slightly less maniacal trekers.

825.5 miles.

Man, you can cover some miles when you do the AT by car! We met up with Jeremy yesterday in Bland, and after covering our options of where we'd like to hike for the next few days and how we'd get there and back to civilization, we decided to drive up to C'ville, swap his car for Sven (on the logic of no one would ever want to steal a '91 Saab left by the woods edge), and head back down to the Tye River at Rt. 56, about a four day walk from home.

Those 200 miles of southwest VA we skipped , well, we'll just have to come back to see them next summer. We've figured given the pace we're going if we want to get to Katahdin by early August, we need to skip a section somewhere, so it might as well be the part that will be easy to come back to later.

So yesterday, at what seemed like the speed of light, Jer, Tom and I took the interstate to Charlottesville, where we planned to pick up the car and go incognito to go back to the trail lickity split. Should've figured how small of town it is though. We stopped to pick up the car at mom and dad's, stayed and chatted with them a while, then on our way out ran into brother Joe who'd come over to feed the horses. Then Graeme stopped by to work on something, so we chatted with him a while. then, on our way to Ryans where we planned to pitch a tent for the night, we stopped at Maupins to get some beers and there were Jessie and Stan taking a break from their bike ride. So we headed over to Ryan's and so did they, and Ryan and Laurel were cooking up a feast of fresh greens and mushrooms and asparagus from their garden for us. Leah and Joe came over, too, and it was just a regular ol perfect night in Free Union of friends and laughter and great food. It felt so good to be home.

We slept out under the trees, and the trees! Oh my lord, they have leaves up here, and everything is so green and alive! Spring is out of control. So beautiful.

This morning, after tea and breakfast with Ryan and Laurel and Nathan, who'd just come home from CA late last night, Tom, Jeremy, and I got Sven packed up, went to town for a few supplies (i.e. Greenberries and Bodos) and headed down 29 to Nelson County and the beautiful area around crabtree falls. We left our car there (hope it's still there in five days!) and headed up the hill to return to our adventure.

The three of us have about three and a half days to cover the 50 miles between here and home, so we'll be moving along at a nice pace. Forecast says it should be cloudy and soggy all week, but maybe it'll give us a break here and there, show us a little sunshine, perhaps a view or two. Can but hope.

576.1 miles.

Man. Perfect day.

Make that days. The sun has been shining strong for five straight, and it is glorious out. Yesterday as we climbed higher and higher up Brushy Mountain the dirt path became paved with sandstone, and at the top enormous sandstone boulders jutted up into the air at a diagonal, as though pushed up from below. Fossils of seaweed and shells marked the stones. To stand at the top of a mountain and know that it used to be at the floor of the ocean so long ago - that just knocks my little socks off.

The flowers are doing their thing in full force. Yesterday I must've seen a dozen, maybe two, different kinds of wildflowers -toothwort, bloodroot, chickweed, violets of all colors, crabapple, trillium, aster, lobelia, buttercups, wild strawberries, dandelion, hepatica, spring beauty, trout lily, mayapple, wood anemone, bluets -and then all the ones I don't know the name of, which is a lot more than I do know.

The leaves on the leaves are starting to come out, too, and we'll be glad for the shade since we're in the sunshine all day long without their cover.

Back to today, that perfect day. We woke up as the sun rose over Blake's Garden, the beautiful valley below, got up slowly and took our time over the first miles to the shelter ahead since we only had eight miles to cover all day. We got to the shelter, and there was a sign on the wall saying on Monday mornings from 9-12 the Methodist church five miles down the trail offers free all you can eat breakfast to hikers. Looked at the watch. Monday. 10:30. Tom said, "oh, that's too bad, we're gonna miss it." And I said, "oh I don't think so."

And then we ran. For five miles. Up a mountain and back down with our 30 pound packs on.

At 11:40 we came barrelling down the hill to the road, and there were two gentlemen with their trucks, waiting to give us a lift to the church shwere seven women were cooking up a feast. Packing up a feast actually, by the time we got there, but they welcomed us in and then placed before us coffee and juice and milk, grits, biscuits and breakfast casserole, sausage, pancakes, homemade applesauce, and bananas. And then we had seconds. And then they gave us cookies and fruit and fudge and bread for the road.

The pastor gave us a lift back to the trail (good thing, I don't think we could've walked), and we had just a half mile left to hike for the day. So here we've been , at this lovely campsite on Laurel Creek all afternoon. A bunch of friends from the trail who'd gotten to breakfast sooner were here, too, and so we played uno and told stories and relaxed in the sunshine until it was time to press on.

No pressing on for us cause tomorrow we'll get into Bland, VA where we'll meet up with Jeremy, one of our good friends from Okinawa, and then we'll head north a bit and hike with him towards Charlottesville, aiming to get there on the 3rd of May.

Once home, Patrick and Hannah are coming from Omaha to visit for a few days, and we're looking forward to hanging out with them, resting our legs, and catching up with friends and fam. We'll be taking about two weeks off the trail to fit in all of that good fun, then heading north again on the 18th from C'ville. Hope we don't get to squishy hanging out and drinking beers! But I guess if we got in shape once, we can do it again.

541.0 miles.

Today was the first morning it wasn't too cold to make me mind getting out of my sleeping bag. I love my sleeping bag.

Up until today I did everything I could do from inside it in the mornings -eat breakfast, get dressed, pack up- then I'd jump out, stuff it in my pack, and start moving quick as I could to get warm again.

But this morning as the sun rose the birds were singing and the air was, well, not freezing. That of course turned into a sweaty 80 degree day, and I wondered to myself how we'll ever deal with the smothering heat of the summer. For now it's just straight up spring in all of its glory -flowers everywhere, fresh leaves on the trees, warm air, and happy people.

496.1 miles.

Whoa! What a day.

When the newspaper says high of 58 and mostly sunny, they don't mention that if you might be heading up in the hills a few thousand feet you should subtract 25 degrees and multiply the weather by CRAZY.

We saw it all today. Sunshine, driving rain, sideways blowing snow, sleet, and hail. And now the sun's out again and on its way down.

We came through Grayson Highlands State Park today -what a gorgeous place. Who knew Virginia had such rugged country. High balds, open mountaintop meadows littered with house size boulders. Looked like braveheart territory. You half expected some blue chested men in kilts to come running over the hill. No men in kilts, but we did see the wild ponies, which stand about three and a half feet tall and are as friendly as could be.

We went up and over Mt. Rogers today, too, the highest peak in the state. It was covered in spruce and firs suited to its cold, wet climate. High as it may be, all we could see from the top was the clouds we were in.

It's so fun to see this part of the state. We've talked about coming down here many times -instead we came up to it. Well worth the walk.

Now it's snowing and time to hunker down. Big day.

478.8 miles.

Home sweet home we made it to VA! We crossed the TN/VA border on Saturday just before rolling into Damascus, where we took a day to rest and resupply. It's a cool little town -a little heavy on churches and police, and pretty hard to find a beer (we actually never did), but it's full of characters and, like all the god-blessed towns along the trail, offers a shower and bed and lots of food amd friendly people. I got a box of fruity pebbles and a half gallon of milk from the dollar general and worked on that most of Sunday. Got a new pair of shoes for my achin feet today, and we picked up a mail drop from mom that was chock full of delicious nutritiousness.

We got back on the trail this morning and took a detour on the Virginia Creeper trail for twelve miles or so along Whitetop Laurel Creek until it met back up with the AT. Weather changed from sunshine to rain and back about five times today, and the beautiful spring flowers were in full bloom all along the river. Up on top of the mountain here the trees haven't budded yet, the air is cold, and the ground is brown with last year's leaves. But spring is creeping higher and higher and soon we'll be surrounded by greens and grateful for the shade of the leaves. In the meantime, we're working on our gator tans (that ten inch section of bare leg between shorts and gators), sweating during the day and bundling up at night.

We're in a shelter tonight, and the rain on the tin roof is comforting. And a handy drone to soften the snorers' snores. Man, there are some really loud snorers out there. How come they always fall asleep before everyone else?

423.3 miles.

The last five days with Jessie and Sunny were waaaay too much fun to stop and write in the journal. What awesome company they are -you couldn't ask for two better travel companions. Two positive, adventuresome, flexible, athletic women, and they love to laugh.

Together we covered 60 miles of the AT -no small feat- and we just had an absolute blast the whole way: talking, laughing, planning out our futures, marvelling at the views, the ancient trees, the crazy weather, the change in seasons and forests as you go up and down and over the mountains.

On their second day we climbed Roan Mountain, one of the highest peaks on the AT, in a thick, drizzly fog. Kinda like the Smokys, couldn't see a dang thing. The trail at the top was a slushy ice river flowing over our feet and into our shoes. It was bitterly, drenchingly cold, but no complaints from those two.

At the gap on the other side we came upon a cooler that someone had left for hikers full of homemade brownies, cokes, pecans, and carrots, which got us talking about the trail magic we can bestow on hikers back home in VA -we've planned a feast of chili and cornbread, deeritos, and margaritas. Maybe in August or September we can catch some south bounders coming through VA. Definitely next May we'll catch the nobos. We also talked about how fun it would be to start a hostel up on the AT around Afton. And we talked about the farm we want to live on at great length -what we'll grow and build and do and love. We generated a great many inspired ideas walking through the mountains. That's one of my favorite things about life on the trail -all the time in the world to think and dream and plan.

The night before easter we stayed at a beautiful old barn that had been converted into a shelter. Tom and I had hauled in a pile of easter candy, a bunch of lunch bags I'd cut and colored to serve as baskets, and the dozen eggs we'd boiled and dyed back in Erwin. Before the sun rose on easter morning I went around and put a little basket of goodies at each sleeping hiker's head. There were probably fifteen or so of us there, and everyone was so appreciative and cute about it. A bunch of grown men in their 20's, 40's, and 60's stuffing chocolate in their mouths, taking pictures of their baskets, and offering thanks to the easter bunny. It was well worth carrying the extra pounds for a few days.

The days with Jessie and Sunny flew by. Yesterday we walked into Hampton, TN, ready to throw down and celebrate the ground we'd covered. They'd parked Jessie's truck there, so we drove over to Boone, NC for the night to whoop it up, found an awesome hotel for $40 for the four of us, and went out for beers and food, then some more beers and more food. It was everything we'd dreamed it would be.

This afternoon, after a rockin good breakfast, a few hours in the grocery and gear stores, and a quick drove back over the mountain, they dropped us off on the trail and headed home. What wonderful women. I'll miss their company.

352.0 miles.

Whoa that mountain weather is crazy!

Sunday's sunny 70 turned into Monday's cold rain, and as we climbed higher the rain turned to sleet and then the sleet turned to snow. We hiked into Erwin late in the day with snow swirling down fast. Uncle Johnny's hostel was full since everyone was coming off the trail to get out of the storm, so we headed to the Holiday Inn Express for a night of luxury -two long soaks in the tub, individualized pillows with 'soft' and 'firm' embroidered on the cases, a huge comfy bed, and pizza delivery.

By the morning there was over two feet of snow on the trail, so we decided to stick around Erwin a few days and let our legs rest. We moved over to Uncle Johnny's -awesome place- where we had a little cabin to ourselves. We borrowed two bikes to ride to town, went to the library and the Choo Choo cafe, and got a good supply of easter candy so we can make easter baskets for hikers on easter morning. In the afternoon we dyed eggs and did some repairs to our gear -replacing gator straps, fixing the pot lid that snapped off, making a new journal out of cereal boxes. It was a wonderful couple of days.

Yesterday midday we got back on the trail and most of the snow had already melted and the sun was shining -feels good to be back in the woods. Last night we camped with a good crew of nobos (north bounders) -Phoenix, Crispy, Grayson, and Walkabout, hung out by the fire for a while, then slept soundly under the full moon in our Hubba Hubba. A full four weeks on the trail -we're really doing it!

Today we'll meet up with Jessie and Sunny who are coming down for a week to hike with us. I can't wait to see them! We meet lots of great people along the trail, but I miss our good buds back home, and I'm stoked to hang out with those two and share this experiences with them.

Gonna be awesome!!!

So we've had the usual bumps, bruises, sore spots and achy joints but most surprisingly is an insatiable hunger that has become ever present. Anna and I eat like food deprived teenagers and the selection of what we eat is just as scary, just think of some odd combination of tortillas, cheese, cheese nips, dried fruit, peperoni and then add chocolate and or peanut butter. Please do watch out for your small pets, scraps of food left on plates and really anything within a three foot radius of us when we get back into the civilized world. We may need some sort of "handler" for awhile, like an old zoo guard equipped with a sedative dart gun. I've watched Anna eat entire kitchens out of food, and southern kitchens at that. Oh and I've definitely had my share in scaring buffet owners and pie makers around the southern portion of the trail. We think that the restaurant owners are notifying towns further north of our imminent arrival in order to fortify their menus and or close down until we pass by like some thunderstorm of hunger.

The weird burrito: chocolate, peanut butter, raisins, cheese nips, almonds, dried mango's and a tortilla.

Hot pink rice meal! Yeah! Apparently dried beets added to anything will make anything hot pink.

Hey, why not add pretzels to Ramen noodles?

Overall we are just having a blast, some days better than others but more often than not we are having a good time. The worst thing we encounter out here is bad weather. A day of rain is fine and dandy but 5 straight days of rain hiking through the Great Smoky Mountain National Park is great for the drought but not the best for (enjoyable) hiking. Oh well, part of the adventure, right?

Some great hiker guy that was handing out Root Beers on a hot day!

Adventurous Anna, she almost fell, twice and I didn't even laugh once.

Hope everyone is doing well and we miss you all. T of T&A on the AT.

323.0 miles

Until yesterday we had barely seen the sun for 12 straight days. Friday was cold and the wind was blowing around 40 mph, but when we woke up Saturday the sun had finally come out. Today, too, was beautiful -up around 70 and nothing but sunshine. Two trail angels found us today -one bearing sodas and apples, a thru-hiker from '05, and then a really nice young couple offering drinks and snacks and a ride to anywhere we wanted to go. Despite their tempting offer, we stayed on the trail -an 18 miles day today, but now my feet are telling me we should've taken them up on the lift.

I like the long days of hiking, but the joints on the lower half of me are starting to fuss, and my feet ache pretty well at the end of the day. Maybe we'll cut back to something less ambitious, take our time a little more. Tomorrow we should make it to Erwin, TN (16 miles from here), and we're looking forward to another day off there. Everyone's saying snow is on the way. Good thing we didn't mail home our warm clothes at the last town. Our packs are heavier than when we started (mostly on account of me going to the grocery store hungry) and we're trying to ditch some weight so we can hike easier. When we left Hot Springs my pack was 33 lbs. with food and water -more than I ever want to carry again! Around 20-25 is good with me. In an effort to lighten our load, we've been eating as much as humanly possible on the trail -and I think we still have about three days worth of extra food. Gotta work on that!

We might just have to start planning ahead or something.

271.8 miles

What with my sore legs and this bottomless pit of an appetite I've developed, these last two days in Hot Springs have been a slice of Heaven Pie. Elmer's, the renowned hiker hostel here, was full up when we walked into town late Tuesday evening. The rain started to fall again, and we'd about limped the last of the day's 20 miles, so we settled for a motel down the road. Not as charming, or as cheap, but there's just nothing like a hot shower and a soft bed to make you feel like royalty after days of hard hiking.

Yesterday we took our first day off the trail (a zero day as the hikers call it), went to the gear shop and dropped a paycheck on a new pair of boots and a new tent -an MSR Hubba Hubba- since our tarp tent has proven to be a bit of a soggy experience in the rain, then we took a good long soak in the hot springs, and went out for a supper and local beers with a few other hikers. The Smoky Mountain Diner has fed us about five times since we arrived -awesome, inexpensive, and not holding back on the calories, it's just right.

Last night we got a room at Elmers, had a family style breakfast with twelve other hikers there for the night, and now, refreshed and excited to try out our new gear, we're heading back to the trail for some more of that mountain love.

Walk on.

207.7 miles.

We've been on the trail 18 days, and this is the 8th day we've woken up to rain. Cold, hard rain. So it goes in the spring time I suppose. Yesterday we summited Clingman's Dome, the highest point on the AT at 6,643 feet, in the midst of a thrashing storm. We hear the views from up here in the Smokies are splendid, but it's been pure rain and wind for days, and we haven't seen much but the muddy, slippery trail under our feet. We'll have to come back another time to see all there is to see.

Yesterday and today the trail has been a flowing creek, ankle deep sometimes. No one's feet are dry. No one's anything is dry.

And yet we're all still laughin and sharing stories and communing in the fulness of a great adventure.

In the Smokies you're not permitted to camp, everyone must stay in the Shelters, which are old three walled, metal roofed stone buildings. They're simple but beautiful dirt floored structures with an upper and a lower wooden platform for sleeping. About twelve to sixteen could sleep inside comfortably, but in the rain there's always room for one or two more. Inside there's you find an assortment of AT thru-hikers of all ages, a couple locals out for a night or two, maybe some kids on spring break. We'd heard that the AT is a social trail, and it couldn't be truer. So many interesting characters to meet and get to know out here.

192.2 miles.

The cool thing about the trail also being a flowing creek is that when you're thirsty, you can just bend down and suck on your socks.

180.4 miles.

Just did ten miles today because some kind of freezing hurricane blew in during the night. Now cozied up in our sleeping bags on the top bunk of a shelter listening to the wind and the rain. This is one of the first chances we've had to sit and reflect and relax during the day. We normally hike until it's just about to get dark, then find a good place to camp, but cuddling up is a way better option on such a nasty day. All this time to sit and think, I naturally turn to the existential questions. I asked Tom what he likes about this AT experience, and he said the following: getting in shape, spending time with his lovely wife (what a nice guy, eh), seeing so many beautiful things, feeling relaxed. I said letting my mind wander wherever it wants to, feeling my body get strong, being surrounded by nature and noticing patterns in the way the birds move and sing, where certain plants grow, watching the flowers begin to bloom.

Then I thought about what I miss being out here on the trail. Sometimes a big comfy bed, being around the people we know and love, intellectual and artisitic things -NPR, music, conversations. Tom misses bed and coffee, cooking, friends and dinners.

Then I asked what's the point of this slow, long journey. What are we out here for? To relax, to endure, to accomplish a goal, to see our country, to be in the wilderness, to grow, to know each other better, to learn more about myself, to feel at peace, to appreciate what we have -health, nourishment, shelter, and then all the other stuff we don't need but sure is nice to have -the comforts we miss but have learned we can do without.

169.6 miles.

We've made it to Great Smoky Mountain National Park (GSMNP)! Had a nice stop at Fontana Dam this morning. Filled my pack with junkfood I'd never have eaten back home (donuts, poptarts, candy bars, pretzels). Then ate lots of it on the 3,000 foot climb out and felt like barfing. Good to know.

We saw our first wildflowers yesterday -spring is on her way! The weather's been perfect -sunny and in the 60's, but they say rain's on the way. I just hope we can see the gerat Smokies along the way. The views are said to be spectacular. We climbed a fire tower up on a high hill this afternoon for a glimpse of the waves of mountains ahead of us. What an amazing place.

135.0 miles.

Ahh, just polished off a one pund breakfast burrito, stack of pancakes, bacon, and five cups of coffee. Soooo happy. Spent last night at Rufus Morgan shelter with Toad, Chipmunk, and Almond Joy after an absolutely brutal 7 mile downhill stretch from Wesser Bald. Now, our bellies full, it's eight miles straight up the other side, up from 1700 to 5000 feet.

It seems Tom and I are the only ones who've made it this far without being pegged with trail names. We'd better start doing outlandish and notable things to earn us some good ones. So far, everyone just calls us T&A. Guess that'll do.

Have I mentioned that I love this? Not just the occassional huge breakfasts, though they do rock my world. I mean the life in the woods. What a way to spend your days: wake up slowly, have some tea and breakfast, pack up our house and start walking. Go up a mountain, sweat, breathe, focus on the trail, feel your legs push and stride, stretching out in front of you over and over like a tireless machine. Reach the top, take a deep breath. Go down a mountain, thoughts meander, legs relax, body cools, reach the gap, do it all over again. Take a rest, eat a feast, set out again. Find a beautiful spot, set up home, feast again, sit and talk, stretch, swap backrubs, get in our bags, chat until we fall asleep. Sleep. A perfect day. No stress, no worries, just lots of good exercise, clean air, hard work, beautiful views, and free thinking.

120.0 miles.

Happy first day of spring! My pen is frozen, and the ink doesn't want to come out too well, but it was a sunny, pretty day, and we got back on the trail around noon after a supremely fantastic stop in Franklin, NC. We went out with a crew of hikers for breakfast this morning and got our fill of eggs and biscuits and gravy and coffee and oj and bacon and hashbrowns (all for about $5) -it was everything I dreamed it would be.

Tom and I spent lots of time with Thinmint and Ziggy (Hope and Michael) over the last few days. Really cool couple, also from VA. They stayed another night in Franklin to give their feet a break, but I hope we catch back up with them soon.

Fingers frozen now, too. Time for sleep.