Ok it's about time I updated this blog! We are in Arlington Texas staying at the Intown Suites extended stay motel and waiting for Sheila's checkup date and getting gear together for our last and final push to Mount Katahdin in Maine. Minor setbacks in 2008 and 2009 (broken leg and luekemia) have interrrupted our last two tries to complete all 2175 miles of the Appalachian Trail. By now several of our trail friends are at this minute working their way through snow covered passes in the Sierra Nevada Mountains on their journey to walk over 2600 miles from Mexico to Canada on the Pacific Crest Trail (the PCT). The PCT is generally regarded as a more extreme hike (due to the higher elevations and danger of deep snow in the mountain passes and long desert sections w/o water) and is a more isolated hiking experience, not having the number of hikers or social interactions as the AT. We had hoped by now we would of also have completed that hike but still consider ourselves lucky to even be able to get back on the AT after Toesocks' luekemia. We read on another blog recently of a lady who in 2009 experienced the exact same situation on her AT hike. She got extremely fatigued and short of breath while hiking in New Hamshire and when in town had blood work done, thinking she was just anemic, but it turned out she also had leukemia and ended up having a bone marrow transplant. She also had a full "recovery", if there is such a thing as a full recovery from something like luekamia, and will also be back on the AT hiking again. Its amazing to me that people can come back from being so seriously sick to hike thousand of mile on the Appalacian Trail. Then again there is that old trail saying that, " God does not subract from your life, the days spent on the AT" I am beginning to believe it! Right now the planned schedule for our AT hike looks like this:
June 1&2....doctor checkup and blood work
June 3......head north with Farkus
June 3-??? do trail magic, visit AT headquarters in Harpers Ferry, WV and Sunny/Share in VA
June 8? or so.......head to sister Sue's to visit and get dropped off (in the rain?) on the AT at mile 1416
TBA.....hike with sister Sue and maybe nephew Chase a few days on that AT (could anything be better!?)
August week 2?-4?......summit Mt Katahdin!!!! (anyone want to come to Maine and summit with us??)
August TBA.....hopefully visit sister Carol and Scott at cabin in Newport, Maine!!??
End of August???...attend "Woodstock" at Morningmist Farm, Jamestown, RI!!??
We have no set schedule to keep and we will take our time to visit with friends and family and even get off the trail (temporarily) if we need a break or have something we would like a side trip to do...so this schedule is not carved in stone...we are going to stick to the only true rule and commandment of the Appalachian Trail..and that is....HIKE YOUR OWN HIKE!!!
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