day 80 - 05/29

so nice to be back on the trail. i received the rest i needed and was so spoiled by my family and friends. i am so grateful to everyone for an awesome weekend. so thanx to aunt pat, kris, brian, and maryanne for the first half. thank you pat for picking me up, dinner, donation, a roof over my head, etc. you are so unbelievably generous. i then made my way to boston and spent the weekend at my cousins' house, jaz and jon (see pic below). they are always so awesomely chill, but this visit was so ridonculously incredible. i ate so much good food and got to visit with steve-o (thanx for the steak!), martha (thanx for the cookies), the beckster (who, btw, looks smokin' hot! ;) ), taylor, tracy (thanx for the bug spray), karla and everyone else at "the glen!" i also got to see my aunt donna and uncle frank and their new house, which looks so frickin' unbelievably beautiful. i saw my cuz adam and his wife erin, their three yo sammy and newborn evan, and erin's family (whom i love). then, i got to see my grandmother, who is almost 90 (see pic below), and my cuz mike and his girlfriend shelaigh, who bought me lunch at cheesecake factory (see pic). i really made the rounds in a short time! it was awesome. the trip was also very purposeful in helping me to realize how i have been unmade by the trail. iow, there is much less tim because an ego or personality is needed so much less on the trail. jaz and jon thought i did well integrating back into the matrix, but i have to admit that it was difficult at times. i am now prone to long moments of just observation and silence. so hitting the trail after this weekend proved to be wonderful and challenging. i hiked only 7mi and heeded the warnings of the weather delivered by jon and kris of impending severe thunderstorms - and none to soon. only 5 minutes after arriving at the october mt shelter the hail, 2 inches of rain, very strong winds, and lightening strikes only 20 yards away started henceforth, as they say. as i was rereading "born to run," after it being mentioned 5 times to me on the trail, which i deemed to be important and no longer just coincidence, i came upon the following quote: “Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own; sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction." - william james. this so sums up thru-hiking. i also discovered thru the wonder of the internets, that sadly, the caballo blanco passed away back in march while i was in nc. this is sad as he was part of my inspiration, but his living example of authenticity will inspire me to do some ultra-distance running once i complete this current journey. 7.2mi from rt 20 in lee to october mt shelter. 1552.3mi total.









- posted using blogpress from my iphone on the appalachian trail