“My Journey Is My Destination...”
"The weight of being halfway was lifted from me…."
By Dustin Jackson appalachian.jackson@gmail.com
Day 91 Back On The Trail
Angel Mary’s
Mary picked me up from the airport at 4 pm. My plane had landed at noon. Duncannon seemed familiar when I got back. It was too late in the day to hike and Mary offered me a free place to stay. Mary is a great person, she loves to take care of hikers. She worked at a bar for 7 years in Duncannon where she developed 58 flavors of
chicken wings.
When she quit, she took ‘em with her. She works one night a week at the pub and hustles Avon the rest of the time. She made the “Presidents Club” in two months, she’s proud. Mary is 58 with a few kids and is at odds with the people at the Doyle Hotel. She’s a ‘Pepper Head” too, she hooked me up with some dried pepper concoctions she had made.
I spent the night watching "Five Million Steps," a documentary about thru hiking
in 1986.
I fell asleep and woke up with a blanket over me that Mary had placed, I smiled.
Day 92 11.2 miles
Darlington Shelter
I went to the post office where I had left my gear. I got out of town at 12
noon.
I hugged Mary goodbye and road walked out of town. I can tell my body is heavier from my trip home. I guess after 1,000 miles a
change of weight is sensitive to my legs and feet.
It’s good to be getting back into the woods. I could tell today was going to be a short warm-up day. I stopped at Darlington Shelter at 4 pm.
I noticed a guy with a beard down to his belly setting up his tent. I went over to talk. He introduced him self as Paul “Whiskers.” We two hit it off. Not sure how we got into it, but started talking about music, both of our
favorite things.
He has a collection of 3,000 albums. We talked about obscure people and bands. He was amazed at what I have heard at my “young age.” He couldn’t believe I had heard of the J. Geils Band, one of his favorites.
Paul is 61, a self confessed hippie with a pony tail to boot. He said his life changed in 1970. He was 24. He had been playing baseball on three different teams seven days a week to keep
his game up.
He was scouted and asked to try out for the Detroit Tigers. He was great but was told he was too old. At that point his life became normal. He quit baseball and dropped the straight-edge look and lifestyle. He quit performing for others, got into music, and started growing his beard,
which he has yet to cut.
At 61 he plays hockey, old 1800’s rules baseball with no gloves, and discovered the AT 12 years ago. He has hiked from Springer, GA to Duncannon, PA. He is out now for a week.
Paul had been watching his grandson during the day and working all night at the
post office.
He hopes to finish the AT trail “before he can’t”. I can feel regret coming from Paul about his life. I got him to talk about what he likes and what he has done. He has visited almost every National Park in the US and backpacked in about
half.
He went on and on about it and at the end he said “you know, I’ve done a lot of things that most people haven’t”. He smiled. I was happy to see him drop his regret of baseball.
He offered me some sausage I cooked over the fire. In all, we talked about five hours. It was “Hiker’s Midnight” at 9pm. I went to bed.
Day 93 26.5 Miles
Campsite at Tagg Run Shelter
Today I hike for Holly E., the girl I met at the Bristol festival. She is recovering from surgery. I'm on the move. She came to mind often today. I could not commit to the recovery of back
surgery.
I think it would be harder than what I am doing. I hope for a few minutes a day I can take her away from there.
I feel different out here since I went home. I feel more settled. I know my family is ok, and it’s ok without me. I feel good in my pack, good on my feet. Speaking of feet, my hiking boots were done. I picked up some trail running sneakers from Mountain Sports LTD in Bristol. They feel much better than boots. In a way, I feel more like a thru hiker in them, faster I guess. Today I walked through miles of soybean, corn, and grass fields past farms, over numerous highways and roads. Today, the word, "traveler" comes to mind. I have come to the realization I have traveled a great distance and am on the
move.
The weight of being halfway lifted from me today. I feel like I haven’t been consistent with my hiking since NY. I gain peace from knowing I don’t have to hike fast, just consistent. I have never hiked with a plan, so when I hike with others I adopt their plan
because it doesn
’t matter. So for now I feel good by myself.
I tried the half-gallon challenge at the end of the hiking today. This is a challenge where a thru hiker will eat a half gallon of ice cream as
fast as they can to represent the halfway point.
The record is 4 min 14 sec. I got Neapolitan and ate three/fourths, all I could do. I didn’t want to make myself sick. I didn’t eat dinner after that. So I’m living a kid’s dream, I had ice cream for dinner.
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