thanks for getting the ball rolling, Lizzie. I intended to do so, and then things got crazy here and it really hasn't stopped yet. Plenty of drama to go around between stresses with Casa, my family, and Jesse.
My schedule should not be a factor. I expect that I will be at Casa until shortly before we start. While right now part of me would like to peace out on Casa/current life in general and run away, I think that is more a reflection of me feeling stretched, hurt, and uncomfortable in the ways that God is choosing to challenge me right now and not really an indication that I'm supposed to peace out. If you guys could pray for me, that would be great. I need it- for peace, strength, maturity, and wisdom.
In terms of the trail, I am definitely open to many options. It seems like the original south to north plan is probably not the best for scheduling. I'd be up for the flip-flop, though I think it would be cool to have the continuity of doing in a particular direction. In terms of north to south, I think the rigor of it would definitely be a factor. The website strongly recommends that you have to start slow if you do it that way, which makes a lot of sense and I think it would be fun (in addition to necessary) to ease ourselves into it mileage-wise as we tackle big hard-core mountains. There are no mountains anywhere near me, and there's only so much that walking around your neighborhood with a 40 pound pack can do to train you.
The Bug Factor: The website says there are "swarms of black flies in Maine in June" as well as mud but then tells you that the parks suggest a start date of no earlier than July 1st, which sounds like it would work perfectly for Dev's schedule. I doubt the bugs all disappear come July 1st, but maybe it would be significantly better. That said, I think it is worth considering doing North to South continuously. My brother is doing it starting on Saturday or Sunday, so we will have a very good resource to tell us what it's like and if he gets eaten alive starting in late June. I also like the idea of being in New England for the summer. Hard hiking, yes, but plenty of gorgeousness and just general loving vibes for me.
Knowledge of the trail: I have purchased a couple of books from the AT Conservancy and read their website: http://www.appalachiantrail
The books I have are good- they are the "Thru-Hiker's Companion Guide" and the Data Book for 2007.
I have also read Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods and loved it dearly- it's where this whole crazy idea started for me 6 or so years ago curled up in my sleeping bag by my parent's fireplace during a 7 day ice storm power outage my senior year of high school.
Motivations: I was captivated by the idea back then, and it has ever since been on my "life to-do" list in my head. I think originally it came back to me several months ago amidst stress and frustrations with Casa which made me feel the deep desire to escape bureaucracy, politics, big city life, no connection with nature, and a lack of deep community. Now (until recently I think) I have been in a better place in terms of my satisfaction with current life, but my desire to hike the trail remains. Mostly, I love you guys and I miss you deeply and think Dev is right that this is probably the only opportunity in our lives that we'll ever have to all do this. To be honest, just the idea of seeing the 3 of you all together gives me a rush. And then when I think about seeing you with 40 pound packs and bandannas and Nalgenes, the rush gets bigger. And I deeply miss the mountains and being outside for most or all of my day. Now that it is summer in Houston, I barely make it out.
When I think about what it will actually be like, there's the obvious thrill of just being with you guys, combined with the thrill of being in nature. I originally questioned whether this was really selfish and thought that we should all go do missions for 6 months instead, but somehow I think that this will have deep purpose and growth for us. I think it will be tremendously fun, but I also think that we will have the time and the space to really go deep with one another and God and the world. We can read, pray, share our thoughts and our stories. We can sit around and talk and not be thinking "gotta go- got a paper to do...gotta go to bed." We can truly be present with God and one another. We can read out loud together, pray together, cook together :) I think we have a lot to learn and share. And I think it will be really cool to get the chance to meet people we'd never meet any other way and live in a rare form of community with them.
"cool as in amazingly challenging, fun, beautiful, and
spiritually eye-opening." Amen.
So yeah, that's where I'm at. LB?
I love you all dearly, now it's time for me to go take Ryan to the ear nose and throat surgeon...woo woo :)
peace and a big long abrazo,
Loo
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