more reflections

Just wanted to also add to the blog about some of my feelings about this trip so far. In many respects it's about what I expected from a physical standpoint. It's very difficult every day trying to average 12 miles during this part and then thinking about Virginia and wrapping that up to about 15 miles a day or so. My highest mileage so far has been 19 miles and that wasn't bad, it actually felt pretty good. So I feel like in a way I'm getting my legs. From a physical standpoint in terms of hiking the trail, it's not too bad. I know my pack is way too heavy. Most people are carrying probably between 25 and 30 pounds and I'm carrying about 35 pounds. Actually there was a guy I met on the trail that had a nine pound pack if you can believe that. From the standpoint of the physical aspect, not too bad. The day goes pretty long and what I'm trying to do right now is it's obviously if you're hiking all day you've got a lot of time to be thinking, and I'm trying to find a way to think about something other than the trail, how many miles I've gone and what my pace is and what my goal is. Trying to figure out how to avoid that kind of thinking and just get into more wide open thinking over the course of the day and worry less about the mileage and more about enjoying what's out there and making sure I feel comfortable stopping and enjoying the scenery. I am trying to take more breaks now and trying to avoid looking at my watch and trying to figure out how much mileage I've done and how much mileage I've got to go. That's actually becoming a bit of a challenge for me. In terms of high points and low points, I think my high points are mostly at the shelters during the time of making dinner and chatting with people, but the low points are probably also at the shelters, I kind of get tucked into my tent and my sleeping bag and start missing home. I've mentioned this to Carolyn, I'm surprised and I didn't want her to take it out of context and I'm surprised at how much I miss Carolyn and how much I miss certainly Ben and my ability to touch base with him some way or another, either text or by phone, and I certainly miss all the social aspects of Shorewood. I'm kind of surprised at how much I miss all of that. Of course I knew I was going to miss it but I think that's the thing that's probably the most difficult for me at this point. I've been fortunate to have very few weather issues, though coming up we've got two or three days of rain and a very difficult stretch, so I'll be certainly tested at that point. The people probably have been the most interesting aspect of the trip. I am in this group that I'm in right now, I'm the oldest <Lost Signal>