Showing posts with label Appalachian Trail; friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Appalachian Trail; friends. Show all posts

Saturday, April 25, 2009

LIVE FROM GATLINBURG

Spent last night with Sally in a motel in Gatlinburg. I'm waiting for the outfitter to open, then will be heading back to the trail and meeting up with her tonight.


There's a gang that's formed, mostly women, and last night we all got shirts made up: AT logo with "Hiker Trash" and our trail name, surrounded by color bursts. My shirt is light pink, made with the sleeves and collar "ripped off" (looks like trash, $2.99 on the clearance rack), the color swirls are light blue and lavender, and the print is black. Goes perfectly with my black running/hiking mini skirt. I'll get a picture and see if Steve can coordinate it with this post!


My name isn't MacGyver anymore. I'm Yard Sale. When I'm setting up or breaking down camp, I can't get myself organize unless I lay all my stuff out on the ground. They say it looks like I'm having a yard sale. N-Da-Wind named me. She said it's also a skiing term: when a downhill skier wipes out and gear flies everywhere, they call it a yard sale.

So I'm Yard Sale. I like its metaphorical lilt, too: a yard sale is where you get rid of stuff that doesn't serve you anymore and is just cluttering up your life.

Friday, March 13, 2009

GRATEFUL

I'm having the most extraordinary outpouring of support from my friends.

Fiberjoy dehydrated 5 pounds of broccoli and sent it to me, along with a bag of beef jerky, and dried cranberries, and PayDay bars. PayDay's.... she remembered they're my favorite for hiking/biking etc.!

BunnyGirl sent me Kinesio tape for my tendons. They improved immediately as soon as I put it on. I'd been struggling with athletic tape that ripped my skin off and didn't allow stretching. What a difference.

Carlene in Canada sent me a JetBoil cookset. Super-compact and super-efficient and a total surprise, last summer when I was going through a bad time.

Clyde, a member of an Appalachian Trail hikers' email group, sent me a beautiful Feathered Friends down sleeping bag that he doesn't use anymore. I'll need this warm bag until June/Virginia and then again by August/New England. I have a lighter summer bag for warmer conditions.

ShirleyPerly has offered to transcribe my journals to my blog.

Carlene has been my dear friend for a long time. I met Shirley at IMFL, and got to see her again, and meet her sister JadeLady, in Austin. The others..... we've never even met. And yet all these people have done these astonishing things for me.

Thanks to my friends, I'm not so "MacGyver'ed" anymore. Maybe I should change my Trail Name to "Grateful."

With friends like this, how can I fail?