The Trail isn't done with me yet

In the small town of Wallongford, VT I've had yet another break down, and convinced myself to quit the trail. J-man and I slept on the porch of the library (a feeble shelter from the rain) and decided to relax here for a major part of the day. I watched the movie Life of Pi and felt inspired for about 2 minutes afterward to continue hiking. Then I began researching perseverance on the Internet. I found myself (not for the first time) on my friend (and past THRU hiker)'s blog https://georgiatomaine2013.wordpress.com/

Here I perused her posts from the end of her THRU hike, basically from Vermont to Maine, and I've somehow decided to push on with my hike. This small town has seen enough of my tears.

Here you see the post office/bank/market/liquor store. Hooray for convenience 

Vermont is wet

And muddy. 

And I've cried a lot. Emotions out of control. J-man and I passed the 3/4 way mark today. My blogging motivations is waning.. Is it obvious in my writing?

Not motivation, but determination

It seems I can't find the motivation for the Appalachian Trail, so now I'll have to push through with determination..

Less than 600 miles. I've just loaded books and music onto my phone. Time for discipline. 

A strange break

Dalton, MA has played host for J-man and me the past 5 days while I recovered from two big ailments. The first, a simple fever and raging headache, took about 3 solid days to get through. The second, a decision to quit hiking the AT, will stick for sometime unfortunately. But as of today I've decided to keep hiking. Would I really have been able to stop hiking when the person carrying my heart would be trudging solo up to Maine?

I know I'd feel extreme sadness when J-man summits Katahdin, and when I'd see the picture I'd think wow I could be done right now too. And then it would really be behind us. And I want that feeling for real. I know that I can physically continue, I just have to mentally let myself tag along.

It has been lovely to relax these past 5 days. I don't even have a hiker hobble to my step anymore!