Remembering the First 1,000 Miles Hiked

   1,000 miles is a long distance. At this time back in 1980 I had backpacked about 1,000 miles through the mountains. That was the distance from northern Georgia to Maryland. I know that mapquest will tell you that the distance is shorter, that's because mapquest is looking at the distance using interstate highways. When I hiked, it was up a mountain, then down a mountain. The trail isn't necessarily straight! It took me about ten weeks to hike 1,000 miles. That is 100 miles per week and (theoretically) 14.3 miles per day. But when you consider that I took off about one day per week to rest, I averaged a little over 16.5 miles per day.
   Step by step, up mountains and down mountains, through fields and across streams I continued to hike. I hiked in the sun and in the rain (and even a few days in the snow). My pack weighed somewhere between 26 pounds (at the end of a week) and 41 pounds (at the beginning of a week with a week's worth of food and full canteens). Since I weighed in at a whopping 135 pounds back then, that was a lot of weight!
   It was good to look back over the first 1,000 miles and remember. I remembered the first week when it rained almost every day. I remembered my friend Nancy Lee Read whom I gave the trail name "Southern Belle" (I still left notes in the hiker registers for her). I remembered how tough the Smokies were. I remembered that day on top of the mountain in the Mt. Rogers area of Virginia when I got caught in a bad storm and was afraid that I could die. I remembered the kindness of so many people along the way, especially those who fed me ramps and girl scout cookies and steak. I remembered the Christians who took me into their homes and practiced hospitality in such a powerful way. I remembered getting discouraged and wondering if I should quit, but deciding to persevere. I remembered dancing barefoot in Waynesboro until I bruised my foot (it still hurt a lot at this point on the trail). I remembered the church holding communion for me and getting lost with the cows and seeing giraffes next to the trail. I remembered those and so many other things. And I knew that I was almost halfway through my journey. And I knew that I would make it, I would not quit, I would persevere. 1,000 down and about 1,100 more miles to go!
   Here in 2011 I remember my commitment to lose weight and get down to 165 pounds. This weekend my son looked at me and said, "DAD you really HAVE lost weight. Your belly isn't nearly as big." Yesterday I weighed in at 177.0 pounds. But I went to a memorial service for a man who died and ate (including pecan pie) and then I went to a family gathering for Father's Day and ate (including some delicious chocolate cake). So this morning I wasn't surprised when I weighed in at 178.2 pounds. I know from past experience that my weight will fluctuate, but I can persevere and continue to trim away the pounds. I've made a lot of progress so far. I'm not going to give up.
P.S. If you missed some of my earlier blogs, all of the things I mentioned above are described in a lot more detail. Just look at the history on the blog and enjoy reading!