Taking a Break at Monticello

   Spending the night camping outside of a fire station in Waynesboro, Virginia wasn't such a good idea back in 1980. The Friday night I arrived just happened to be the night of the high school graduation. For hours, the high school graduates drove up and down the road, honking their horns in celebration. All night long the fire trucks were called out, their sirens blaring! It was hard to get much sleep under those circumstances.
   The other issue was that I was getting weary of hiking. I was questioning whether I really wanted to keep going or to go home. Jane, one of the other hikers, was at the fire station too. She was planning on going on a side trip to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home, and wanted me to come too. So we stowed our packs securely inside the fire station and started hitch-hiking. We got enough rides to finally arrive at the famous house.
   Jefferson was an incredible man. His house was full of lots of interesting features. The basement had a brick floor and was wonderfully cool, even though it was hot outside. Jefferson had his bed placed in the wall between two rooms. That way he could get up in the middle of the night and be in his study (on one side) or be in his bedroom (on the other side). One of the large clocks had a weight on a chain that powered the clock. Periodically the weight had to be pulled up manually to keep the clock running. Jefferson didn't like to do this so often, so he cut a hole in the floor which allowed the weight to extend all the way into the basement. That way he didn't have to pull up the weight nearly as often! The house was wonderful and the gardens too.
   Jane and I spent a little bit of time in the nearby town, looking at the old historic buildings. We had some supper and started hitch-hiking back to Waynesboro. Late that evening we arrived back at the fire station. It was a nice break from hiking the trail. It helped with my weariness, but I still wasn't ready to start hiking again. As I fell asleep that Saturday night (camping at the fire station), I decided to find a church the next morning and then figure out my next steps. I didn't know it that night, but God had plans for the next day that I wasn't even aware of!
   2011 update:  This morning I weighed in at 177.4 pounds. WOW! I am making progress. That's 9.4 pounds I have lost so far. My wife bought me some short recently and I made her take them back and get a smaller size. I wore those new shorts today. It felt good to be in a smaller size! I ate at Cracker Barrel today, hopefully that won't throw me off on my weight loss. I also jogged about a mile this morning (walking part of the way). My leg did pretty well. I think I will be able to run in the 5K race tomorrow!