Saturday, April 08, 2006

Jon's progressing along the trail at a good clip. He called from the Walasi-Yee Center in northern Georgia last night to say all was well and he wasn't being chewed to a bloody pulp by a black bear.
To keep pace with him, if only imaginatively, I've started reading Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods. Bryson never fails to draw out a chuckle. A critic said he could make even dryer lint funny.
Right now, he's just completed the first day and is ready to die--to just be one with the lichen on the rock for a very long time. It makes me think back to when I first started hiking with Jon. Jon, bless his heart, always overestimated my abilities and took me to places with lots of steep climbing. I would always grow sullen about 1/2 of the way up, then downright mad 2/3 up, then for the last 1/3 of the climb, I would be weeping like a lost child, my limbs quivering on top of stumbling feet.

2 comments:

d-wain said...

I cannot begin to express how humorous I find your descriptions of your attitude toward hiking. This one is brilliant, I'll have you know. I love the progression from sullen to angry to shambles.

When do you expect Jon to be back?

Laura said...

He's aiming to be back on Easter, or the day after. It all depends on the weather, and his day-by-day progress. Being under such direct relationship with the weather gives you a better understanding of why the ancients thought the gods were the reason behind it.