To Dan’s Pulpit – 11.8 on the Trail

There’s nothing for me quite like dawn. My father used to get his 3 boys up in the dark to go fishing. Those mornings we’re magic to me.  Now they are some of my fondest memories.

Every morning feels a little like that to me now.  Every one.

This is the view from Dan’s Pulpit.  Sunday morning services were held here some years ago.

There’s a trail register inside this box. My first one.  I dated and signed and wrote a few words. I should have looked for a signature from a friend of mine.   I was down the trail when I had that thought. Going back was not an option. Know what I mean?

More Pulpit.

Bad perspective in this photo.  These rocks were way more ominous than they look here!  The trail goes straight over.

Right about where I am standing, I met a new friend for the second time. He was headed to Port Clinton in the process of finishing his section hike of the AT.  He had about 400 miles left to do.  Dan is a 71 year old retired Special Education teacher now working for Amazon. He mentioned Amazon twice. I should have asked him about it; there was a story there and I glossed it over.  Oversight in hindsight.  He had to pause his section hiking for a while due to open heart surgery and the onset of Parkinson’s Disease. Really, really a nice man.  We talked about teaching, Special Needs kids, my Down’s Syndrome brother Skipper, ageing in general 🙂 , and life in general. Shaking as he talked, he said to me, “I go so very slow now.” I said to him, “You know that doesn’t matter.”  He smiled. I smiled. I maybe should have stayed with him a bit longer, but I was as always, itchy to get to my destination for the day.  I am going to try and get over that destination thing.  I’ve been trying for 60 years. Such a nice man he was.

I think this is Balance Rocks, where I turned around.

I’m sad a lot lately.  I better sort that out. It was a good day.  I’m still learning.

Dan did all but 400 miles!  I asked him how long it would take him to finish. Kind of a dumb question.  He said,smiling, “Oh I don’t know. Probably 3 or 4 years now.  I go so slow,”

I gotta get over that destination thing.