Home SAWEEEEEEEEEET Home

Well "The Fool on the Hill" has touched down. I repeat the Fool HAS landed.

Successfully met up w/ my parents on Sunday 0.9 of a mile from the summit of Springer. Together we hiked the last bit of the trail, even stopping by the Springer shelter on the way so they could get a taste of what I've been staying in for most of the past two months.

After returning to the car and donning a fresh clean dry t-shirt, hooded sweatshirt, and wool socks, I was presented with probably my favorite thing to eat in the whole wide world - a ham and swiss sandwich on one of my father's freshly baked baguettes! Made just the way I used to make 'em when I was a kid... MMM, MMM, Good! Ate and savored every bite of two of 'em (probably 6-8" a piece), no problem. I had actually asked my mom a week earlier on a pay phone if they could bring one with them when they met me and when she said she'd already thought of that, I can't describe how warm and loved I felt because they knew EXACTLY what I wanted.. Man it was good.

But yeah, so I'm done... well, at least with the thousand miles of it I'd set my sights on hiking this fall.

I'll have to write some more later (I'm about to leave to pick my sister up from the airport tonight), but right now I have to say that my re-entry into the world off of the trail has been a bit overwhelming... soooo much going on and distracting and busy... things move so much faster... and talk about information overload.. it's like I have to find my ability to filter again - what to take in and what to ignore.. for so long I've been hiking lost in my own thoughts and focusing on the trail while at the same time taking in and trying to be aware of everything around me... the sounds, the smells, the views, the beauty of it all... I'm having a hard time describing it... but I have been changed I think... or at least I've been exposed to a state of being or living that is very different than anything I'd ever experienced before.. And talk about taking creature comforts for granted! Spend a couple of weeks in the woods and you realize just how comfy we have it... and I was even spoiled out there with all the support I had from home.... crazy.... cool.. Can't express how happy I am that I did this.

More later, but wanted to let everyone know that I made it and am at home safe and sound(?) ;) This is one Thanksgiving that I'll never forget and that will probably have more meaning to me than any other before it...

david, The Fool on the Hill