#1 Wost Idea By Christine and Tim

Hello to all! Im sure each of you have been sitting around eagerly awaiting the next blog. we appoligize that it took so long. day three on the trail we did stay at a hostel and their computer was broken, so no luck to us!

I want to tell you every detail but i think that there just isnt enough room on this blog. and quite frankly you would be terribly bored. but, i will sit and share some passing feelings and changing attitudes.

Day one feelings (lost and confused): tim and i made it to harpers ferry west virginia. it was late when we stepped off the train into a world of unkowns. despite the copious amounts of planning previously mentioned we found ourselves feeling a little lost. the town was something out of a harry potter movie. buildings leening askew, a train whistle, a glimmering light in a few windows, and no one to be seen. we walked down a grassy hill and onto a road, up a flight of rickety wooden stairs, and onto high rd. the only place it seemed that was open was a very old, three storied, skinny building called the town's inn. the innkeeper was a woman named karan from north texas. she set us up in a private room for the price of the bunk room which was fine by us!

Day two feelings (hot and fearful): Harper's Ferry is one of those towns that goes to bed early and gets up late. We needed to pick up a few things before starting the hike but had to wait till 10 for the outfitters to open. tim took care of getting a couple canisters of gas, while i went to the ATC headquarters and bought us maps for the next ten days and met a few thru hikers. we didnt get on the trail till 11 and had 9 miles to walk to the first shelter. a few hours into the hike tim pushed his side arm firm into my stomache and whispered, "it's a bear...". we were on the trail with trees all around, a clearing up ahead shows a 400 lb black bear meandering onto the trail. we began to inch backwards slowly, not taking an eye from the animal. the bear sniffing the ground, heard me, "tim, dont trip" looking up at us, straight in the eye, the bear stood, gnarled its teeth... no just kidding. it spooked so fast, we didnt see anything but dust and some bare butt.

that night at camp we stayed with a thru hiker named brennan and his dog taj at the david lesser shelter. nine miles down and more afraid because of it. tim and i took time to talk about bears and what we were really getting into. deciding to take it day by day and talk to another person for information at the next ATC center we went to sleep. almost sleeping deeply, except for the sound of a mouse nibbling a hole in the top of tims pack.

Day three feelings (hope and defeat): off on the trail again we walked briskly to the blackburn trail center and talked to a guy named brian who assured us that bears did not see us as food and we had nothing to worry about. we decided to hike on to a place, ironically called, the bears den. just another seven miles. it was noon and we figured at the latest we would be there by four. unbeknownst to us we were to enter a section of the trail called the rollercoaster.

another few miles in we started the ups and downs. starting with some burning muscles, those muscles soon became shaky legs, then shaky legs turned in to doubting thoughts and from there it was figuratively, all down hill. it was completely demoralizing. a never ending roller coaster. walking up a hill, stopping for a break, turing the bend and expecting the end in site but only seeing more hill, i finally was finished. bursting into tears and wimpering my way up step but step. i was a sight to behold. and poor tim had to push us both on...

we did finally make it to the bears den at 6:45. at nearly a mile an hour. for you non hikers. that is really slow. the bears den nursed us back to life with pizza, ben and jerry's, a shower, bed, and laundry, and pancakes in the morning. we slept well but man were we stiff the next day. ive never actually needed the handrail to walk up stairs before. it was utterly pathetic. we had met a couple hikers burger king, suger red, and lost rob and were sad to see them hike on. (for those of you that dont know, hikers on the AT adopt trail names, ours were a bit uncreative. t and c) But, on we went.

Day four feelings (stiff and lonely): we only hiked to the next shelter. a measly 3.5 miles. but that was about all we could do anyway. the rollercoaster was doing us in. we stopped at the sam moore shelter and settled down. making a fire, playing cards, whittling a walking stick, and talking. we both realized that despite the fact we had each other we were lonely! we missed people. and prayed that someone was going to hike through and stop to stay with us at the shelter. but no one came. that night we spent a lot of time in prayer and conversation. wondering, "what are we doing?" or "this is not what we thought it would be." we still decided to push on and see what the next day had in store.

Day five feelings (optimistic and upbeat): this was a good day for us on the trail. not only did we come to the end of the ten miles of rollercoaster, but we hiked briskly, saw a view, and had six shelter mates! God had answered prayers. we shared the shelter with a man and woman named racoon and raffle queen.

the rod hollow shelter was fun. a good spring where we washed some clothes, friends to talk with, soup and quesadillas for dinner, and a good nights sleep.

Day six feelings (frustration and realization): this was our longest hiking day, 14 miles. we pushed on through sky meadows park, and a wildlife area. stopping at dick's dome for lunch we saw a water moccasin (deadly snake), and spent time in the sun, a first on the trail! not because of cloudy skies... we made it to camp and found four other people already there! two more through hikers came, disney and pooh bear, and we spent the night in conversation.

it rained that night. tim had been feeling a sadness on the trail and we werent able to figure out what it was. loneliness? lack of sun? unmet expectations? we didnt know. we had spent a lot of time in prayer wanting to find God's will for us. with the rain that night tim felt that the dream of the trail was ending. it wasnt for us. the next morning we hiked three miles to a road. hitchhiked to town and found solice. we prayed that God would help us to know whether to go on. but stepping in to front royal virginia we knew we were done.

we had been crazy to think we could do it! a bit sad that we had been defeated but also happy to be off the trail we settled into a hotel and made plans to get out of town.

the trail had not been what we planned. we didnt get to know any friends. we hadn't seen the southeast (it was just a walk in the woods, no views, just trees and more trees). we didnt find purpose, we felt bored mostly, doing the same thing day after day.

but we learned a lot of great things. christine actually can hike, if she puts her mind to it. we can pray together as a couple and we can do it often. devotionals are awesome. we love people and it is essential to our life and happiness, and we hate walking in the woods. get us up on a mountain ridgeline with lots of views and we are happy!

i hope you all are not dissappointed. we are not. we still plan to make this a great adventure. im currently sitting in my grandparents house in new orleans. tim and i are going to do some volunteering and spend time with family. we'll keep blogging and sharing our life for these next six weeks. keep in touch and thanks for investing in our lives, it makes all the difference to us.