Day 74: HOME!!!

Yes, you heard right...I am officially off the trail and home in Fort Wayne. I got off a week early after having a really bad couple of days on the trail and deciding I was ready to be done.

It has been a little bit of a culture shock for me being back...had a hard time getting used to driving again...those semi-trucks are scary!!! I think I gained back the 5 pounds that I had lost on the 12-hour drive back to Indiana. The checklist of food consumed on my drive included McDonald's, Friendly's, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, and Krispy Kremes. :)

On my drive back, I had lots of time to think about my experiences on my hike. Here are some things I thought of...

Things I'll Miss About the Trail:
- Meeting really cool people like Gadget, Wicket, Nemo, Moondog, and the Boy Scouts.
- The feeling I get when I finish a huge climb and look out over the mountains from the amazing view at the top.
- Dancing to cheesy songs from my headphones.
- Talking to Patches and Princess.
- Having "getting ready in the morning" only mean to put on the same clothes from the day before and tie my bandana around my head.
- Listening to the silence.
- Spending quality time with just me.

Some Things I WON'T Miss About the Trail:
- Pulling ticks out of my head.
- Stumbling over a rock and falling flat on my face.
- Sweating so much that the bottom of my shorts are dripping.
- Digging a hole to go to the bathroom.
- Running into snakes/bears/skunks/spiders.
- Trail mix, oatmeal, Snickers bars, and freeze-dried dinners.
- Putting on those damn knee braces every single day.
- Constantly walking with the "hiker hobble".

As soon as I get back to Chicago (1st week in October) I will download the rest of my pictures and post them to this blog.

To everyone who reads this blog...thank you so much for following along my journey with me. It was a truly amazing experience and all of you were a part of it. To come into towns and read the comments and e-mails that people sent would raise my spirits every time.

To "The Girls" (Aggie, Toots, Dubs, & Wee)...thank you for supporting me 100% on my trip even if you didn't fully "get" it. Your maildrops would put a smile on my face without failure...the celebrity gossip magazines so I could keep current...the yummy treats...the Kelly Clarkson bandana that the ticks so loved...and even the underwear that Dubs sent because she couldn't stand the thought of me only having 4 pairs. :) It meant a lot to know that you were all so supportive of me.

To Tunde...I have a whole new respect for you now that you lived with Virgil for 3 months. To some, that would be more of a difficult journey than my hike. :) Your patience in dealing with him as well as your entertaining blog of his daily escapades were awesome. Thank you so much for taking care of him and putting up with his antics while I was gone. The treats that you would send me in my maildrops would always put a smile on my face. I'm still floored with how good that Turtle Chex Mix is...

To Ashlie...thank you for being there for me everytime I called just to hear another human voice. You got me through some really tough times out there and I couldn't have done it without you. Thank you also for your never-ending insistence that "it's ok if you want to come home" :)

To Mom...no matter what journey I have ever embarked upon, you have always been there to support me. When I was having hard times at the beginning of my trip, without hesitation you decided to come out for a weekend to be with me. You organized and sent me all my maildrops which is a huge task in itself. You listened to me complain time and time again about both my physical and mental ailments. You encouraged me when I was down and you celebrated with me when I was up. Thank you for all you have done for me on my journey and for being my best friend. I look forward to finishing my A.T. journey with you out there beside me.

Here are some final statistics regarding my A.T. adventures:
Section Hike '00 Duration: 92 days
Section Hike '00 Distance: 714.0 miles
Section Hike '05 Duration: 73 days
Section Hike '05 Distance: 749.1 miles
Total A.T. Miles Completed: 1463.1
Total A.T. Miles Remaining: 711.9
States Completed: Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Connecticut south of Cornwall Bridge
States Remaining: Connecticut north of Cornwall Bridge, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine