Some Maddening News to Tell!

Thought I would bring you up-to-date on what is happening newsworthy-wise, and it's exciting.

Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine has a clip from one of our trail stories about hypothermia in their September issue. Scroll down until you come to "Mountain Madness". On the left side there is also a picture of the three of us. And yes, that is Skipper in a sportkilt which he loves to wear hiking in hot weather. Here's the link to the article under Close Calls.

And I learned yesterday that the Appalachian Trail Conservancy wishes to use a photo from last year's hike in their newest guidebook for Vermont and New Hampshire! It is also the picture that won a contest a few months back.

I am working steadily on a book proposal to sell our adventure last year on the trail. I met with a few editors at a writer's conference who expressed interest in seeing it. I also went to learn how a fiction author turns to non fiction and came away with many good ideas. So I am hoping and praying a major publisher will pick up our story and run with it! Stay tuned.

New Article Up!

I just discovered that a new article on our hike is now up online, published by the Greene County Record.

Talking About the AT

Well, there is no reason to have hiked over 2,000 miles and not at least share about it! And that is just what we did at our neighborhood library last week, giving a ninety minute presentation complete with over 200 pictures of our AT odyssey. It was a great deal of fun, and we had a lot of interesting questions and comments. It made me realize that all those little talks we gave at the AMC huts in the Whites as part of our work-for-stay got us ready to bigger leagues. We are hoping for more talks this spring and summer, and are already set to give a talk to 15 Scout leaders about hiking on June 5th.

Now if I can only sell my book on this adventure!

Onward and upward.

The Article is Up!

Good news- today an article on our hike appeared in the Sunday Daily Progress Lifestyles section - the newspaper in Charlottesville, Virginia. Except for a minor error on the "white triangles" of the AT - (yikes!) I thought the reporter did a great job. Wish you could see the pictures that went along with the story (we had two pages worth) but you can at least read the article here. The picture on the right is one that the Progress did print on the front page, of Paul Bunyan in the snow on the way to Damascus.

The News Begins...

I was out for a run today - I've been doing that to keep myself in some kind of shape and sanity, really, when I spied a newspaper in our culvert. Normally we receive The Daily Progress only on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so I was somewhat surprised, this being Thursday. I opened it up to see the following sidebar under What's Next.

The Trek That Dreams Are Made Of

For more than 30 years Lauralee Bliss has dreamed of hiking the Appalachian Trail. She recently completed her goal, accompanied by her 17-year-old son, Joshua. Read about their 2,175 mile trek in this Sunday's Lifestyles.

So there it is - the big story on our hike is coming this Sunday, November 4th. We had a photo shoot last week with all our gear spread out in the backyard. The photographer took pictures of us with our gear, setting up our tent, standing beside a map of the trail. It is exciting, for certain. But I can't get wrapped up in it all. I'm just amazed and teary-eyed that I was even able to complete this journey. And what God can do with a dream, if we let Him. That is where the real story lies.