Dick takes a hike : report of 14 April 1999

Dick reached Hiawassee, Georgia, today. According to the AT Data Book, Hiawassee is almost 68 miles from the trail head back at Springer Mountain. He has met some very nice people and is feeling much more optimistic about his ability to make it as a through-hiker.

(The Appalachian Trail Data Book 1997 is available from Amazon. Click USA order

USA. Only available from the USA. See also the booklist at the bottom of this page.)

Important Note

Two weeks before Dick left Connecticut, he had to see a podiatrist. He had been having severe pain in his left foot and behind his left knee. He feared he'd have to postpone the trip or scrap it altogether. The diagnosis was something called "Morton's neuroma." The condition can't be that unusual. The doctor had a four-color pamphlet describing it. The bad news was that the condition wasn't likely to get better without surgery. The good news was that hiking wouldn't make it any worse than it already was.

The tale

Dick called me at work this afternoon. Unfortunately, I was in a meeting and wasn't able to take the call. He left me a message - thank goodness for voicemail - and said he probably wouldn't be near a phone again for another four days. I had a whole list of things I wanted to tell him: about the parade this coming Saturday for our UCONN Huskies, men's national college basketball champions, about the delicious yogurt-covered granola bars I found for him, about the purple pansies I planted in the wooden swan on our front porch, about how proud I am of him, about how much I love him.