Posts
Hot Springs Resort and a Rooster Named Wayco
I decided to take a little stroll through town. I ran into Cornelius and he showed me the Victorian styled house he was taking a zero in. Then, we went to Tobacco Road to find that the store had a pet rooster named Wayco who was nine years old! He had his own post cards and printed photos for sale. The shop owner let us hold him and follow him around the store for a bit.
Life Getting Easier With God in the Picture
When it came to sharing feelings about an apparent “problem”, I would prefer to keep things to myself, for I knew that anytime I experienced a judgement of a person or a situation, that I was fully responsible for making it that way. If I felt an energy of anger or blame, I would prefer to be in a state of silence and hand it over to the Holy Spirit instead. I knew that people couldn’t really give me the comfort I was looking for, so often times it felt like a waste of energy to try and lean on them.
Handstands on Max Patch and Accepting Candy From Strangers
A few of us hikers sat by the fireplace early in the morning as we enjoyed a warm cup of coffee. Voodoo found a new pair of Lone Peak shoes in the hiker box and threw his old ones up on a tree branch. We were all packed up and ready to go, but it often took some internal motivation to get going.
Exploring Asheville, Embodying the Hiker Trash Role, Learning How to Release Hatred and Gratitude for Tramily Support
Before we left, we found a brown paper bag beside the bench. Jimmy Dean opened it to find a to go box with a half eaten steak and a couple of chicken wings. We looked at each other in unspoken agreement—as true hiker trash, he ate it.
A Path of Sobriety, Looking Within For Guidance
He said, “I’m trying to learn how to be comfortable in my own skin. I came to hike alone and I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and reflecting. In the past I was using drugs, alcohol, people, places, things, pussy to feel things so I didn’t have to look within. Now, it’s different. Now, I’ve been sober for almost two years and I’m faced to look within.”
Contradicting Behavior, Popping Hitchhiking Cherry and Playing Damsel in Distress
Checkmate, Beans and I started our hitch back towards Newfound Gap. It was their first time hitchhiking and I could feel their impatience with it. We only waited a couple of minutes before Beans made a comment about getting a shuttle. I laughed, “Give it a minute.” Hitchhiking taught the lesson of patience. It was also a reminder to trust that the perfect ride was on the way—it could take five minutes or five hours—that was the joy of the experience.
Interventions, Ruining My Reputation and Fake Cocaine
I, too, witnessed similar thoughts about people arise, but when I recognized they were about me and no one “out there”, I would let them run their course while removing any meaning I had about them. Every person I apparently perceived was coming out of my own mind, period. So, whatever perception I had of a person was what I was making of them. Paradoxically, everyone had a story that I knew nothing about. I felt as if I had a gift of being able to see through people and read between the lines. The surface personality that someone showed didn’t feel like it meant much to me. I looked at it more as a layer of what they were trying to hide or conceal over anything else. Receiving that perception between Voodoo and Beans was healing for me as I took it as a reminder to take a step back before making a judgement (about myself).
Clogging the Toilet at the Motel 6 in Gatlinburg
I called to Pink, “The toilet is clogged! Please help!! Just don’t look at my poop!!!” He bursted in and yelled, “It’s okay, I’m a man! I got it!” He opened and closed the top tank, then said, “Hold on, I have to pee!” Hysterical, I yelled, “You can’t, the water is rising!” He peed in the shower instead and continued to get down to business.
Delirious Night in the Smokies, Huddling Up For Warmth
I thought of all the survival shows I used to watch, “We have to use each other’s body heat to warm up.” I told Checkmate to get into my sleeping bag. He goes, “Is there enough room?” I said yes! He was only able to get half of his legs in. With his knees pressing into my spine, we laid there for a couple of minutes and he goes, “What the fuck. This isn’t sustainable!!” I defended, “No! No! This is good! I can feel the heat!“ He goes, “Yeah, that’s because you’re sucking all the heat out of me. You’re like a fucking leech!” Silence came over us after the laughter subsided. Checkmate goes, “This is rock bottom.” Sasquatch adds, “It’s so cold, this is the kind of weather that makes me want to cuddle with a grown man. I'm secretly wishing Beans would show up right now to spoon me.”
Warming Up in the Smokies with a Handsome Hiker
He released his breath into my mouth as I inhaled it—I was brought back to tantric memories as we built the tension with our breathing over the course of 45 minutes. I felt we had stopped the world from spinning in the space that was him and I. Through the pitch black darkness we danced our way through intuitive guided movements… our lips now less than a speck of dust apart.