Only 1 day removed from hiking, it already feels like the distant past. I had hiked at least 5 miles, usually 10-15, every day for the past 2 months and now it is over. I have no regrets that we did not reach the true southern terminus of the trail. Our friend Gareth who finish the trail a month ago confirmed that we had made the right choice skipping that section as it is all Industry and road walking.
The day to day life of long distance hiking becomes a life style. Tearing down a tent every morning, having to think about where you will be getting water, and re supplying at convenience stores with 5 pounds of cookies are all things that were daily events that I will no longer worry about. As I write this it is starting to rain, a feint sense of concern started to come over me before I realized that rain doesn’t affect me any more. Yesterday a 1 hour rain shower would have made me miserable and ruined the day, now I casually watch it from a sofa.
As I ramble on I realize that I have no real conclusion or takeaway from the experience. The world of the thru hiker is nott one I was unfamiliar with and I can’t imagine I will be separated from it forever, but I guess I am suprised how quickly I have acclimated to regular society and how foreign my hiking experience already feels.
The rest of my trip will consist of hostel hopping and bus rides across europe. This will be great, but I am a thru hiker at heart and am definitely sad to see this portion of the trip reach its completion. Also, I will probably be making less frequent posts for the rest of the trip as a list of what museums I visited is much less interesting than Welsh weather and how many cows attacked me. Tomorrow we leave for london, so this is goodbye to Wales and hopefully hello to better water pressure.
cnphilli 
Collin I truly enjoyed reading your posts and vicariously living through your experience. I have some feeling for your experience as 40 years ago when I lived in CT I rode my 10 speed bike by myself through 5 states from St Joe, MO to Yellowstone and back for about 6 weeks. I would ride 100-150 miles each day and then stick out my thumb and get a ride to the next town staying at campsites, people’s homes, barns, and hotels. I really got to know so many people. When it was over I had an incredible mix of feelings of exhilaration and loss. Facebook probably would have helped keep these connections as Seth and you have done. As you know from hiking the AT you can revisit those good and bad times whenever you want. Those and future experiences will always help define you as a man.
Here is a picture of me with my oldest brother who was a minister in St Joe (Seth thinks he looks like Drew Carey).
I got married when I was 31 to a women eager and open to adventure. We moved to Tokyo for 8 years and traveled the world. We did NOT see Spain and we are VERY jealous.
Some people wait until they retire to travel which is a big mistake as we could not have done it later in life the way we did it.
Now – on to your next adventure (grab ahold and ride – or is that walk)! Love and prayers Bob (Seth’s Dad)
Sent from my iPad
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Thank you so much for yout interest in my trip and this great message. I look forward to meeting you when Seth and a I get back to the States.
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