Next is the WHY. . . .

I have been thinking long and hard about this and I have determined that my near obsession with the Appalachian Trail represents, more than anything, a reconnection with my past. I grew up in an agricultural home. Our garden and fruit orchards alone were 10 times the size of the land that I currently own. Not because of necessity, but recreationally I hunted and lived off the land, ate mushrooms and blackberry's out of the forest, caught, cleaned and ate my own fish, squirrel, quail and deer. I grew up 15 miles from the bluffs of the Mississippi River. In a way my childhood was a lot like The Adventures of Huck Fin playing in streams and catching crayfish. Although I didn't know it, I was living in a dream world where play and work were kind of intertwined. How was it that I was able to so easily mingle work and play? There are two main reasons. First, because from age 8 to 12 there is only so much that you can responsibly do on a farm, making my work load easy compared to that of my older brothers. My tasks were often mundane, but important like collecting the tops off of wild garlic and Johnson grass (weeds that choke out the crops and are detrimental) and burning them, feeding and tending tolivestock, assisting the fencebuilder, being the fresh egg collector, garden cultivator and so on. The other and most important reason I feel I was it was so easy to mingle work and play was because of my earthly surroundings. While I was doing those mundane chores, I would be walking in a bean field and find a big rock and decide to move it out of the field so it didn't damage the farm equipment. Well when I would pick it up a snake or a worm or some creature would be lurking underneath creating an opportunity to explore my world. The farm was heavenly for me and my brother Cary. Our woods were like something depicted in Robert Frost's, Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening. It was the most peaceful, quiet, place on earth. It's where I connected with God and became interested in Him. It's where I felt closest to Him despite my immaturity. I remember walking through fields of mature winter wheat on my way to a swimming hole at Dry Creek feeling like the world was so big and that life was easy and good and innocent. Ronald Reagan was president and the Cardinals would go on to win the World Series a few years later. Life was at it's finest.

It is unrealistic to think that life could go on so simply, so surreally as it did on our farm. All of those experiences were beautiful and wonderful, but the years flew by and responsibility and reality caught up with me. I joined The Church of Jesus Christ, served my mission, married the wife of my dreams, went to college and got a job, and have a family of my own. I go to work each week and return to my cul-de-sac each day to smiling faces and baseball in the front yard. I have returned to cultivating and gardening and yardwork in a way that I would have never dreamed possible as a kid. All that mowing and weed eating was a chore then. Now, once again I supposeit is a way and a window back to what I was taught was important. I am immensely blessed and could not be more grateful for the life and blessings afforded me by a loving Heavenly Father. I believe that more than anything my job is what drives this yearning to be free and out in the woods. Even so, these current chapters are as natural and important a part of life as the chapters of youth. My youth was sheltered from the world and insulated from some of the less appealing qualities of sitting in front of the television and indoors all day long like a lot of city kids do. As a kid, our rabbit ears and tin foil contraption basically just got channel 11 and outside of a few cartoons after school, it was news or baseball. Unfortunately for us and our posterity this simplicity no longer exists. While we don't have cable in our home (and don't need cable) the world of mass media and mass information engulfs us. There seems to be little refuge and no "place" for peace but in the Lord. The internet which is our primary source of information these days is carefully snared with traps and pop ups and SPAM email which seem to consistently tend to be inappropriate. The burning question that I have for myself is, "What am I doing for my wife, childrenand myself to keep that innocence and that connection with the world andthe wonderment of nature and God alive?" I contend that trips like this one, away from this hustle and bustle provide that window to once again remember what it was like in 1982.

Perhaps most importantly I think of the AT as an Iron Rod and a way Home. I don't think there is any coincidence that God the Father and His Son made themselves known to Joseph Smith in a simple and splendid grove of trees,it was made by HIS hands, not by the hands of men. Out on the Trail I willbe able to climb upward toward Him and connect with Him. Last year Jan andI ran a 4.5 mile run across a large bay bridge from Destin Florida toNiceville Florida. It was our "Kathryn Run." We had a great time and Iremember feeling, "I just have to keep going for Kathryn. I know she'swaiting at the other end." It pushed me and helped me focus. I feel thatif I follow this path, 50 miles or so a year for the next 30 years I willbe more likely to stay in shape and build eternal memories with my familyand close friends than ever while taking time each year to commemorate hershort and marvelous life. It could be our sacred Kathryn journey andpilgrimage each year in which the cell phones will be shut off and theconnection with the outside world will not really matter. In time all ofmy children and hopefully my wife will join me and the event will becomesingularly a family event. Until then I will welcome all family and friends who want to get out and enjoy all that Father has created and aview of what He has given us. Late August/September 2009!