[Author’s note: all distances are approximate.]
From Mt. Katahdin, Maine to Front Royal, Virginia via the Appalachian Trail: 1,300 miles
I saw what happens to a hundred year-old bar when a television is plugged in for the first time. I learned how to think like a mouse. I got lost and ended up at a farm where they were harvesting cilantro. I went for 5 days without talking to anyone. I woke up one morning with my tarp crushed down to an inch above my face and a foot of snow on the other side of the plastic. I got a ride to town with a middle-aged rabbi who lived out of his car. I hiked with a bro whose mom had cancer.
I saw his face one night after he talked to her on the phone.