Happy Thanksgiving from Boiling Springs!

Happy Thanksgiving to everybody that has helped get me here! I have struggled with words and putting this journey into words. This is the best I can do for now. Houdini and I hiked into Boiling Springs yesterday afternoon and stayed the night at the Allenberry Resort Inn and Playhouse. I have absolutely loved the entire state of Pennsylvania! It has been incredible how much support we have been given by everyone that we have met on and off the trail. While the past month has been the most challenging and has pushed us mentally to our limits to stay on the trail, we have also come across some very important realizations. Putting all that has changed within myself and within this hike into words is finally becoming a little easier. If there is one message the trail teaches, it is to share all that you have. Never stop giving, and even when it seems you have nothing to give, you can still give your time and your love. Yesterday marked 7 months to the day since I left from Springer Mtn, GA. What a long journey it has been! I have been given more than I ever dreamed of in the past 7 months, a new life, a new lifestyle, and most importantly of all, a new vision of how I see the world around me and my place and purpose here. All that remains is 100 miles to Harpers Ferry, and Houdini and I plan to be done before December. We will be spending Thanksgiving with the Clancy family and we are so grateful for their hospitality in inviting two complete strangers who just came out of the woods into their home for the holiday. We certainly have developed a rocky relationship with the rocks in PA! But we can thankfully say that the worst of the rocks is over. And even so, we are grateful for rocks because that is the only way to keep warm at night. By heating rocks in the fire and using them to heat our sleeping bags we are able to at least get some sleep at nights. While the majority of our gear is all but breaking down and insufficient for cold weather camping, our 20* bags failing to insulate, down jackets losing feathers, etc., we must push on to keep warm and we are so close to being done with this journey at this point. The cold has been something. Dealing with the constant cold is harder than any climb and anything that I have experienced on the trail. While the trail has not been terribly challenging in PA (PA is pretty flat with relatively short climbs and decents), going cold gives a whole new meaning to what it means to have shelter and a home. Not just that, but the importance of opening up your home to others who are without. Just as the constant hunger in New Hampshire and Maine forced me to realize how much we waste and how important it is to be more conscious of our own waste. We all can certainly live with a little less because there will always be someone with greater needs than our own. To give when we are able is a must for a hopeful future. I don't think the gratitude that I feel can possibly be put into words for all those who have helped to get us to this point and for all that we have been given. I now know all that I need in my life which is my family, the few possessions I have carried in order to survive, and my own ability to give and make a difference. If we can broaden our visions and see the entire human race as our family or even a step further and embrace all that is alive as our family, and this world our home and not merely the shelter over our heads, we can see that there is hope and that this is a sharing and caring world. There is so much more to be said, and still so much more to be learned from the Trail. Today I find myself thankful for many things; I am thankful for my family who loves and supports me endlessly, I am thankful for Comfort Zone Camp and for all that camp provides for its campers, and I am thankful for the Appalachian Trail. I am thankful for all that I have learned in living in the woods. I am thankful that Houdini and I dare to stay on the trail even when nature is telling us it is time to get off. I am thankful for having met and traveled with Jay-Bird, Crazy Beard, Low Profile, Too Tall, Lightning Jack, Soleman, Far East Coast, and Traveler who have all changed my life so dramatically. The dependence we have found and the lifestyle we have lived has meant so much to me. There is so much more to say, and in time, I hope that I can find the words to do justice to the goodness that I have found on the AT. Happy Thanksgiving to all! AT for CZC reaches the last 100 Miles and SOBO we shall go! -Ewok