You Can Have Excuses Or You Can Have Your Dreams

Day 117

Tuesday July 18, 2017

Miles: 1279.1 - 1295.3  completed: 17.2

Weather: Hot and cloudy

At Suzanne and Jay's house in CT

That was an interesting night! Yesterday we were so pleased with our efforts tackling the rocks, beating the storm, and getting in early. We were ready to enjoy a relaxing evening in the hotel. That was foiled by the power outage caused by the storm. By the time we were able to check into the room we had barely enough time to shower and get to bed for a full night's sleep. So we hoped.

Falling asleep was easy. We were all exhausted. Staying asleep was the issue. The hotel was having electrical problems and the fire alarm went off 5 times. By the third false alarm we didn't even get up. Despite the lack of sleep we were up early and back on the trail. We had big miles planned. 

9.5 miles were history and we hadn't even stopped once for a break. That was the longest stretch we had ever done without resting. We are really getting strong.  With our well deserved lunch break done, chatted with other fellow hikers and were back on the trail to finish our goal. We had ice cream next on our agenda. Near the end of the day the trail brought us right to Zoe's Ice Cream. Here we had another well deserved treat. 

Our biggest vision for the day that kept us going over the rough terrain and heat was the New Jersey border. We can finally say good-bye to Pennsylvania as we put the 7th state behind us. 

Black Bear & Shortcake photo by Bruce Leonard

While we were hiking a day hiker met us coming from the opposite direction. She was excited for our journey and explained her desire to do the trail one day. Then she started listed excuses. Afterwards Shortcake and myself gave her tips on how to overcome each of her obstacles. But then she would have a new one. We stopped offering guidance. After she was gone I said to Shortcake that the hiker we just talked to will never do a thru hike even though she says she wants to. Her thinking is in wrong. She had an excuse for everything even when shown how to over come it. If there is one thing I have learned in life it's you can have excuses or you can have your dreams. But what you can't have is both. 

Happy Hiking.