Oh No You Didn't!

Kim and I have been training for our longest hike of the season, the 13.5 mile stretch of the Appalachian Trail (AT) known as "the Roller Coaster".  With drastic up and down elevation changes adding several additional miles onto the hike, it is considered by many to be the most strenuous part of the AT.  I had the ridiculous idea at the beginning of the summer to do it all in a single day and we were about to go for it.

We parked Kim's car at the back end of the hike and drove together in mine to the start.  We were on the trail just after 8 am and making great progress on the most difficult ascent to Buzzard Hill, the roughly 1/3 point of the entire hike.  As we ate our lunch, I checked the time.  Only 2.5 hours.  Sweet!  "Babe, it doesn't seem like it will take anywhere near 10 hours."  We were off again within 20 minutes, soon entering more ups and downs, including two significant ascents.  I began to feel the wear on these old knees of mine.  All good, I thought.  At the 2/3 point, with the largest hills now down, even if I came in like a zombie, we would make it much quicker than we thought.

By the seven hour mark, with maybe an hour left, I was really hurting.  This was definitely taking a toll on my knees now, with every step causing considerable pain.  Suddenly, Kim let out a howl from behind me, "Oh no!"  I turned, "What?"  "I left the key to my car in your truck.  We have no way to drive back."  "Oh no you didn't!", I thought, as I noticed the urge to criticize her for this mistake and start useless complaining.  Instead, using Stop, Drop, and Be, I brought myself back to the present moment.  Time to sail these two C's.  I can choose a different reaction, kindness and compassion.  "It's okay babe.  No big deal.  I've done far worse."  She was still clearly upset, apologizing I'm betting a dozen times over our predicament, when she offered, "I wonder if my sister and brother-in-law, Debbie and James, would be willing to come get us and take us to your truck?" Thanks to their kindness, that's exactly what happened.  They met us at the end of the trail and saved the day.  Though I've no doubt we would have made it home just fine one way or another, by both of us Sailing the Seven C's together, it sure proved far easier and didn't spoil our great day in the process.