Made it to Damascus...

I'll write about the six day hike later. For now, just a few thoughts. I skipped the Billy Graham Library in Charlotte, North Carolina. The guy has done more harm for morality than good. The guy never heard of such a thing as collective sin.

And here is a case in point of Collective Sin. This sign is all over southern Virginia where they want to keep mining the coal.

I flew across the nation last night. In the dark. It was amazing just how crowded with electric lights most of our nation is polluted with. There is hardly any place where our species has left things alone and untouched.

The plane had one of those devices that tells you exactly where you are. When we flew over Moab, Utah--I was so happy to finally get back to my beloved West. I could look down and not see an electric light anywhere. Aldo Leopold's blank space on the map. "What good are forty freedoms (he wrote) without a blank space on the map?" Flying across the country it is quite apparent just how danged prolific we humans are. Even Oklahoma looked crowded!

As for the hike, more about that later. I seem to be wrestling with a tummy ailment that probably came about from filtering water out of a small, one inch deep puddle. Been nauseated for three days. Of course, the hike was wonderful with an excellent hiking companion (who was quite the trooper---suffering through exhaustion, days and days of Ramen Noodles and Tuna Fish and gigantic blisters!).

Cheers Everyone! It is good to be home!