The Professor

I was going to post on Bill Bryson, and my distaste for him, but I got an exceptional email today. You may recall me mentioning the Professor, a guy from Fl who had taught there for a while at several colleges. Brilliant man. So Close, C, and I hiked with this fellow for a while, and we formed our own little family. We had to leave, but he went on, determined to thru hike. He was way late, but the plan was to hit VA, flip to Katahdin (the northern terminus of the trail), and hike back down to where he was. So Close and I brought him thanksgiving, but that's another story. In any case, today he sent out his victory email. He completed the AT on Jan 2. It took him seven months to finish. In all, I can't really express how excited I am for him, and for his future. He's...seven months in the woods, some of that with people, some of that alone, that's life changing. I'm very excited for him.
I'll attempt to summarize his hike in a nutshell. Well, if I had to pick a work, it would be: ouch.
While he was still in GA, he had a bad fall that hurt one of his ankles pretty badly. He took a week or two off, then hopped on the trail again, even though the doc recommended 6 weeks. When I met him, he was limping. For thanksgiving, he was still limping. It was much much better, but it was still problematic. In his email, he stated that he's getting a touch worse, now that his muscles are undergoing the inevitable atrophy since he can't walk every day, all day, any more. He quit his job to hike this trail. He now has a job that'll feed him while he writes a lot (he's an English prof/author), recovers, and hikes some of the Florida trail with So Close, who's in school down that direction. He had an eventful hike. I'm looking forward to reading his book, once that gets out there and gets published.
To the Professor, for all that he's been through, all that he's going through, and all that stands on the horizon!