The in -laws – The walk

Editor’s note: This is the publication that disappeared from my drafts that I thought had gone forever! This should have been published in the Shenondoahs. Consider it a retrospective that highlights Fail’s incredible generosity and friendship on this path.

He was a good hiker and we’ll miss him.

(He is not really dead, now he is out of the way. Sad day for all of us).

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Imagine this: you are walking with your friend in the forest. You are completely tired because it is completing a 15 -mile day after walking until midnight from the previous night, but at least you will arrive in the city in time for a good meal and a beer in a local restaurant before being collected to be taken to the most luxurious place where you have been in a long time. Tonight, you will not last in a shelter with a dozen or more of other hikers. No, tonight, you will be sleeping in the quiet and with air conditioning, private property, personally and known, beautifully cared for … Friends House!

We have finally achieved it. Fail’s beloved wife’s parents live a short distance from the path, and finally we are in that driving distance. We have been invited (with the exclusive advantages of being friends with Fail) to enjoy the good life out of the way for a few days, and at least the moment, cheese and I can take them to the offer.

While Cheese and I were very tired of the most monotonous and hard hiking day (we still brought to walk every day in the green tunnel of Virginia yet? Maybe!), We were happy to see Fail and his wife while stopping in the Fail’s In-Lows truck. Fail has been recovering from Noro that hit him strongly a few weeks ago, and to reach us, he has been using all the support he can get to make larger miles without hurting himself. This implies a light light packing to stay in your in -laws to recover when you can. As such, he has been trying to make the Tramilia visit the in -lawy place for weeks to participate in the wonders of the showers, the beds and the air conditioning.

It was sad that this particular opportunity was not a place that the entire tramilia would experience together. Stoker has finally jumped to New Hampshire, Gaslight is two days ahead of us by pressing long days to reach the next city to the north to meet with his partner, and Roadhog is 100 miles behind his free week last month. For now, it would be me, Mr. Cheese and failure, still a good group, and I was still happy to go to a comfortable house for one or two days while I could, but I definitely felt sad that the failure of the in -laws’ house had been exaggerated would not be the tramilia we had planned.

So, Cheese and I finished our beers in the restaurant, set the bill and met for dinner number two in the laws when Becky and Fail stopped at the truck. Becky leaned off the window on the driver side, smiling and greeting timidly, asking us to place our packages in the trunk. There is no problem, packages in the trunk are a standard operational procedure for ferry, but this truck was special. With a pressure of a button, the Troncal Van began to open automatically, and we listen to play music.

Was that … John Cena’s thematic music?

There in the trunk, someone who had not seen in weeks and I thought he would not see for more weeks (what he feels like forever on the road) …

Roadhog !!!!

I shouted. I was absolutely discouraged, euphoric and a little drunk of the beer I had before, and I shouted 100% like Lucille Bluth discovering Gene Parmesan disguised (arrested development references, someone?

I hope that blog readers understand two things here from my previous publications: along the way, the people you know become a family very quickly, and time is so concentrated that a week that happens with someone along the way can mean that you are united for life. I have written some of my thoughts about Tramilia in the past, and I have fought with the concept and questioned the importance before finding «my people.» From now on, I firmly believe that tramily is a very important factor to enjoy its walk and complete it. Roadhog is someone with whom I have only walked a couple of times, but those times were very shocking, and the rest of the tramilia has followed the rhythm and we all continued talking about him being part of our group, even if we have not seen it in weeks. With how much land there is between him and us, it is difficult to say if we will walk with him again before reaching northeast, but we have all talked about harassing to work in a shelter in the Harper Ferry to let him catch up, and we have all tried to convince him to jump with us again before. To see it here again, in the trunk of a truck on the way to the in -laws … Of course I shouted. It was the best surprise that I could never have asked. I think the cheese was too stunned to scream, and it is not the guy anyway, but it was as impressed and excited to see Roadhog as me.

Of course, Fail was to record the entire exchange from the front seat of the truck, and caught my shout to the camera. However, I think it is a better scream in the Tramilia and will not share it here. I will let you imagine the most excited and silly reaction that someone could have with your friend surprising them with another friend in the trunk of a car.

It is enough to say that my mood had become quite fast tired, exhausted and exhausted by the walk of the day, until pure emotion and joy. Finally we stacked the truck and began to address the in -laws, and immediately sent a gas chick text to tell him that we had won. We had Roadhog in the car, and we were about to have the best zero, and he was not going to be there because he had a city to catch. Aw man, I got sad again. It was something beautiful to see Roadhog so unexpectedly, but Gaslight was not here to enjoy the small meeting (Roadhog is his favorite person), and Stoker would not join. I missed my absent friends and felt that they should be here to enjoy this.

The in -laws

Now, imagine the house of his friend’s retired parents, who have lived full lives as an engineer and physical, who «do it.» The house is immaculate, in a new neighborhood in the hills of Virginia, with a patio and two cats and two dogs (Fail and Becky’s Dogs). And since the grandchildren live close and visit often, the grandmother (the engineer) built literas for them, who double as literas for freshly dripped walkers. Now imagine that this matriarch is also a great cook, not to mention that she is the friendliest and most generous host you have experienced in months, even while you have been surrounded by some of the most friendly and generous angels along the way.

Now imagine that you were once a physics and engineering student and maintain a love for learning and great respect for the people who build the things that need themselves, and you also love a good library. Imagine being welcome in a house full of expert crafts and books about physics and philosophy, and two wonderful people who will talk about your passions and your life stories with you while you want. I think personally died and went to heaven. At least, I did a happy dance when I saw the shelves of Becky’s physics books and his mother’s workshop.

(If the camera of my phone was not broken, I would have many more photos of the last weeks, but, unfortunately, the path and the path move away. There are not many photos to share here).

The first night in the in -laws was without incident: we simply had the best food and the best beds we had access in weeks, surrounded by our friends (except Stoker and Gaslight). We saw a movie together, we laughed and we lived up with our time on the way we had been separated.

The next morning, after an absolutely charming breakfast: I took 6 pancakes, 5 bacon slices and 2 bowls of home Yogurt: So a light meal, Becky had to make a message. We all joke about how we miss her every time she left us, and we don’t say jokes that she is absolutely part of our tramily. I knew that being in the house would be too much to do nothing for me after such an incredible meal, so I offered to walk the dogs with Becky’s mother after cleaning the kitchen. Very soon, Becky returned and diverted me from my dog walk while we were all cornered down. Naturally, I thought we would take a group photo while we were all together to send Gaslight to put it jealous, the most obvious conclusion I think could have arrived. Of course, I did not realize that we all fail with his phone again when Becky opened the curtain to the patio to reveal …

Gaslight !!!!

I shouted again! Less shouts this time, since I had not had beer with my breakfast and I was sober of stone, but once again I found the best surprise of an unexpected friend. They had cheated me! He had sent a gas chick text the night before about how he should be collected and taken to the house for just one night to hang out and see his good friend Roadhog again, and had given a series of excuses why he could not. Why do I still trust everything that this guy says Gaslight? Well, it is good that I did not question it, because the surprise was worth the initial disappointment.

We were sure that Stoker would not be the next surprise, that it was everyone, and that we could finally relax together.

Just after the sun appeared later in the morning!

She tried to surprise me after listening to the first two, but finally I had noticed, and although I didn’t shout when I saw her, I gave her a big hug. We were all very happy to be together in one place (except Stoker, whom I tortured with photos of all of us together without her), and spent the day playing video games, watching more movies and eating a lot of food.

At some point, Cheese, Fail, and I went to Costco to replenish, which was a terrible idea financially, but it was fun to return to a costco after so many shopping trips in grocery stores such as English, Food Lion, Food City, etc. Obviously we bought too much food and said that excess would be used for magic for other excrement when Becky took us to the paths.

This would not be the last one we saw from the in -laws, since Fail was still behind us and used all his resources to delay us while he walked to catch up. We will always be grateful to Fail, Becky and Becky’s mother for the hospitality and generosity that joined us all for one night. Seeing movies and sitting on the couch with your friends sometimes is better than walking all day every day, as a result.