Thank you to everyone who has been following our journey.  Our week has been great — hiking through the woods is beautiful, and Ted and I made friends with many fellow hikers.   We encountered a thunderstorm and got soaked one day; one night it was chilly so we zipped up our sleeping bags and kept warm.  The trails in Vermont are sometimes wet and muddy, so I have to be careful to keep from losing my balance and falling.  I knew Ted was leaving the trail today to participate in a Tough Mudder this weekend (because hiking the AT isn’t challenging enough!), and I looked forward to our friends Didier Collin de Casaubon and his son Matthieu joining me.  However, I felt fatigued and unsteady yesterday, and was worried because we were planning a long hike to the Bromley Shelter today.  My left leg felt especially weak this morning, and when my wife, Eileen, brought Didier and Matthieu to meet us at a parking lot off the AT early this afternoon, I decided to go home for a few days and rest up so I could rejoin the group ready to hike again.  ALS is affecting my strength, and I must thank my colleagues for lightening my pack.  With a smaller and lighter pack, I think I can keep hiking the AT.  Like today, I expect to have to take a break every so often, but friends and neighbors have offered their houses near the trail to give me a break without driving all the way back to Boston.

I am proud of Didier and Matthieu, because they hiked on without me and made it to Bromley Shelter this evening.  I look forward to rejoining them in a few days.  I have always enjoyed hiking the Green Mountains, White Mountains, and Baxter State Park, and again I will do the best I can.  I will undoubtedly have to skip sections of the Appalachian Trail, but I hope to hike as far as I can.  Stay tuned to this blog.