Mini-Vacation

Nancy and I were able to get away for a few days this week before I began work at Covenant Christian School. First, we went whitewater rafting on the Nantahala river in western North Carolina. It was my first time rafting and Nancy's third. We had a blast! Appalachian Rivers Outdoor Recreation has great prices and come to find out the owner is a member of a PCA church in Greenville, South Carolina. Abby, the owner's daugter, was driving us to the launch site and she found out we were from Saint Louis. She said, "This may seem wierd but did you go to Covenant Seminary there?" Well, as a matter of fact... What a small world.

Then we did an overnight backpacking trip on the Appalachian trial. We hiked from Stecoah Gap to Cheoah Bald. We didn't see a soul on the way up to the Bald, which was a rigorous uphill climb of 5.8 miles (the sign I'm pointing to is wrong). We were carrying our gear: tent, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, reading materials (a necessity), food, cosmetics, etc. Though in decent shape our legs weren't quite ready for the strain even though our eyes eagerly feasted on the views. When we got to the top we set up our tent and crashed for a while.

We camped on the Bald and were privy to some beautiful sights, our favorite being watching the sun set over the mountians. At night we didn't hear any sounds of civilization, only the breeze whistling through the treetops. Right after college I hiked the first 210 miles of the AT and had always wanted to take Nancy on a portion of the famed hiker's road. Walking these paths again rekindled an old desire of mine to hike the whole trail. Unless the Lord provides a five month stretch I'll probably never be able to do the entire thing at one time but doing small portions over the years is doable.

Being close to God's green earth is nice and I like the sense of accomplishment too. You never know what kind of things you'll see (like the strange tree Nancy is leaning on). There's something about carrying your own house on your back, so to speak, and being able to have a front porch, as I called it, that includes a majestic view. When we opened our tent fly in the morning the first thing we saw was the sun rising over the distant mountians. At the end of the day you're dog tired, stinky, and dirty. The sleep is so good and the most basic of meals tastes like a feast, even if it is just pasta with a little bit of watery spaghetti sauce because someone forgot to bring the tomato paste(!). I'm blessed to have a wife that will go on "vacations" like this with me!