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For
my mother, Gale, who taught me love, humility,
and to see past my nose.
I have been asked repeatedly why I�m doing
the walk and how can I take so much time off;
and what charity I�m supporting � so here's a
little of my story.
Why walk more than 2,000 miles? Well I got
lost in the Green Mountains one summer when I
was a kid and nearly froze to death in the
Whites the following summer, but I was hooked on
the wild places for life. So I joined the
Marines to learn about land navigation, how to
stay warm and self discipline. And a few other
things as well�
Time off? After the amount of deployments I�ve
been on, oh yeah! So I�m working for the Army
now as a civilian, and I asked to take a few
months leave without pay. Now, before you start
muttering, I�ve volunteered to go to both Iraq
and Afghanistan but remained on the bench.
Walking the Appalachian Trail has been a long
term goal of mine, and the time has finally
arrived to get out and see it. Maybe I�ll get
the call when I�m in shape after 2000 miles�
Charity? There are so many doing incredible
work everyday, so I thought long and hard about
it. The most fantastic thing I remember hearing
about in the early eighties was a flying
hospital that flew doctors to interesting places
to give sight back to children with preventable
blindness. They call this program
Orbis, and
that's what I'm supporting on this walk. Please
give generously if you can.
And me? Well I've been described as hard
headed, but warm hearted. Driven. A
voracious reader and collector of maps. I�m
a lover of dogs, cats, single malt scotch,
good Blues music and my family. I�m
currently living in a small English village
in Northamptonshire. Basketball and Ultimate
Frisbee are my free time fun. The Boston Red
Sox, Liverpool Football Club, The New
England Patriots and a good game of cricket
in the summer give me seasonal entertainment
(as will a few cold ones, too, of course).
I will start the trail on 4 April 2007. If my
knees and morale hold out, I�ll be standing on
Katahdin in September. For all my friends
and family who kept telling me you were gonna go
with me and gave me a rain check, I'll take that
as my trail name. Just call me Rain Check and
I'm gone.
Many thanks for the words written by Iron
Toothpick (a snack), Postcard (a meal) and many
others.
Check out the
song Alan Watts Blues by Van Morrison, and the
book Cloud Hidden, Whereabouts Unknown by
Victoria Rose
Please say a little prayer for me.
Mucho Thanko to my man Mike Jacquard who is bringing the words, pictures
and this site to you.
I�m off to see the wilderness, the wonderful
wilderness of Awes!
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