May 17- Mile 444.2-454.4 (10.2 miles)

In the past two days I have walked over 60 miles.  60 miles.  One hour of driving in an automobile on the interstate.  In a car, mountains, rivers, and shade are all abstractions.  On foot they are obstacles earned in sweat, life sustaining sources of water, and a respite from the unrelenting sun.  Every day out of town my body becomes more and more soiled.  Dirt clings to me. My clothes are stained.  I have never been more filthy.  Yet every drop of sweat seems cleansing. In contrast to my dirty physical state, psychologically and spiritually(whatever that means) I feel cleaner than I have ever felt.

I watch with a sort of detached interest how my body is changing to better suit the rigors of the trail.  My skin has darkened and become more thick to protect against the sun.  The muscle mass from my upper body is shrinking.  I am becoming more thin. I am becoming harder, feral almost.  These changes will all (hopefully)  be temporary, and I have to sort of suspend my sense of vanity to enjoy them, but it is kind of nice to see a change with my body to match the change that I am feeling internally.  Hopefully my psychological changes will be more long lasting than the physical ones.  I am becoming more confident.  More comfortable in my skin.  More forgiving of my flaws and failures and mistakes.  I feel happy, and at peace with where I am at.

I wake up early and hike a quick ten miles to a place called the home of Jeff and Donna Sauffley, also known as Hiker Heaven.  Jeff and Donna Sauffley are legendary on the trail.  Every year they open their home to scores of hikers.  They make their computer's available to us(how I am posting this now), allow us to shower and do laundry, and have tons of cots set up for hikers to sleep on.  This is an amazing place.  I fraternize with the other hikers, pick up a resupply box that I had mailed here, and ride a bicycle(they also have 15 bicycles to assist hikers in getting to town) to town to eat a restaurant meal.

My appetite remains tremendous, and I am pouring food into my mouth constantly.  I have lost less than 5 pounds so far, which I am very happy with.  If I can continue eating at this pace, I hopefully will continue to not lose very much more weight.  Tonight I will hang out with the rest of the Hiker Trash, eat more meals, and get a good nights sleep.