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[at-l] PA Ruck



The PA Ruck was a success.

I arrived on Thursday, one day early to relax in the cabin I had rented, 
500 ft from the hostel. It was 10 degrees when I arrived. I walked 
around the cabin and pulled the blinds completely up so that I had a 
view of the AT from most rooms.

I later checked in at the hostel to meet the wonderful and gracious 
hostel manager, Donna. Thursday night Gary Roberts and I shared spirits, 
T-bone steaks and 4 hours of non stop conversation about our families 
and hiking plans.  It went down to -2 degrees that night.

Late Friday morning Gary and I went into Carlisle to have a great 
breakfast at the Carlisle Diner.  My first taste of scrapple-not bad. 
Off to a Walmart to purchase forgotten Ruck items. As I pulled into the 
parking lot I realized we were at a Walmart "SuperCenter", non-existent 
in Cleveland. Gary and I looked at each other, thought this experience 
could result in us walking out of here penniliess, so we decided not to 
use a shopping cart.  One hour, 2 baskets and one shopping cart later, 
we found each other in the store again and checked out. 

Friday afternoon I cooked 10 pounds of hamburger meat for tacos, and 
baked 2 gallons of refried beans, together with a huge assortment of 
cheeses and vegetables for burritos, tacos and enchiladas. Tequila came 
to mind---and I found some in a certain area 2 days later, area can't be 
mentioned..  The Rucksters started arriving at 2:00 p.m. The first, 
Weathercarrot. Wolf, Takoma Tedd, Ponderer, Steve Landis, Stargazer, 
RockDancer, Stitches, Goosebump, Felix, Shelly, Miss Janet, Chase and 
many others came in one by one, and it felt really good to see the 
familiar faces and to meet new hikers and their families.  It's also 
great to put the faces with the names on the AT-L.  There are still some 
hikers that I want to meet, and will probably end up traveling to 
accomplish this. You know who you are. I left around 9:00 p.m., and 
missed the late arrivals, but knew who was there the next morning, 
especially when I saw those huge muffins in the kitchen!

Saturday morning at the hostel, Grey Owl and myself cooked up sausage, 
bacon, pancakes and eggs while David Jones whipped up the best all grain 
waffles I've ever eaten in my life; he had all the fixins too. Great 
breakfast and the very best of company. The morning hike to Pole Steeple 
commenced, and I went back to my cabin to rest a while. As I opened the 
door to the cabin, I smelled something very familiar....biscuits and 
gravy.  Shelly had gotten up a little late, couldn't make it to the 
hostel in time, and decided to cook all of us in the cabin a huge 
breakfast of the best "cat tail" biscuits and sausage gravy I have ever 
eaten.  Enough for reheats for Sunday breakfast too!  Myself, Shelly, 
Miss Janet, Casey "Dingles", CamoJack, Felix, Cherokee, Big Stick, Wolf 
and Coyote feasted.  Please don't be jealous, Shelly actually felt bad 
that she couldn't make it to the hostel; she and Miss Janet had a very 
long drive the day before and were quite exhausted (again, can't mention 
where I saw that bottle of tequila).

Back to the hostel to greet other Rucksters arriving and bringing in 
soups, chilis, breads, lunchmeats & cheese. Some of what was brought in 
were:  Kielbasa & cabbage soup (excellent--and thank you again-please 
email me with the recipe if you can), potato soup, broccoli & cheese 
soup, meat & veggie chilies, black bean soup.

A young man appeared that looked familiar in the face, and I realized 
how much he looked like Sparky, but I didn't think it could be his son 
because he was 2 feet taller than the last time I saw him. It was Stick 
Dawg. "Is lunch ready yet?" And I just wanted to hug him, thinking of my 
boys when they were younger. Later I saw him and his buddy playing 
football outside without their jackets in the freezing temps and then I 
really thought of my boys! Sparky, you did good, and by the way, you 
look stunning in your uniform.

Afterwards, Stitches held the tuckerization session, questions, and 
great conversation.  More dishes and desserts were pouring in, and of 
course Rucksters.

The kitchen was packed with food and people, and even though the large 
Vulcan stove was inoperative, we did just fine. Only one inconvenience, 
but Cindy (Mrs. Gorp) cooked her ham in the oven at our cabin. 

The RuckFeast menu:
Hams
barbeque pork loin, pork shoulder and western style ribs
bean burgers
Spaghetti & meatballs - 3 different dishes
Pasta & Italian sausages
pizzas & tomato pie
Macaroni & cheese casserole
mashed potatoes & gravy
potato, macaroni & pasta salads, cole slaw & tossed salads
Ethinic dishes
Bread varieties

And we all ate real good. There were too many desserts to mention, and 
we feasted on these the entire weekend.  The coffee poured.

After dinner, the slide show presentation was held upstairs in the 
common room, while others helped clean up.  Just as I was thinking about 
how wonderful it all was, Takoma Tedd sat down and performed music from 
"Songs of the Blue Ridge Runner" and other songs. Earl Shaffer's words 
and Takoma's voice stirred my heart, especially when I heard "Walking 
with Spring." I've heard it many times, but I was truly enlightened that 
evening....."out on the blue horizon"......thanks Takoma.

Time for socializing with many familiar and new faces then back to the 
cabin. Later, friends joined me to talk about hiking plans, Trail 
stories and dreams. Thanks Tricks for all you do, especially on the 
Trail. You are a unique and caring individual. If people only knew. Nice 
to meet Lone Wolf.

A 5-1/2 hour drive back home to Cleveland, stopping long enough for some 
raunchy coffee, that made me appreciate the Ruck even more, and so I put 
in my CD, Songs of the Blue Ridge Runner.

Thanks to all of you who contributed to what you do best at the Ruck.  
There are too many to thank individually.

Billville, you were missed.

Spur and Ready, you were missed. It's not the same without you.

I'll have pictures up on Tuesday.

Marsha