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[at-l] Reporting from the Village of Delaware Water Gap

Reposted with permission from kendall
original post date this tuesday

Reporting from the Village of Delaware Water Gap, 
Pennsylvania, MR. ED
says.....

The following hikers passed through DWG 
this week.  Most were in good spirits and 
had the look of a puppy after it's first 
dunk in the lake....wet, confused, awkward 
and shaky.  One hiker said he was doing just 
fine except that his right leg was totally numb.  
It made him walk funny, which he didn't mind, 
except that now his left leg was also going 
completely numb.  As a result of all this numbness 
one leg was a Southbounder and the other was a 
Northbounder.  He was sure he could solve this 
problem with a new backpack.  His mom was sending 
him $600.

Coach
Big Poppo
The Messenger
Seeker
Long Stride
Nyamazela
Lynx
Not Yet
Chris
Dragon's Breath
Hunes
Piper
Samson
Druid
Poppa Bear
Delilah the dog

Delilah was on a lead.  However the owner did 
not bother holding the other end of the lead....so
 Delilah was free to roam around occasionally getting
her lead caught on a stump and giving her a brief case 
of whiplash and a short experience of THE BIG CHOKE.  
Mostly the mutt was a bag of bones who laid sleeping 
quietly in the street hoping to be run over I suspect.  
She too, had an encounter with another village dog 
and came up short.  The village dog is beginning to 
enjoy these encounters with weakened near-death trail 
dogs and is gaining a reputation it has never known.  
Old timers are now referring to this dog as 
"the killer poodle of DWG."

The weather in the East has been wet for 10 
days now and there has been no thunder or 
lightening to speak of....just intervals of 
soft rain.   The most frequently asked question 
lately is:  "Is there a good place to put my boots
where they can dry out?"  Some of the more ingenious 
town folks are thinking of building a room-sized 
microwave to be placed at the trailhead.  Hikers
could walk into the thing and for a quarter get z
apped for 30 seconds and walk out looking like a 
model from an L. L. Bean hiker catalog.  They are
thinking about applying for one of those TRAILPLACE 
grants for trail towns collected from thru-hikers.....
are these the same guys who can't figure out how to l
eave a 15% tip down at the diner?....so they just skip 
the tip altogether?

There were three Pilgrims in church this week.  
Can we think of all hikers as Pilgrims?... folks who 
take the big hike in order to deepen their sense
of spirituality, not that   
"holy-spirit-foot-washing-evangelical-shout-Jesus
spirituality", but the kind of spirituality in which 
the hiker seeks to experience the essential self --the 
real self as it rubs softly against the natural world 
and it's critters, and interacts with other strange 
members of the human race....a world where the only 
mirrors are the reflections we see when we effect 
others or the mirror image of ourselves we see 
sitting alone in a dark shelter.  A lot of trail 
conversation has to do with what is good and WHO 
is good and genuine, and what is otherwise.  A lot 
of trail thinking and feeling has to do with how 
good and genuine am I.  Is there a worthy spirit 
inside of this shabby, smelly, exhausted, hungry,
 thirsty being?

These three Pilgrims in church had varying degrees 
of worship experience:
one knew well the Apostles Creed, The Lords Prayer, 
and the Gloria....He spoke and sang with volume and c
onfidence.  The second Pilgrim knew some...a little. 
The third Pilgrim knew nothing.  After worship I sat 
down on the pew with the third Pilgrim and asked him 
if he was doing okay or had any personal problems.  
He leaned close to my ear, tears forming in his eyes,
dropping down to his knees, and in an quiet stuttering 
whisper he said:
"Have you EVER seen a blister that looks like this??"
Amen and AMEN.
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