Sore and Sore

Life Hiker just returned from 170 miles on the Appalachian Trail, from Duncannon, PA, to Front Royal, VA. His knees are still hurting, especially from the up and down of a 13-mile stretch in northern VA called the "Rollercoaster" - 10,000 feet of up and down in 17 back-to-back hills of nasty rock! With 1200 miles of the AT under his boots, Life Hiker wonders if his 60 year old legs are going to make the last 950 miles! As usual, got some help from those who typically need help...although one or two regular "good people" lent a hand as well. The ones who needed help were a young working couple who lived in a tent, and two working Mexicans who gave me a lift when I needed a ride pretty badly. But sore is the price you pay for the AT, and I'm sore...

Sore also because George Bush came to Rochester yesterday to pitch Social Security "reform" - read "reform" as "rape". I'm not against personal accounts, but not in Social Security - let's do it another way, and there are lots of good ideas out there besides raising the tax rates. Bush then hightailed it back to Washington in time to put the slam on embryonic stem cell research...how can this man be wrong so often on the big ideas! As a peripheral medical person (working EMT), I talk with lots of other more qualified medical types who are almost 100% for the research. It helps to be dumb if you want to stay with Bush, who would definitely never nominate Jesus for a seat on the Supreme Court. So as usual, I come off the trail to be sore...with Bush.