Hello from Maine

**T-BACK** · 07-05-2008, 15:19

Hey everyone,

I'm just taking a second to let you know that Janette (Mokay) and I have made it through the wilderness. She is having some knee problems that have forced us to remain in Monson longer than expected but should be fine. We have agreed that I'm leaving tomorrow with or without her and continuing south. We have been using my Speer Winter Tarp as rain protection with Mokay's tent door under the side edge. This gives us plenty of room to cook at night out of the weather. It has rained all but one day and we have become the envy of all who see us. We call it the condo. We are doing well and our spirits are high. I miss you guys and hope to talk at you again soon. Take Care all.

**Peter_pan** · 07-05-2008, 15:39

T-back,

Glad that you are well .... hope her knee heels quickly.... Happy Hiking and Hanging.... H3.

Pan

**FanaticFringer** · 07-05-2008, 15:52

Have a great hike.

**slowhike** · 07-05-2008, 22:16

Good to hear from you Brian. I hope her knee will heal, but glad to hear that you're knees (& feet) are doing good.

**Youngblood** · 07-06-2008, 07:23

Brian, good to hear from you. Hope Mokay gets her knee pain under control, those nagging injures on a long distance hike can be worrisome. You don't always know for sure whether to just slow down a little, take a short break, take a long one, or just go home... and the decision usually has some consequences to them because of 'windows of opportunities' and 'possible lasting damages'.

Did you get my voice mail about your errant text message?

**Coffee** · 07-07-2008, 17:53

That's awesome buddy. I remember the rain up there foundly. I think it rained more days than it didn't in Maine and almost part or all of everyday I was in the wilderness.

If it helps I had a lot of knee pain starting out that died down. No way this Ohioian's knees were ready for what Maine had to throw at them.

Let me know if you guys need anything or have any southbound questions. You should stop having to put up with the northbounder somewhere in VT. Everyone was talking about services being closed for southbounders, but I really didn't notice anything until the south. Looking at the calender I started 6 days from now last year. Kind of crazy to think that.

**T-BACK** · 07-09-2008, 16:25

Thanks for all the encouragement guys! We have just wandered into Caratunk and are at Northern Outfitters for the night. We are staying in one of the "cabin tents" and have enjoyed hot showers to take the edge off of the bug bites. We had a resupply dropped here and will be catching the ferry to cross the Kennebec River in the AM. Glad to here from you all. My last post was from my phone. Usually that means I've taken a few minutes on a summit somewhere to burst out some data and can't stick around for replies. Hopefully I will be in touch when we reach Stratton. Oh, Youngblood, yes I got your message

. Sorry!

**Coffee** · 07-10-2008, 10:23

When you are staying at the Stratton hostel, ask the owner about her hiking/mountain biking/snow shoeing. Really nice woman, funny stories.

**boarstone** · 07-11-2008, 20:45

T-Back, glad to hear you made it out of the wilderness and across "the river"!
Sorry to hear of your hiking pals knee issues. Good luck on the rest of your hike sobo....

**T-BACK** · 08-30-2008, 06:51

Hi everyone,

Just a quick update as we pass through Glencliff. Mokay and I are doing OK. Not wonderful, but OK. I now have some knee problems after taking several really nasty falls, Some type of trauma induced cyst (Baker's cyst maybe) has formed on the back of my right knee which bothers me from time to time. Also my new Trail name is "Chill" after Mokay found me lying in a muddy water runoff near one of the peaks here, pack expolded around me and stripped down to my shorts in an advanced state of hypothermia and yes, it was still "summer" here. Several people had passed by not even noticing me tucked in under the small trees. I was nearly asleep when she was somehow prompted to look back as she walked by and spotted me. She kept me awake and got me dressed and wrapped up in my bag while fixing hot chocolate to warm me up. She literally kept me from dying. Afterwards I had the worst hangover of my life which lasted almost three days. She said I was walking like I was drunk all the way to the next shelter that night. I'm not sure but I thought I heard her singing "What Can You Do With A Drunker Hiker" very softly in the background

. I'm glad to still be here and we are enjoying our very rich, if not slow, walk to Georgia. Today we wave goodbye to the White's and the beautiful things they have shown us as we push off for Hanover. Hope you all are doing well.

Chill

P.S. There is a Young Blood on the trail heading North.