The ATC

I received a very timely piece of mail today. On Sunday I finished A Walk in the Woods, about the Appalachian Trail (I even wrote a little blurb about it here). Today, I got a letter inviting me to join the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. There's a nice little letter of invitation enclosed by Dave Startzell, the Executive Director of the ATC. In said letter he raises his suspicions about my dreams.... in fact he dares to guess that I have a very specific dream: That I would like to one day hike the AT from start to finish; from Springer Mountain in Georgia to Mt. Katahdin in Maine. Or perhaps the other way round? Who knows. The point is: He's right! How strange? A conservationist and clairvoyant to boot!! Bill Bryson's book made me want to get out there and plod along through the woods. I think a sabatical is in order next summer.