from Dave

This whole hike the Appalachian Trail has truly been a bear, or should I say just a pain in the ass. This thing of carrying everything you will need in a backpack and sleeping outside. OK that part I love, for that matter I think I can say we both love that part of the trip. Yes we both love the whole hiking and backpacking idea for maybe a week, maybe two weeks at the most. I think if I pushed it a month would be OK. When I first came up with the idea I never even comprehended this trail needing more than couple of months to complete. Yes, Koreen would try to set me down and say it is so going to take so much longer than a couple of months. I would pat her on the back and say whatever and go back to a very complicated game of solitaire or maybe this day I was playing Texas hold em. Whatever it was I was in huge state of denial. Because the panic that hit me the day we actually started this Appalachian beast, or should we call it some sort of death march, was so overwhelming. I do believe a state of anxiety so great that it would rival showing up to class without my homework, or was it that recurring dream of going to class nude. Yea that last one would sum up the anxiety felt. 2192 miles what the hell? As we pushed on day after day and more miles, I would go into negotiations with Koreen regarding finishing or lack of finishing the trail. Each time I would go into my speech of how this was a bad idea on my part. Really do we need to finish this trail? I would look at her face and see a totally different look. This hike is important to Koreen. NO not the actual walk of the Appalachian Trail but the fact I, Koreen, can do this hike. We all know so very well Koreen can do this hike blind folded, but to her she needs to complete this trail every step, no exceptions. Just like when we were riding bikes for the cause she had to push not just to ride but to ride fast and even faster up hills. This hike or her bike rides are not just something to sluff off they are her way of beating the shit out of MS. People say being a caregiver is so hard because you have to watch the person living with the disease suffer. Hey Koreen turn around look way back on the trail yea that is me. She is a beast and she handing MS a beating like no other. Yes this is important to her so it is important to me as well. So we hike, bike and fundraise till we beat this thing called MS. Because really Koreen has MS, MS does not have her.

-David Fox