Trail Fatigue by Proxy

I suppose it happens on every trail. You turn an ankle, slip in a river, miss a turn... Whatever. At that moment, you just want the trail to be done. It's a long slough and the trail fatigue sets in.

You miss your family. You're tired of not getting home cooking.

"Hey, hey, hey... better check your expectations! There's not a lot of home cooking in these parts, either!"

The beard was fun at first, but now it's scratchy. You're tired of looking like a homeless person and noticing people crossing to the other side of the street when you're walking in town.

"I could be projecting here... but probably not!"

And you're missing out on so much! Summer mosquitos in DC. Potty training the puppy at 5:00 in the morning. Doing taxes.

"Okay, I may have strayed a little there."

You see, hikers may get trail fatigue, but Home Office gets trail fatigue by proxy.

Tired of post office runs.

Tired of problem solving and logistics.

Tired of deciding everything.

Tired of having a mess of hiker food all over the place.

Tired of wandering around a big house talking to myself because I'm the only person around.

It's kind of like all of the cortisol and none of the calorie burn! It's been a long slough, and I just want to be done.

Madeleine

Thank goodness that The Hiker's Home Office has such extraordinary assistants!

Caroline

These two were extraordinarily helpful as social media consultants. And they both stepped up to assist Jamie on the trail at key points. I cannot overstate how great that was for me, for Jamie, for ALL of us, really!

And how great was our fantastic temp, Dan, stepping up when it was appreciated most?! (He's still on probation, but that's a whole other story...)

So, this is kind of monumental when I say I have packed up the LAST RESUPPLY BOX!

It was sent out yesterday. I'm a little ahead here because, as fate would have it, the last couple boxes had to be sent WAY in advance to allow for handling by these remote sites that receive them for the hikers. Convenient for me too, not only because I am tired of it, but also because I will soon be traveling to help another living being who needs me!

"It's good to be needed."