July 26th, 1999 - Trail Names

I'm hiking along the trail and I meet this lady. She's got a pack that must be 65 pounds. She's in her mid-40s, and she says her trail name is "Mad Mountain Mother." So I said, "How'd you get that name?" She said, "well, my children said, 'you must be mad, mom to climb all those mountains'...mad-mountain mother!" Well, she hiked along with me and we really started moving. I'm zoomin along and she's up with me all the time. And my pack is maybe 22 pounds, and hers is almost 3 times as heavy. But she's just so fast. Well, we go for maybe 5 hours and we come to a big clearing to sit and rest and oh, was I tired. And she was tired. So we sat down and got some water and drank it and we started to eat a little lunch and another hiker comes along. His name was "Kool Aid". He was a 3rd grade teacher from Florida, trying to do part of the Appalachian Trail. She was a nurse and had already done section s of the trail and was kind of finishing up the whole thing. And we were all tired and they started asking me about myself. So I started telling them. And then I said, "I'll show you the Trail Dance". And I got up and showed them the Appalachian Trail Dance right in the middle of the clearing in the woods. Well, they got up and started to dance! And we were whooping and laughing and hollering and whirling around and dancing. Ha! If there were any animals watching, they were thinking... these crazy humans. And you know, we didn't seem tired any more. Our fatigue left us. It's amazing what music and dance can do. Anyway, after we were finished, I laughed and took my pack and said, "I've got to keep going, see you around." And "Mad Mountain Mother" got up and said, "My name's Patricia Bateman." And then "Kool Aid" got up and said, "My name's Michael Ganyon." An I thought, oh, we've just become friends. We met as strangers, we danced, and I'm leaving them as friends. I gave them the website address, and said "Keep in touch, keep in touch. I won't forget you. Don't forget me."