Ok, I was going to have someone set this up for me, but I really should figure this out myself. I have never had a blog in my life. I can barely figure out how to use this thing, but here goes. I want to record this story for Jed, for myself, and for anyone else who might choose to read it.

It all began over 30 years ago...........

In Smithville, Missouri a baby was born on Christmas Eve to parents who were anxiously awaiting his arrival. His name was to be Jedediah, after the mountain man Jedediah Strong Smith. I was impressed with the life of Jedediah Smith, and had myself been in love with the Allegheny and Appalachain mountains. Little did I dream at that time, this baby would grow up to love them also. I mean here I was in Missouri, far from my home of Pennsylvania, never thinking that some years later this little baby would hike the length of the Appalachian Trail, and later be a wilderness instructor at a school in the beautiful Adirondack Mountains.

I remember taking Jed to the airport to fly to Georgia,...Springer Mountain to be exact, and the start of the AT. I felt as though I went with him then too, as he made his way to the summit of Katahadin. In many ways I felt the longing he felt as he went back to work after the months and trail miles in his legs, far from the mountains I knew were now under his skin. The memories had to be bittersweet as he rejoined the business world of 9 to 5, wondering how he could return to them.

Fate stepped in and offered him a position at a school in the upper Adirondacks and I know he was overjoyed to return to country he had come to love. I don't know exactly when the idea of running across the United States came into his mind, but I know he had been thinking about it as he mentioned it a few times. I thought "That's insane!" "No one just runs across the United States", but here I am writing a blog about just that.