hot stuff!!!

Honestly, one of these days I really will tell you about how Jed got the title "Hot Stuff". It won't be anything like you think. We have often kidded him about the flexing thing. Actually it's become a joke of sorts. The entire length of the Appalachian Trail, every time he sent a photo card home, if it had a flick of him on it, he was flexing. It became contagious...soon everyone was flexing....

A comment was made by one of Jed's friends who saw his mobile facebook post that they were shocked to see him in a "normal" photo.

That of course generated this photo of yet another flex pose.......just to make sure we all got our laugh for the day.

Don't forget bunny where you got all those genes.

Virginia memories

Got word the other day, and this photo, that Jed had crossed over into Kentucky. The picture here I believe, from what I remember of the message is a place called "The breaks". Don't look too closely at my spelling.....It's the Virginia/Kentucky border. Jed seemed ok with leaving the tremendously steep roads behind, and signed out with a kiss the patootie comment for the old guys who told him he would never make it through the state. I'll admit I laughed for a while after that. If they only knew him......

Kentucky!

This is home sweet home for Jed. Got a message today on Facebook. Looks like he will be arriving in Kentucky tomorrow. Given the flooding there lately, and the devastation that followed, hope things are improving for those folks. I got a post one day on Facebook that said..."Driving rain and 40 mph winds making my poncho crack like a whip. People driving past me like I was crazy or something..."

The longer I know Jed, the more I realize that if you were going to have someone at your back, you would want it to be him.

Geeze bunny, you are truly an amazing man. God speed. I am on my knees each night and morning in your behalf asking Father to send his angels to run with you on this journey. I love you, Mom

Pictures!

The pictures I am posting with this are ones that Jed sent recently. The first is one taken from the back seat of a Park Ranger's car. There was a point on the run where the bridge was out, and Jed had to "bushwhack" his way around to get back to the trail. When all was said and done, he apparently had to do some swimming across a section of river. A park ranger came along and gave him a ride to where he could pick up the trail again. He got a lot of kidding about this picture, references being made about "Hot Stuff" getting escorted away from all the Virginia women. That's another story.....hot stuff I mean....I'll leave that for another time.

The second photo is of Jed and one of the wild ponies of Grayson Highlands, an apparently absolutely beautiful stretch of the country in Virginia.

Catching up to myself

You know, this is a lot harder to use than I thought. When I first decided to do this, our computer was broken, so by the time I got it fixed,I had some "catch up" to do on this blog. I missed telling you a couple funny things. Well, I thought they were funny anyway...I did get a call from Jed in a little town in Virginia shortly after he started the run...maybe a week in. He came up on a little place where there were a few older men sitting around talking. Now you have to understand that Jed is super friendly and will strike up a conversation with people. He did just that, and in short order was asked what he was doing. (I think it may have had something to do with his appearance, or perhaps his current cologne.....phew!) At any rate, he explained that he was running across the country. The questions and advice followed: "Whall where ya come frum boy?" Of course the answer followed, then "Whall where ya runnin to?" The reply...."Oregon."
"Whall Lordy boy you ain't never goin to make it that fer. Tell ya whut. Thur's a nice new McDonald's jist opened up down the street. Why don't cha jist git cha a job down neer and find ya a little gal and settle down?"

That just tickled Jed pink. When he was in high school he worked at a little restaurant in the town we lived in. It was called Clem's Cafe. He waited tables and later washed dishes, and short order cooked. In Clem's, there was a large table on one side that had a carved wood sign hanging above it that said...."Liar's Table"

These old boys reminded Jed of some of the fellows that he was very fond of at Clem's who were regulars at that table. I remembered picking him up from work one day and one of those fellas was waving goodbye to him. I asked "Who was that?" His answer? "Roast beef, green beans, mashed potatoes and banana creme pie." "What?" I asked. "Well that's what he always orders. I don't know his name, but he has the same thing every week."
Jed had a lot of friends there. People just seem to like him. He's fun to be around. He wore a suit, white shirt, tie, dress shoes, etc. when he waited tables in that little diner. It was the one people from the local senior apartments could walk to, and the place was always filled with little old ladies. They loved him! He schmoozed them, told them they were the prettiest girls in town...
Not for tips. They were broke, he knew that. But when they came to his table, they were Queen for a day. And they loved the suit and tie.
So this little town in Virginia...? He had a blast going through there. Really got a kick out of the little old guys and their sage advice for him.

Well here was Jed in Newport News Virginia, sleeping on the beach and getting pumped for the start of the run the next morning. I think he did about 30 miles that day. My next contact came when Jed arrived in Yorktown, then again in Williamsburg. What incredibly rich historical towns he was seeing! The early years of our country in every turn of the trail. Jed loved early American history. His old high school teacher, Larry Kuhlman had instilled a love of early American history in this young man, and he was thrilled to see all the sights of "colonial" America. The tour of Virginia would become exceedingly rich in historical interest for him. The TransAmerica Bike trail that he was following wound through much of our country's early history. As the days passed, the challenge became one of running on unfamiliar footing.....asphalt and hard surface. He was accustomed to running on ground..much softer and easier on the legs and feet.
My next contacts with Jed both worried and saddened me, as I found that he was running daily on badly blistered feet. Still knocking out runs of 20 to 25 miles a day, but done so in great pain. He finally had to sit out for a day and go into town and purchase another pair of shoes and different socks.
Near Lexington, he camped along a river with his blistered feet lying in the swift moving cold water. He said he fell asleep then, his feet soothed and starting to heal some. We both knew this would take quite a long time, and would be a continuously recurring problem.....but for that night, his pain was tempered and I breathed a sigh of relief.
In Mineral, Virginia, he struck up a conversation with a man who was a firefighter in that town. As we have come to realize, firefighters are a brave and compassionate lot, and they invited Jed to stay at the firehouse with all the hospitality included, as well as sorely missed company and conversation. I was touched by their kindness. I could not tell them how grateful I was for them that day.

The run continued, and my next word came as Jed came into Lexington. We were talking on our cell phones, when all of a sudden Jed said "Wow! I am coming up on Stonewall Jackson's tomb!!! I am going to jump off now so I can check this out!"

That was my Jed. His enthusiasm is boundless. That kid lives more IN ONE DAY than most other people I know do in a whole year. It occurs to me that Jed is just plain in love with life. I cannot imagine how empty life would have been if he had not been born. So glad our family was blessed to have him. He has had such an impact on so many lives. He is just plain fun to know.

As the days passed, and the run date came closer, Jed revealed that in fact, he wasn't just running across the country for the heck of it, but was running across the country to help raise money for the Jimmy Valvano Foundation. It was begun by ESPN and Jimmy V, a legendary BB coach who was lost to cancer. Jed set a target for raising 10,000 dollars for the foundation. I began to see more than I had before. Jed told me he was going to begin the run on April 6th. That date had special meaning for our family, as my dearly loved father died on that date from the ravages of cancer. Cancer had also claimed my oldest brother when he was just 6 years old. More recently, just weeks before Jed began his run, a dearly loved uncle, had also been lost to the disease. There were others Jed knew and cared for that were lost, and too many others fighting the battle this very day.

Jed felt that this epic effort might generate enough support to make a substantial donation to this worthy cause.

I, of course, wanted to generate support for him too. I also felt that he would need encouragement. I began to cast about in my mind for a special surprise for him.............I had it!!! If I could only get the legendary running back, Franco Harris of the Pittsburgh Steelers, to write him a note of encouragement.........well, if you knew how Jed felt about Franco.......

I remember the night Jed was working at the Elms Resort and Spa in Excelsior Springs, when the same great Franco Harris came into the restaurant where Jed was working.....the phone rang.....

"Mom!!! Guess who just walked into the Elms?" "I don't know Jed, who?"

"FRANCO!!!"

"Jed, get out of here, Franco in Excelsior Springs?"

"Mom....would I know Franco or not?"

Well, it was Franco, and they talked, had a picture taken, and Jed floated on cloud nine for weeks. Now I thought I might be able to put him back up on that cloud if Mr. Harris would write to Jed. I sent a letter to Franco, explaining things, and darn if he didn't send Jed an e-mail. What a guy!! Needless to say Jed was estatic.

I'll always be thankful to Mr. Franco Harris for that.

Periodically Jed would call me when he finished a work shift. I was always gladdened by such a phone call, and loved hearing the descriptions of the places he hiked and saw. I wasn't the least bit interested in Facebook till I realized I could see pictures of that beautiful country, filled with ice cold waters and birch trees. I loved seeing the posts entered by both he and friends as they reviewed their days in both words and photos.
My mind traveled back to the day I took Jed, when he was about 3 or 4 to a place in Cook's Forest in Pennsylvania on a visit back home...a stand of virgin hemlock trees. He had heard me talking about it before. "Mama, is this the deep, dark forest?" ......."Yes Jeddy."......"When I grow up, I want to live here forever!"
And now here I was on the phone with him, and he was calling from the wilds......
"Hey Mom, I was thinking, I'm not going to be able to come home for the holidays this year, I want to save up for that run. Just save any money if you were going to get me a present. I don't really need anything, and I would like you to save it for a plane ticket to fly out to Oregon, so you can high five me at the end of the trail."
And so it was that I knew that Jed would, in fact, be making this run across America. Coast to coast, Virginia to Oregon, and it was then I knew that in a way, my heart would be traveling with him.
The months seemed long through a harsh winter, but I knew that once spring broke, he would be flying to Virginia to start a journey on foot that was several hundred miles in excess of four thousand. Actually 4,268 miles I am told. The distance seems unfathomable to me. I thought that same thing when he decided to thru hike the Appalachian Trail several years ago. Over two thousand miles I thought! Can anyone hike that far? Of course I know people do it. It's just that when you are a mother, part of you always sees this man/child as your little one, no matter how old or tall they are. Part of you has a hard time with this. This run will make me gray for sure. And how do you explain it even to yourself? The conflict of letting go versus the exhiliration of it? All my life I have wanted to know my children would be fine and strong on their own,....to not need me, and yet when I see they are stronger, braver, better than I could have ever hoped....a sliver of me wants to cradle them once more.

But that feeling passes, and once again I marvel at this man who is my son. I am honored to know him.

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.