Tag: hiking

Back in the Loop—Part Five
July 11, 2015

Back in the Loop—Part Five

Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 6, Part 7 July 11, 2015 On to the Second Leg After making some purchases in Walmart, Jim, George, and I followed the aromatic smells to the McDonald’s corner of the building. We stood and gawked at the menu a couple of minutes. Turned out it was the same as every other McDonald’s. Good. That would make it easy. Our ordering completed, we staked out a table away from the other diners, assuming they would not like cheesy-smelling hikers with their Quarter Pounders. The skies had …
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Back in the Loop–Part Two
February 17, 2015

Back in the Loop–Part Two

Part 1, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7 February 17, 2015 Our Journey to Hoot Owl Ridge Road The big hike was finally approaching. It would have to wait a bit longer, however, for today was stash day.  Jim, George, and I sat in Lori’s Restaurant in Caldwell chewing on some fourth-quarter strategy, as well as one of our last table meals for a while. I was doing my best to load up on vittles. I bragged to our waitress about our upcoming adventure, hoping she’d throw in an extra scoop …
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Hiking For Poppie—Part One
January 18, 2014

Hiking For Poppie—Part One

January 18, 2014 It was an unusually mild December day, perfect weather for a walk down those lonely back roads. We weren’t hunters, and we trusted our bright colors to alert the people with rifles that we were not deer, either. I listened as my hiking partner, Andrew Purdy (aka Yogi), detailed our mission to a curious gent in that rural part of southeast Ohio. The man sat on his porch enjoying the Indian summer day. He rarely saw hikers happen by. Yogi explained that he was on leave from the Navy and was hiking …
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The Tracks of Jim Gilkey
December 31, 2013

The Tracks of Jim Gilkey

December 31, 2013 Uh-oh. Another corny joke was on its way: “How can you tell a train has been through town?” I’d heard Jim tell this one before somewhere along the Buckeye Trail, but I couldn’t remember the punchline. My wife Bonnie and I both love solving silly riddles, but we finally gave up and asked Jim for help. “You can see its tracks,” he said with a big grin. Yeah right, Jim. I have one for Buckeye Trailers: “How can you tell Jim Gilkey has been through here?” If you know much at all …
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October 23, 2013

Meetup Group is Better Than I Imagined

October 23, 2013 I’ve always had a vibrant social life. Even as a child I had countless friends who would come over to play ball and hike with me. OK, so most were imaginary. But I must say that, even so, I did get along very well with them. Of course, there are always a few spoilsports in every bunch. If someone came around who wasn’t nice, I would just tell him that I wasn’t allowed to play that day. Avoidance is another of my social strategies. Then came the school thing. I needed to …
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March 15, 2013

The BT Hiker Weight-Gain Plan

March 15, 2013 The other day I saw a TV commercial about diet and weight. What really grabbed my attention was that they were charging $19.99 for a bottle of tablets to make you gain weight–No, wait! If you ordered right then you could get a second bottle free (except for shipping and handling) and gain twice as much. Happy, non-paid non-actors proudly showed their new, curvy physiques, all thanks to the high-calorie weight-gain tablets. You can go that route if you want, or you can do what I did: hike the entire 1,444 miles …
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