March 18, 2016 - You Want to do What!?

You Want to do What!?

This past winter, my husband of 32 years told me he wanted to do the Thru Hike of the Appalachian Trail.  After my first  thought of "Are you nuts?," I realized it made sense.  A very dear friend, Ray, had tried to get him to do it years ago.  Job, kids, mortgage, wife all got in the  way.  Ken felt now was the time to honor that request.

Raymond Conrad Miller

We met Ray in 1991 when we moved back to my home town of Lawrence, Michigan.  We had two young children at home and purchased a house on a gravel road down the street from Ray.  Ken was a walker, even then, and met Ray the first day.  Ray came out of his farm house and the two struck up a wonderful relationship.  Ray became part of our family and years later, Ray would ask Ken to give up his job and take care of him so that he  could remain in his home while he lost the battle with dementia and old age.

Ken does not  have the reputation for patience or cleaning up messes.  In fact, baby drool (or worse) would result in TWO messes for me to clean up.  Ken had the patience of a saint with Ray and was always loving and kind, even when cleaning up after "the dog did it" (Ray had no dog).  Ken and I (and our daughter Amanda) were with Ray when he died in his home and Ray knew he was loved when he went.

Ray was an avid hiker and a charter member of both the Continental Divide Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail.  He also loved and supported the Appalachian Trail.  He loved to hike around the world and walked every continent, except Asia.  He would have gone there, as well, but was called back when in his 60's to care for his father (who had Alzheimer's) and would subsequently need to place in a nursing home.  We loved to hear Ray tell stories of his adventures and would listen for hours.

Ray was 59 when he did the Thru Hike of the A.T.  Ken is 59...so see?  It makes complete sense...and explains why we were on our way to Springer Mountain in Georgia.