Independent Reading Entry 17

Bryson, Bill

Bryson and his travel companion had been hiking for weeks and were exhausted and overwhelmed by the trail. They were fitter than they had been in a long time and were having a good experience but they realized how much they had done in comparison to the entire trail. They reached a lodge in Tennessee, i believe, and there was a large to scale 3D map of the trail in one of the rooms. They saw where the beginning was and saw where they had reached after their tireless efforts and they were less than a quarter of the way through. This was discouraging but also eye opening and brought them down to earth. They knew they would never be able to do the whole thing. They were behind schedule and struggling to continue and eventually decided to just skip a large chunk of the trail. Bryson got to see his family and was incredibly happy for that and once they got home they greatly appreciated all of their comforts from their home. Bryson hiked on the trail doing day hikes with his car for the time in between the two parts of their trip and began to enjoy these day trips.