Episode #19 - Steven Cullen (Scotty)
Mighty Blue On The Appalachian Trail: The Ultimate Mid-Life Crisis
Steve Adams
4.8 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 26 January 2017
⏱️ 59 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Steven Cullen was a section hiker who I met on my first day on the trail. We clicked straight away and he continued to follow my, and other, blogs once he finished his week-long section hike. I thought it might be helpful to include a section hiker in the podcast and, though I met many, he was my first thought. In our interview, we talk about the differences between section and thru-hikers, with Steve making some perceptive, and funny, observations. He is one of the group of hikers who may one day take the life-changing step to thru-hike but, as you'll hear, he'll be a section hiker for the time being. Steven can be reached at steven.cullen.70@gmail.com. He will be happy to offer advice if anybody reaches out to him.
Jessa continues her preparations for her March 23 start date. She shares her latest update, with, of all things, health insurance being a concern. What I loved about this update was that Jessa is feeling accountable to the show, which is giving her some discipline in getting done the things she needs to achieve. We still need more entries for Jessa's trail name. I'll be sharing them all with her a week before she sets out. Remember, the prize for your choice being the one chosen is both volumes of my book on the A.T from my 2014 thru-hike. Keep the entries coming to steve@mightyblueontheat.com. Indeed, anything you want to share about the show should be sent to that address. Our third interview was with Aaron Martray, the owner of Katabatic Gear. When I hiked the A.T. in 2014, I took the Palisade 30 quilt with me. It is STILL the "Editor's Choice" on the invaluable www.outdoorgearlab.com, three years later. I found it to be both light and incredibly warm. It even helped me survive a seven-degree night in the Smokies. It wasn't cheap but worth every cent. If you'd like to find out more about the Palisade 30 or any other Katabatic Gear bag, just email Aaron at info@katabaticgear.com, or call him on 303-984-4189. If you want to read the review on the quilt, click here. You'll probably notice that "If I Did It Again" is missing this week. This is partly because there are three interviews, but mainly because I've run out of stuff I'd change were I ever to slog my way up the eastern side of the country again. However, I'm sure one or two of my listeners will have their own pet peeves about the trail. Please don't keep it to yourself. Email me and I'll share your gripes with everybody. Happy Trails!!
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail, the ultimate midlife crisis, join Stephen his guests every week as he staggers from Georgia to Maine. |
| 0:26.2 | Hi and welcome back. We're up to episode number 19, which amazes me to be honest. |
| 0:33.6 | When I first started doing this at the end of September, I think it was, I had no idea, first, |
| 0:39.5 | whether I'd enjoyed doing it, second, whether anybody would listen, and third, and probably |
| 0:44.8 | the most important, was whether this little podcast would affect anybody's life. |
| 0:50.8 | I saw the podcast as an extension of my books, with the stories and self-reflection from fellow hikers mixed in with a chapter of my book and a few comments from me. |
| 0:59.8 | Some of the emails I've received have stunned me into silence, which, as you can probably imagine, is not an easy thing to do. |
| 1:08.3 | While I can hardly claim to have produced anything of lasting significance, I know that I've |
| 1:14.3 | reached many people and I know that they've benefited from both listening to me and my guests |
| 1:19.3 | and reading my books. The reason that I know this is that they tell me. Every week I have a bunch |
| 1:25.0 | of emails that encourage me to seek out new people to speak with |
| 1:28.1 | and new people to connect with. These emails tell me about the changes people are making to their |
| 1:33.4 | lives. In fact, just this week, I've had one from a fellow Brit who is so taken by the show that |
| 1:39.1 | she says she's going to do a two-week stint on the trail this year. She even asked me for some advice. |
| 1:45.2 | Another person sent me such an emotional email. They're going to do a two-week stint on the trail this year. She even asked me for some advice. Another person sent me such an emotional email |
| 1:47.7 | that it almost brought me and my wife to tears. |
| 1:51.5 | She didn't give me approval to share the details with you, |
| 1:53.8 | so of course I'll respect that. |
| 1:55.8 | But she did say that my books had encouraged both her and her husband |
| 1:59.1 | to put a through hike of the AT on their |
| 2:01.1 | bucket list for 2018 and that I was her inspiration. Something like that means a lot to me. |
| 2:08.8 | I respond to every email and I really want to know what you think. So please let me know what |
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