You are listening to the Hiking Radio Network where we talk the walk with shows by hikers

about hikers for everybody. Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail, the ultimate midlife crisis,

joins Stephen his guests every week as he staggers from Georgia to Maine.

Hi guys, and yep, you found your way back to me.

You're listening to another episode, episode number 214 to be precise, of Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail of the ultimate midlife crisis. I'm Mighty Blue or Steve Adams and we've got another excellent show today. First up we got a fellow member of the class of 2019. Weren't we lucky that we chose last year as a year to do the AT? You're going to meet somebody I met and had dinner with in Irwin, Tennessee. I was saying in Irwin and meeting up with a listener from the show, and this guy, James Brinkman, or Snickers, was with his buddy at that time, a guy called Todd Withrow or Wolverine. We had a really good chat that night, and recently Todd reached out to me to suggest that I might like to have James on the show.

When I tell you, these got quite a story of Batheing Against the Odds to even get to the trail,

believe me, and make sure that you listen to what he's got to say.

Another listener, Steve Cole, wrote to me about how much he's enjoyed the show over time

and that my guests have inspired him to one day hike the AT.

He needed a bit of a warm-up and went to Europe and hikes the Tour Montblanc.

I've heard of that hike, but never spoken to anybody about it,

so I asked him to come on the show and chat to you all about it.

It sounds marvellous and Steve

will be on after James. Finally today, Grandma Gatewood's spectacular progress up the trail has led

her to New Jersey and fame is spreading all the time. She's become a kind of celebrity and

reporters are scrambling to get the best story from her. She seems to take it all in a stride though. Before we get on, there's nothing about the coronavirus today, apart from this, of course. There didn't seem anything new to report in terms that would affect hikers, so I thought I'd just acknowledge that it's still with us. We're all aching to get back on a trail somewhere. I'm just going to move on. So let's meet James Brinkman or Snickers.

Now here's a guy who was suggested to me by one of his hiking buddies last year. His name is

Snickers or James Brinkman and I met both James and his partner at the time, Todd Withrow or Wolverine, last year in Irwin, Tennessee. In fact, we had dinner together. It was Todd who suggests I reach out to you. Hi, James. How are you? Doing good. How are you, Steve? I'm good now. We're trying to get this conversation going. You've got quite a story to tell, and I want to come to it bit by bit, and I thought I started with a little bit of background.

Tell people how old you are, where you live, and what you now do for a living.

Sure.

I'm 34 years old.

I live in Asheville, North Carolina, and I currently manage my own massage therapy private

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