Episode #219 - Natalie Wood and Grady Thompson (Togs and Lucky)

Mighty Blue On The Appalachian Trail: The Ultimate Mid-Life Crisis

Steve Adams

Sports, Wilderness

4.8 • 599 Ratings

🗓️ 21 May 2020

⏱️ 95 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This week's guests met as members of the Class of 2019–my year, even though we never met–and they have been together pretty much ever since.

Natalie and Grady both left a little earlier than I did and had a terrific tramily. It was Catmando, one of their tramily and a listener to the show, who pointed me in their direction.

Natalie and Grady's story brings out the diversity of opportunity on the trail and each reflects upon how lucky they were not only to meet one another but that they chose 2019 and not 2020 for their trip.

Natalie has a beautiful AT video which she did entirely in verse, so check that out here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eyh80NSnma8&t=206s

Kate Stillwell, in defiance of ATC directives, keeps moving forward and is already over 100 miles into her hike. We caught up on Tuesday.

After chatting with Kate, I received an email from ATC who clarified their continued guidance about trail closures. I read this email on the show for the benefit of listeners.

Finally, Grandma Gatewood's ordeal is over. No, not her hike, her marriage.

If you like what we're doing on the Hiking Radio Network, please consider supporting us with either a one-off or monthly donation. The donate button is on the Mighty Blue podcast page at https://mightyblueontheat.com/the-podcast/

Any support is gratefully received.

Music for the "A Woman of a Certain Age" segment is by permission of Kate's friend, John Jensen. You can see and hear it in full on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlP7g7qivo4

Thanks, John.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Monday Sidekick, the AI agent that knows you and your business, thinks ahead and takes action.
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0:12.2	Start a free trial today on Monday.com.
0:14.7	You are listening to the Hiking Radio Network where we talk the walk with shows by hikers about hikers for everybody.
0:35.5	Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail, the ultimate midlife crisis, joins Stephen his guests every week as he staggers from Georgia to Maine.
0:48.6	Hi guys, and here we are again. You're listening to episode number 219 of Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail,
0:55.6	the ultimate midlife crisis. And I'm Steve Adams, the guy who had that midlife crisis six years ago
1:01.1	when I hike the Appalachian Trail for the very first hike of my life. Five million steps later,
1:06.7	I was screaming at the world from the top of that weathered, battered brown sign at the top of Catardin.
1:11.9	Each week we try to bring you guests to have or want to have that same elated feeling on that very same sign.
1:18.1	This week, after an email from a listener, I cast the net really wide and snagged a great interview with two fellow members of mine of the class of 2019, even though we never met.
1:29.5	Natalie Wood and Grady Thompson, or Toggs and Lucky, met on the trail and had been together
1:33.8	ever since. I caught up with them last week, and we had a really fun conversation from a long way
1:38.8	apart. Togs and Lucky will be long in a minute. Kate Stillwall hadn't called me since we spoke a week ago,
1:45.8	but fortunately I heard from Rora on Tuesday evening and she'll be sharing her 2020 hike with you all
1:49.8	after Toggs and Lucky. Finally, Grandma Gatewood continues to trade on the goodwill of the people she meets
1:55.4	and the fame she's accumulating. By the way, I'm nearing the end of this book and I've reached out
2:00.4	to another author for permission to read his next.
2:03.3	If I don't get that permission, please send me your suggestions and I'll try to get permission to read your choice.
2:09.3	So let's get on with it.
2:10.7	I've got to warn you, we had a few technical difficulties on this one and were even cut off for a while, but we worked it out in the end.
	...

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