Episode #298 - Gail Muller (Hot Mess Express)
Mighty Blue On The Appalachian Trail: The Ultimate Mid-Life Crisis
Steve Adams
4.8 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 25 November 2021
⏱️ 78 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
This week's guest, Gail Muller, is another of those unlikely adventurers, whose story is a breathless tale of triumph against a debilitating illness and chronic pain. Gail reveled in the "normal" cuts, scrapes, bumps, and bruises of the Appalachian Trail, precisely because they weren't the chronic pain she'd been experiencing for 15 years.
Returning home and basically housebound because of Covid, Gail wrote an inspiring tale about her journey to and on the trail. It is a love letter to the healing power of the wild outdoors and an incredible testament to the strength of the human spirit.
You can follow Gail in multiple places, listed below, as well as buy her book, "Unlost" on Amazon.
For American residents, go to https://www.amazon.com/Unlost-journey-self-discovery-healing-outdoors-ebook/dp/B094Y95W4B/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=unlost&qid=1637782248&sr=8-1
For our British friends, go to https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unlost-journey-self-discovery-healing-outdoors/dp/1909770671/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=unlost+gail+muller&qid=1632942605&sr=8-1.
Gail's links:
Website and blog: https://gailmuller.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thegailmuller and https://www.facebook.com/groups/260115428930125/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thegailmuller/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/GailMuller
This week's middle section starts a new season of aspiring thru-hikers. Each week, we'll chat with somebody who has chosen 2022 as the year that they will put their life on hold and head to that winding footpath along America's Appalachian Mountains. We'll meet them over the next few months, then follow them–in whichever direction they are heading–and hopefully meet them again at the end of their 2200-mile journey. This week's guest is Chuck Hayes, who is planning an extremely early start!
Finally, we have the first part of Chapter 15 in Winton Porter's "Passin Thru," where Winton feels the power of an earthquake before trying to set a personal best in a run up Blood Mountain.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You are listening to the Hiking Radio Network, where we taught the walk with shows by hikers |
| 0:05.3 | about hikers for everybody. Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail, the ultimate midlife crisis, |
| 0:24.0 | joins Stephen his guests every week as he staggers from Georgia to Maine. |
| 0:34.0 | Hi everybody and thanks for turning up again for our little old show. |
| 0:55.0 | This is Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail, the ultimate midlife crisis and I am Mighty Blue. Each week I try my hardest to bring you stories from hikers have taken on the challenge of a long hike and along the way have learned a hell of a lot, either about others or most usually about themselves and their capacity to be extraordinary. This week, I must say, we have a great example of that. |
| 1:01.1 | Gail Muller was suggested to me by a listener and when I learned a story, I knew she'd make a |
| 1:06.2 | great guest. Spoiler alert, I was right. Gail battled against considerable adversity simply to step onto the trail. |
| 1:13.4 | We'll be hearing from her in a moment. |
| 1:15.6 | After Gail, I've got the beginning of my new middle section of the show. |
| 1:19.3 | You know how I've followed a different hiker every year, including me when I went in 2019? |
| 1:24.3 | Well, this year, or in fact next year, I've decided to cast the net a little wider. |
| 1:30.3 | Remember, I'm still going to be following the end of Katie Wessling's hike from this year when |
| 1:33.8 | she resumes next spring. But I wanted to add others to the mix, and for the next, I don't know, |
| 1:39.8 | 12, maybe 15 weeks, I'm going to be chatting to a member of the class of 2022 and finding out |
| 1:45.5 | a little bit about each of them. Then when they start, I'm asking all of them to stay in touch |
| 1:50.3 | with me and text me when they have a story to tell, a moment to record, when they quit the trail |
| 1:55.3 | possibly. That way, with a bit of luck, we'll have a cross-section of people hiking the trail |
| 2:00.1 | and we're going to follow their individual adventures. It's going to be fun. Remember, you can still join the Hiking Radio Network team by doing your own podcast on the trail. It isn't free, but I'll take away all the logistical issues that make sure that you get a full record of your own hike. Being part of the network, of course, will give you great exposure to a |
| 2:17.6 | larger audience than you might otherwise get. If you're interested, just email me at Steve at |
| 2:21.7 | Hiking Radio Network.com and we can discuss details. In the meantime, however, this middle section |
| 2:27.4 | will give listeners more of a group feel this year as we follow this disparate bunch of hikers |
| 2:31.9 | as they set out on their own dreams. |
... |
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