Episode #338 - Clay Bonnyman-Evans (Pony)
Mighty Blue On The Appalachian Trail: The Ultimate Mid-Life Crisis
Steve Adams
4.8 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 8 September 2022
⏱️ 64 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Our guest today is Clay Bonnyman-Evans, a friend of the show and a previous guest from our early days. Clay came onto the show in 2017 to talk about his 2016 Appalachian Trail thru-hike. Since then, he has racked up a bunch more miles and trails, so we caught up before I headed to hike in California.
As always, Clay is witty, thoughtful, and open as we chat about his hiking. He is also an excellent writer, so you can check out his latest book "Adrift on the Pacific Crest Trail: A Thru-Hiking Story" at this link. We discuss what he means by "adrift," and he gives insight to the necessary separation that a thru-hike will cause in relationships.
He has more books to check out, on his website, claybonnymanevans.com, and he has offered his email should you want to contact him about anything to do with hiking the great trails of America. You can reach him at claybonnyman@gmail.com.
We catch up with Dan Whitesides, our last remaining Mighty Blue Class of 22 participant. As always, he's smiling through.
If you're interested in coming to our upcoming Woods Hole Weekend in early October, check out the Woods Hole site at woodsholehostel.com and read about what we'll be covering over those three days.
If you'd like to find out more about "Then The Hail Came," check out George's website at https://georgesteffanos.webador.com/. You can also find George's book on Amazon at this link. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09QFG4ZR6.
If you like what we're doing on the Hiking Radio Network, and want to see our shows continue, please consider supporting us with either a one-off or monthly donation. You'll find the donate button on each Hiking Radio Network page at https://www.hikingradionetwork.com
If you prefer NOT to use PayPal, you can now support us via check by mailing it to Mighty Blue Publishing, PO Box 6161, Sun City Center, FL 35751. Any support is gratefully received.
If you'd like to take advantage of my book offer (all three of my printed hiking books–with a personal message and signed by me–for $31, including postage to the United States) send a check payable to Mighty Blue Publishing at the address just above.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You are listening to the Hiking Radio Network, where we talk the walk with shows by hikers |
| 0:05.3 | About Hikers for everybody. |
| 0:19.3 | Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail, the ultimate midlife crisis, joined Steve and his guests |
| 0:25.6 | every week as he staggers from Georgia to Maine. |
| 0:34.2 | Hey guys, it's me again, Steve Adams or Mighty Blue, and you are listening once more to Mighty Blue on the Applachian Trail, the ultimate midlife crisis. |
| 0:43.4 | I'm back from California after what I can only describe right now as a transcendent experience in the truest sense of that word. |
| 0:51.7 | I'm not going to talk about it much, if at all today, because I'm putting |
| 0:54.6 | together one or maybe even two shows about the hike for the next couple of weeks. What I will say, |
| 1:00.0 | for those of you who don't know, is that at last, I was able to get my picture taken at the very |
| 1:05.5 | top of Mount Whitney. Look out for that story in the next couple of shows. Today's show is a little shorter than usual, |
| 1:13.5 | partly because I'm bloody exhausted after that trip. |
| 1:17.7 | But we have a returning friend of the show, Clay Bonham and Evans, |
| 1:20.7 | who has done so much hiking since we spoke with him on one of our earliest podcasts |
| 1:24.7 | that I thought I'd bring him back to update us on his latest adventures. |
| 1:28.5 | And with the Mighty Blue Class of 2022 now whittled down to just one remaining member, |
| 1:34.0 | we catch up again with Dan White's eyes and his dog Frankie. |
| 1:37.5 | As always, Dan is talking meals, not miles, although a 30-mile day tends to dispute that as well. |
| 1:44.2 | Finally, we have another long chapter from Then the Howl Came as George Tophonus leaves |
| 1:48.7 | Damascus behind. Again, this is being cut into sections, as to read an entire chapter would |
| 1:53.8 | take me well over an hour and about four hours to edit. So let's start by meeting an old friend |
| 1:59.7 | of the show, my buddy, Clay Bonham and Evans, |
| 2:02.5 | or Pony. Well, I guess today is one of the oldest friends of the show. I think he was very |
... |
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