Episode #354 - Billy Arthur (Backwards)
Mighty Blue On The Appalachian Trail: The Ultimate Mid-Life Crisis
Steve Adams
4.8 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 29 December 2022
⏱️ 64 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Our guest today, Billy Arthur, or Backwards, met and fell in love with another hiker on the AT this year. Billy had wanted to get on the trail since his scouting days, yet he left it until his late 20s and found more than he'd bargained for!
Backwards and Pigpen bonded throughout their hike and stayed together once they reached Katahdin. I'd always wondered about these on-trail romances, and Billy shares how they got together, as well as how they're coping with after-trail life.
That he'd conducted his romance with Pigpen even when they were hiking with her mother is another part of the story that really amused me! You can stay in touch with Billy on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/billywarthur/.
Joanne Flagg is our latest member of the Mighty Blue Class of 23, with a flip-flop from Harpers Ferry in her future, sometime in April. She's even considering extending her thru-hike with a link up trip to Flagg Mountain, in Alabama.
Please check out our new "merch" site at HRNTradingPost.com. I've worked out how to offer FREE shipping in the US (with a small flat fee for shipping to Canada), PLUS a reduction in prices. Check it out; you may like what you see!!
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.
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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. Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail, the ultimate midlife crisis, joins Stephen his guests every week as he staggers from Georgia to Maine. |
| 0:33.4 | Hey guys, good to have you back with me again on the podcast. You are listening to Mighty Blue on the Appalachian Trail, the ultimate men life crisis. And I'm your host, Steve Adams on Mighty Blue. After last week's adventure on the Carolinian with Jason Topkins, we're back on familiar ground, with Billy Arthur, who completed the AT this year and found way more than he'd been looking for. |
| 0:55.0 | You'll understand when you hear Billy's story. |
| 0:57.4 | And part of it is how people meet on the trail, |
| 1:00.4 | hike together for months and then have to re-engage with real life. |
| 1:04.2 | Billy's case is a really aware bloke and has handled that transition from life on the trail |
| 1:08.6 | back down to Earth and explains how it has |
| 1:11.2 | affected him. Billy will be on shortly. Then Joanne Flag is our next member of the Mighty Blue |
| 1:16.7 | Class of 23. Joanne is an experienced hiker but not an experienced backpacker. She's heading for |
| 1:22.4 | Harper's Ferry in April and we'll be doing a flip-flop. Today after we've heard from Billy, she |
| 1:27.1 | tells us why she chose to do it that way. |
| 1:29.8 | Finally, George is finally out of Virginia. |
| 1:33.7 | When you're out there, those first few states start to go by, yet once you're in Virginia, |
| 1:38.1 | the trail looks like a very long way indeed, which of course it is. |
| 1:42.4 | But George feels that, I don't know, next step as he moves |
| 1:45.9 | closer to home. George will be on after Joanne. Just before I introduce you to Billy, I wanted |
| 1:51.9 | to let you all know that I've worked out how to reduce prices on my shop, hrn trading post.com, |
| 1:57.5 | and ship free to anywhere in the US, and only a flat fee of $5 to Canada. I'll be adding |
| 2:03.5 | international destinations as cheap as I can in the next few days. I hope you'll check it out |
| 2:08.6 | and remember you can see it on our Hiking Radio Network website as well. Now let's meet |
| 2:14.5 | Billy Arthur or Backwards. |
... |
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