Update: The End of a Journey

"I’m sure I can keep up on foot. I’ve done my fair share of walking holidays, you know. I even got as far as Frogmorton once!"
- Bilbo Baggins, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Well, folks, my "walking holiday" from summer is officially complete.

From the journal I've been keeping on my phone,
counting down the miles

A little over three months ago, I set out to walk 397 miles and today, at 5:37 pm, I made it to my goal!

“The Valley of Imraldis. In the Common Tongue, it’s known by a another name... Rivendell." - Gandalf, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Update: Nearing the celebration, facing the final challenges

"Going to Mordor!” Cried Pippin. "I hope it won’t come to that!" 

- J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

This past month, I've been trying hard to stay healthy and continue on my journey... however, the fires of Mt. Doom had another plan for me. In case you didn't know, Washington has been either surrounded by or on fire for the past month or so now. I wrote about it a bit in my last update, but the fires and smoke has continued. On September 5th, ash literally rained from the sky, the shadows all looked orange, and the sun looked blood red through the smoke. As a priest at a nearby parish actually mentioned: "...it looks like Mordor out there."

Looks about right...