trish hermanson
  • Home
  • BIO
  • FAQs
  • Book Club
  • Awards
  • Influences
  • Home
  • BIO
  • FAQs
  • Book Club
  • Awards
  • Influences

Donna's Surprising Takeaway from a 2,200-Mile Trek

8/8/2019

0 Comments

 
Picture

      Donna Nedde trekked five million steps and 2,200 miles and came home with a take away that surprised me.     
     She and her husband Tom Kinsella took five months conquering the Appalachian Trail from Maine to Georgia, a journey through fourteen states. This is like scaling Mt. Everest sixteen times.

     Donna, whom I met at the rec center, burned through three pairs of hiking boots and lost fifteen pounds, typical for hikers who consume five thousand calories daily just to maintain their weight on this expedition. When they arrived in a town every week or so, “I could personally eat a pint of Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia,” Donna says.     
     And what is her amazing take away?
    
     “How little we need to live.”
    
     They carried backpacks, a tent, stove, freeze-dried food, breakfast bars, granola, a water purifier, shorts and a shirt, long pants, phones they rarely turned on, a camera, a shovel and toilet paper, Tom’s Native American flute, “and my Kindle for reading at night,” Donna says.
  
     That’s it.
    
     What a contrast from what I observe around me - houses built smaller while storage lockers spring up. Catherine Alles from the Foundation for Economic Education reports that the average American home has 300,000 items. One out of four houses with two-car garages can’t fit a car in them because of all the stuff, she says.
    
     So Donna’s surprising message is not how to survive, but how to thrive: simply.
    
     Maybe that’s what we need to survive, too.
    
     And maybe it’s time to clean out my closets.

0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Croutons...
    Chew on these seasoned bits of life for a little hope and humor along your highway.​
    Picture
    JOIN ME ~ I’ll send brief, occasional posts for this journey we're traveling on together.
    Subscribe

    Categories

    All
    Holidays & Happenings
    Humor
    Inspiration
    Passages
    Social Issues
    Spirituality
    Wholeness

    Archives

    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017

    Picture
    Available on Amazon
    Picture

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly