The Florida Coalition of Peace & Justice (ECT Day 38)

With my plans in order for today and tomorrow (generally), I had no need to get up early to start walking. Today would be relatively short miles getting to the Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice (FCPJ). After a casual cup of Joe, I packed up and got going in a light mist.

My farm-side setup before breaking everything down. There was a donkey making donkey noises last night.

The water in the air was just enough to get my glasses all blurred, but otherwise not all that noticeable. With the slower pace my mind seemed to have time to think.

News From “The Outside World”

To be straight with y’all, the past few weeks and few days in particular, I intentionally went into the messiness of what’s going on in the country right now. Now, I do not want to bring that into this blog! There are enough spaces for that elsewhere. It is part of my story on this hike though and I felt like expressing generally how I’m choosing to handle it.

When long-distance backpacking, some choose to block out news from the “outside world” as much as possible. Sometimes that just happens naturally being remote and without cell service. There are times when that’s healing to step away and I have certainly done that before. I’ve grown to understand that the separation found in natural spaces from everyday busyness and problems and drama is key for my mental health.

About half of the morning was along this paved path. It switched to gravel the rest of the way, but maintained the straight line for the most part.

Most of the time I’ve had cell service on this hike (with the exception being Everglades NP). I often will put my phone in airplane mode and extreme battery saving mode (that’s an actual setting), but even when that’s the case, it’s not long before I switch this off. So because of that, I’ve been able to pay attention to what’s going on in the news. And I’ve intentionally chosen to stay informed this time around; I feel it’s too important not to be aware.

Today however, I realized balance is needed and I haven’t been doing a good job of that. The information coming in, my time spent dwelling on it, spending time on social media scrolling, reading articles… all of that consumed me. I went too far and I wasn’t being in the moment seeing and experiencing what was right in front of me. I want to stay informed and contribute as I’m able, but also feel I need to figure out how to do that in a way that I’m still present here!

My most clear example of when I’ve found this balance was hiking through the Sierra with Cheer and Calzone. We were both filled up by our natural beautiful surroundings, but were also having conversations about things going on in the world and how we might act in positive ways after our trek. I wrote a post at the end of that trip going into this idea a bit more. So, that was what I was pondering this morning.

The Trail Provides Again

When thru-hiking I’m pretty goal oriented. Got to get those miles in! I needed to put a pause on that south of Orlando when my feet needed healing and I needed to put a pause on that here too. This time around was just as much a struggle for me to do because physically I felt great. Mentally though, I was a bit of a mess. And, this was one of those times when there was a letting go needed to embrace the whims of the trail. Rather than being stubborn and rigid with my plans, I’m trying to be better at going with the flow some times.

In my efforts to get a ride to Trail Fest, I got in contact with Sara who is a trail angel and a representative of the nonprofit, the Florida Coalition of Peace and Justice. This group hosts hikers at their Peace Education Center just off trail. I had hoped to get a full day hiking in today and then somehow get a ride, but pretty quickly I relented to what it seemed the trail was telling me. Talking on the phone with Sara about the place, learning it has showers, laundry, cozy couches, and a kitchen with some donated hiker foods… it was clear that’s where I should go. It also would work out nicely that tomorrow a group of us would head to the Trail Fest together for the day.

Hanging at the Peace Education Center 

Once the decision was made, I felt relieved. And once I arrived, I was immediately filled up by the presence of other hikers. I’d been missing the camaraderie of talking with other thru-hikers and these folks were great. Tater Tot, Keto, Disco, Jeff, and Amazon Man were all hanging about. Jeff showed me around while others offered cookies, an orange, and coffee and tea. Plus, Tot had some fun colorful beads to brighten things up with.

Later, Iceman showed up… a fellow ECT’er! This was a ton of fun talking about our different experiences between Key West to this point. We had been close to each other a lot of times and passed one another without knowing it. I also found out that Jeff hiked most of (if not all?) the ECT route, so we got to pick his brain about stuff up ahead.

Friendly dogs always brighten my day. This little pup was a smiley one