Re: [pct-l] trail magic

[radney@ix.netcom.com]

Hey Karl, thanks for all the great advice.

Your note on Trail Magic was right on.  Walt and I still receive letters 
during the year and cards at Christmas from many of our Trail Angels.  It 
gives us so much joy to hear what they are doing and they enjoy hearing from 
us too.  It proves that the human spirit of kindness is still out there 
alive and well .  So little can mean so much!

What you said about not taking advantage of Trail Angels can't be emphasize 
too much.  All it takes is one or two bad apples to spoil the barrel so to 
speak.  I know for a fact that in '97 there were several hikers who took 
advantage of Sam at Tahoe.  They called and had him come and get them at 
Echo Lake and then didn't even stay at his hotel or pay for the ride into 
Tahoe, just got out of his van and walked away!  It was a 30 minute one way 
ride for him too and he had to have a friend come watch the hotel because 
his wife wasn't there.  He also had two Thru Hikers sort their food boxes on 
the bed and floor.  They left a few hours later and the bed was all messy 
with peanut butter, cracker crumbs, bags, food, boxes, etc.  It wouldn't 
have been quite so bad but his wife had just changed cleaned the room and 
changed the linens on the bed!
 
Donna and Jeff Saufley at Acqua Dule are a wonderful couple and they have 
been invaluable since Bernice has closed up the Century 21.  Don't forget 
Richard and Kelly at the store.
  
We also made cards for our friends to send to us they were great to receive 
along the way, especially later on when they had slowed down in their 
excitement for us.  The cards seemed to come at the most needed time.  
Unfortunately, cookies, etc. took quite a beating but everyone seemed to 
enjoy the "crumbs."

Wendy may help us out this year -- still waiting to hear.

HTC -- Pat

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