Guest Blog!!

Our guest blogger today is Kim, Shawn’s sister. She (along with her husband Daryl and sons Gavin and Carson) hosted Keychain, Zen, and Donnie, as well as the whole Keychain family, when the hikers came through the Delaware Water Gap in July! (p.s. if the photos look blurry on your screen, click on them, and you can see them in a little higher resolution!)

Hi everyone! … I'll share with you all that we had a great time when Shawn passed through our area on his journey hiking the Appalachian Trail...he looks great and seems strong and healthy (in body and mind). We met him in the Delaware Water Gap on Thursday around noon...actually spotted him and a bunch of other thru-hikers sitting outside a local bakery...what a reunion! Gavin and Carson had made some poster board signs for him saying 'Welcome Uncle Shawn'...let me just say before going any further, that the anticipation of waiting for Shawn to reach the DWG had been mounting for months, so for Gavin especially he was so excited the whole time Shawn visited...and it took Carson a good couple of hours before he felt confident that the guy with the beard (and body odor) was really his Uncle Shawn...

Anyway, we took him and two other thru-hikers (trail names, Donnie and Zen) back to the house for food and shower and we washed their clothes twice over...sat and had some beers (well some people had beer) and talked and talked about the trail...Shawn and the others shared so much interesting stuff about their experience and on a personal note I'm a little envious...just a little...it was great just to sit and listen...we had an awesome dinner that night, steak, chicken and fish (caught by Daryl) along with salad, pasta salad and fruit and ohhh ice cream and pie and brownies for desert...the hikers did not leave a crumb...like mom said, it was like feeding growing teenage boys...after dinner we went for a quad ride where Daryl hooked up the trailer to the back of the quad and we had five kids and six adults on the back...as you can see from one of the pictures Daryl let Dad drive the first part of the trip, it was a little bumpy going and coming back home was even more bumpy...we came home in the dark...it was awesome to just let go and have a great time with everyone...Daryl and the boys and I camped out that night (all four of us in the tent was a first time experience)...poor Carson didn't make it to the tent before he fell asleep on the dining room floor......

The next morning we all found food and the got ready to go swimming down at the Kittatiny visitors center on the NJ side of the DWG...we packed lunches, took a blow-up tube and had an awesome time...although we did hike from the PA side to the NJ side, therefore we had to cross over the river using the Rt 80 bridge...ummm...a little long, a little scary and it was extremely hot and humid...but it's all part of the trail experience! The river felt so good though....

So, then after sometime, we said good-bye to Shawn, Zen and Donnie...as they left for Sunfish Pond up the NJ side, where they were planning on camping that night...and we hiked back over and went home (they boys fell asleep before my car even left the DWG). It was such a great feeling to be able to host Shawn and his friends and our family...and then to be able to accommodate sleeping arrangements for seven people inside our home was awesome, something Daryl and I had never done before....During that week before Shawn came on Thursday I had prayed...and my prayer was kinda simple just asking God to bless the time that we had with our family and with Shawn (knowing it was going to be short) and to make it something that would leave a great memory for everyone...of course then I prayed for the safety of the hikers and Shawn as I'm still doing today...enjoy the pictures...