Here in the San Francisco Bay Area where we live, the hills are turning a brilliant green, the earliest wildflowers (delicate, bobbing little white clusters of “milkmaids”) are out, the trails are muddy, the cows think they are in heaven….and the ticks are waiting.

This is the time of year when we check ourselves for ticks during and after our training hikes.  Basically we’ve learned, “When the grass is green, the ticks are hungry.”  Both Bill and I have been “tickbit” on several occasions in the past, including on the PCT.  For some reason, though, my skin seems to react violently when a tick tries to “dig in”; it hurts like crazy, and I notice right away and can pull the nasty thing off.  Last spring, about this time of year, we were hiking in Hood Mountain State park (another AWESOME place to practice for the PCT–lots of big hill climbs)–and it was like the ticks were in a frenzy to get a meal.  Normally, they carefully crawl up your pant leg, looking to get in at your waist, then “dig in” at your back where you won’t notice them.  But that year, they dug in right through my sock!   Yikes!  Some desperate ticks!  

Thanks be to God (and I do mean that, I’m not just saying it), neither Bill or I has picked up Lyme disease.  We regard ticks as just part of what happens on the trail.  We do our best to protect ourselves, without getting obsessed about it.  If I am concerned about the ticks, I wear gaiters to cover the opening at the bottom of my pant leg, and I keep my shirt tucked in rather than loose.  After any stretch of trail that involves pushing through grass or bushes, Bill and I check each other for ticks.  Any we find, we toss as far away as we can–I have tried squishing them, but they are unbelievably tough.  You literally have to grind them between two rocks.  I’d rather just toss them, and leave quickly!

Today being Sunday, it was wonderful to be in church.   That was something we very much missed on the trail.  The whole 5 months we were out, we only got to go to church a couple of times, because just about every Sunday, we were way out in the mountains somewhere.   In case you wonder what church, well, actually, make that TWO churches.  I go to an early morning service at St. John’s Anglican Church (where I am on the altar guild plus Bill and I are Co-Commanders of the Awana Club for kids and Bill teaches at one of the men’s groups), then Bill and I BOTH go to the Salvation Army church, where Bill is often asked to preach and teach.   He looks really, really cool in his Salvation Army uniform!   One of the awesomest things about living in Petaluma is that all the churches that actually believe the Bible and where the people really have a relationship with God that’s real and not just intellectual, well, all the churches actually work together, help each other and love each other.   There is none of that stupid “My denomination is the ONLY one” mentality.   So St. John’s and the Salvation Army church work together on a lot of stuff, including the Awana Club, which is one of the best things ever for kids!  

So I am really soaking it in at church, ’cause I’m really going to miss this out on the trail!