I'm pretty sure the first time I heard of the Appalachian Trail was when I was in College at Carson-Newman. At C-N you are required to attend a certain amount of hours of chapel each semester. One of these chapels had a speaker by the name of Bill Irwin. It was a motivational speech on how anything you set your mind to can be accomplished. How you can live out your dreams and face obstacles in your life. Mr. Irwin related this to his Appalachian Trail thru hike. Now an AT thru hike is a pretty big accomplishment. What made his story so different was that he was the last to complete a thru hike in 1990. He was last by 3 and a half weeks. Irwin says, "I was last by a landslide." What made his hike so slow? What was the obstacle that made Bill Irwin's thru hike so difficult? Well, Bill Irwin is blind.
This man's story was the most memorable of the chapels I attended. His story I have always remembered. Today and article was released in the Charlotte Observer updating us on what Bill is doing today. Take a look at the article and see the challenges he faces today and how he is fighting and trying to overcome them.
Thanks for posting this - the article was great.