Cruise Control

[TOW]

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Cruise Control will be a Triple Crowner if he completes the Appalachian Trail this year. I first met Cruise Control in 2018, he says, when he stayed here at Crazy Larry's Hostel while doing a section hike from Hot Springs, North Carolina.

He had called me wanting to stay, and I told him I was officially closed for the time being but then decided to take him in. When he arrived, he looked well-worn. He looked like he needed a much-needed rest. After he showered, he came back to life. He began talking about his hike and then said he had stayed here in 2018. He said the place was much busier back then, but he was the only hiker now. He was telling me all about my place then, and he remembered things I had never retained. Then he showed me a necklace I gave him. That impacted me because I had just had a hiker named Lake with a necklace I gave him in 2018. I wish I could buy more of those necklaces today.

Cruise Control had been a firefighter and a plumber for 34 years. The first 12 years were in Guelph, Ontario, Canada. That is where he grew up. The remaining 22 years were in Roanoke, Virginia. He was both a firefighter and a plumber full-time. He owned a plumbing company while employing people who took control when he was at the firehouse. In 2012, he did a volunteer survey for the Virginia Master Naturalist organization cataloging Chestnut tree stumps that had died of blight along the Appalachian Trail and met many thru-hikers. He was inspired, and then he thought he would take a hike on the AT sometime. At first, he did day hikes and then a few overnighters. Then he hiked for a week here and there. Eventually, he hiked longer, and in March 2018, he hiked into Damascus, Virginia, from Hot Springs, North Carolina, where he stayed at my hostel, Crazy Larry's. He ended his hike and returned home to Roanoke and then to work.

He returned to the firehouse, where he met a 23-year-old female firefighter. She was bubbly and full of life. When she showed up for her shift, she wore makeup, and her fingernails were always polished. Cruise Control would have to scold her about the makeup, and each time, he would have to tell her to wipe it off. Because if she had to put her oxygen mask on, it would be a mess. I don't know how long he worked with her, but at some point, she contracted cancer. He would visit her as she declined. She was not going to live. One day, as he was visiting her, a song came on the radio, and she looked at him and asked him to dance with her. That was her last dance. He showed me a picture he had saved on his phone of him and her dancing. You could see she had yellow jaundice. I was moved. She died in Christmas 2018.

After her death, Cruise Control turned his life 180 degrees. He sold his plumbing business, got a divorce, and retired from the fire department in 2019. He then completed the Pacific Crest Trail in 5 1/2 months. After he returned to Roanoke, COVID-19 hit, and as things began to go crazy, he got a job with a patient transport company. He was hauling a lot of COVID-19 people, and he saw a lot of deaths; it was a sad time for him. He worked for 7 months. He then began hiking on the Appalachian Trail a little and hiked the entire Arizona Trail in 2021. He returned home, opened his plumbing business again, worked briefly, and began the Continental Divide Trail in March 2022. He completed the CDT in 6 months. He returned home and did more plumbing; on 28 March 2023, he hiked the Heyduke Trail. He could not complete the trail because the North Kaibab trail collapsed and got off trail on 23 May. He came home and did some more plumbing. In the fall of 2023, he completed the Catalina Trail on Catalina Island, California. Then, he went to the High Sierra and hiked for two weeks. And then he came home and did some more plumbing. Then, on the 17th of March 2024, he took an Amtrak to Gainesville, Georgia, and shuttled on the 23rd of March to Amicoloa State Park, got his tag, and began hiking the Appalachian Trail. After he completes the AT, he will be a Triple Crowner. He plans to hike the GR10 trail that borders Spain and France next year.

Larry Riddle
4/27/24

[HankIV]

Well that’s a heck of a tale.

[zelph]

Amazing historic tale of a determined hiker ThumbsUP.png

I'll bet he cold soaks his meals .....if not, what stove does he use???