David Barol

The Long Green Tunnel (Notes from the Trail) David Barol 1st edition

A young man flew from Philadelphia to Maine to follow his dream. This is not his story.

Instead, it is the story of another young man in search of a dream, any dream. Through the mud, the mosquitoes, and the moose-moo, he found the path that would take him from where he began to where he had to go - and that made all the difference.

It is a story of wrong turns, failed relationships, courage, and fear. It takes place on a hike, but this is no more a book on hiking than Huckleberry Finn was a book on navigation. Sure, Huck Finn had something to do with a boat - but that misses the point. The Long Green Tunnel digs into a young man's soul as he wrestles with his place in the world and searches for his right path. It follows the travails of two young men who talk about communication but do not have a clue as to how to actually discuss what matters. It wanders through his family and the community in which he grew up and how one shaped the other. It delves into the traumatic period when neighborhoods were flipping from all White to all Black and explores why one community remained in balance, and has remained that way until this day.

This book also proves, once again, how a good dog can go a long way toward healing wounds and worries.

Truth or fiction? The hike really did happen, the people are real - only the names of the dogs have been changed. It is not a hiking book but it is a book about journeys. It is a book about saving the world, one lonely hiker at a time.