Wrestling with Life, Love, and Culture on the PCT

Bilbo Baggins said:
"It is a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You Step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there is no knowing where you might be swept off to." - J.R.R Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
As I look back forty years ago, this was the way of it. The PCT became the beginning of a journey into a beautiful life. A life different than, smaller than, and bigger then, I ever imagined possible.
I made three decisions in 1982 that shaped the trajectory of the rest of my life. Age 16 is a season for that type of thing, but these decisions were not of the: what college will I go to or what am I going to be when I grow up type. They were of the "I am going to do a thing" type.
Thing one was I am going to quit High School for a year and walk the Pacific Crest Trail. Thing two was I am going to pursue this girl named Cheryl Lewin. Thing three was I am not going back to the missionary field with my parents. Instead, I will become an emancipated minor, move in with my older brother in Pasadena, California and finish high school.
These three things are interrelated, and they happened in the order mentioned. On March 26th 1982, Tom and I stood at a small wooden fence post labeled Pacific Crest Trail and began a life-changing journey. This story is about the highs and lows of that journey and how it shaped my relationship with Cheryl Lewin Dye. The story explores our young love, and the rough patches we encountered as we navigated a cross-cultural relationship. How a missionary kid from the jungles of Papua New Guinea and a church girl from Southern California forged a life together.
If there are things you have pondered doing but are afraid of what others might think, afraid you can't afford it, afraid they will not work out as planned. I urge you to reconsider.
This book is an abbreviated version of a book previously published with a more spiritual focus under the title A Rumble with Life, Love, and God on the PCT.