Publisher's Synopsis
A door into another land describes the adventures of Chris "Windscreen" Homan and everything it means to hike the Appalachian Trail. Chris has just spent two years doing a dangerous and exhausting job in Iraq during the surge of US forces, and he wants to do something that he has never done before. Drawing inspiration from Bill Bryson's A walk in the woods, he organizes his hikes around his university schedule, which splits the AT experience into two very different adventures: northbound from Roanoke, VA in 2011 and southbound from the same spot in 2012. This book follows Chris's "Windscreen's" perspective from the very first time it crossed his mind to hike the nearly 2,200-mile trail, and how it affects his family, friends, body, mind, and soul. The reader is invited along as he comes to terms with morality in the wake of a brother's death, and reassesses what it means to truly live. From the war-torn dismay of Iraq to the unblemished splendor of the Appalachian Trail, to the impossible serenity of the Nepali Himalayas, to the Appalachian finish, Windscreen traipses through hard work, trail preparation, physical conditioning, life planning, academic indulgence, and intimate self-reflection towards an optimistic future.
