Frank Wardlaw

When Robert Martins wife, Angie, dies of breast cancer after thirty-four years of marriage, he attempts his lifelong dreamthat of hiking the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine. His constant companions are grief and memories.

On the trail, with a nickname of Dances with SnakesSnaky for shorthe meets a variety of other hikers. Socrates is a Duke graduate and know-it-all scientist; Preacher is a fervid Christian fundamentalist and proselytizer; Southern Bell is an Alabama veterinarian accompanied by her Labrador retriever, War Eagle; and Mother Superior and Czechmate are nurses and lesbian companions.

Snakys two thousandmile trek becomes much more than a physical trial as his faith is tested by his personal loss. He engages the skeptic Socrates about theology, science, and nature. He spars with Preacher about how to read the Bible and what it says about homosexuality. His own perception of same-sex relationships is complicated by a physical attraction to Czechmate.

This volatile mixture of personalities produces adventure, friendship, conflict, and ultimately violence. As the walkers finally reach their goal, Maines Mount Katahdin, Snaky and his friends step from behind their individual curtains to reach a new level of human understanding and tolerance