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Sam was a big part of Makenna's jorny. In highschool Makenna had a boyfriend, Brendon. She spent her last night home with him before she left for the trails. Brendon when off  to collage and meet other girls. He broke up with Makenna over a text. She was upset until she met Sam. She found him attractive when she first laid eyes on him. Later saw the two became closer they started to hike together, then they shared food together, next they did their laundry in the same load, and soon they started to share a tent together. Sam was just trying to look out for Makenna and help her make it to Gorgia salfey, but ended up falling for her. He wanted to be the one to help her and protecte her. However after breaking his ankle Sam couldn't help Makenna as much and he started to feel bad for leading her off the trail. Sam didn't have a family and was broke, he had nothing. Makenna gave Sam clean clothes in the hospital and offered him her internship. In the fall , when Makenna will have finished the hike she will go to collage. Makenna tells Sam "It's to soon to plan our lives around each other right now" (p. 331) as much as they both loved each other they knew they had to let each other go. Sam follows up by saying to himself "He wanted to seem like Captain John Smith, someone who could survive, someone who could save her, instead of someone who needed saving"(p.332) Sam had come into Makenna's life and was then a pretty big part of it they both didn't know what the future held or even if they will ever be together. In the end they had themselves and that was all they really needed.

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I think this situation reslly had an inpact on Makenna. I think she really relized that she wasn't a kid anymore, She started as a girl with a dream to be a female tru hiker, but came back as a stronger woman. The trail was nothing  what she had expected talking about death was one thing but when you were facing it was another. She learned a lot on the trail not just things about hiking but things about herself. As shallow as this may seem she relizes she dosnt need friends or family. Courtny had betrey her, and her boyfriend Brednden had broken up with her over a text message on the trail. She didn't talk to her parents for mounths at a time after breaking her phone. As long as she had herself some how, she was going to be ok.

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Makenna has just finished high school and planed on hiking the Appalachian Trail all the way from Main to Georgia. She was supposed to do this with her best friend Cortney but she decided not to go last minute because she got back together with her boyfriend. The conflict starts right at the begging of the book when Makenna lies to her parent. They think she's hiking the trail with Cortney but she is really doing it alone. One night a group of hikers invite Makenna to have dinner with them. Immediately a tall handsome boy by the name Sam caughes her attention. Makenna tells them her plans of becoming a Thru hiker (someone who has hiked the Appalachian Trail) Sam doesn't think Makenna will make it so he follows her. They "accidently" run into each other a few times and decide to start hiking together. Sam is homeless and practically lives on the trail. One day he decides to wander off the trail to look for a mystical waterfall that's supposed to only be a legend. Makenna doesn't think going off the trails is such a good idea but does so anyways. They walk for hours but finally find the waterfall. With all the excitement Makenna and Sam don't realize a storm coming in. They quickly find a makeshift shelter to wait out the storm. They were in such a hurry to get out of the storm they didn't realize they forgot their packs outside. When they go back they loose many items and are also lost. They wander around trying to get back on the trails but end up going deeper into the woods. They decide to call it a night and rest under a tree hoping to fid there way tomorrow. The next day Sam wakes before Makenna and goes out to get her something to eat. he leaves a note in the dirt but when she gets up she doesn't see the note and thinks Sam has left her. She waits hoping he would return but decides she cant wait any longer and starts going to find the trail. After walking in circles night begins to fall and Sam falls down a ditch breaking his ankle. Makenna hears his scream and carefully makes her way down to help him. He tells her about the note and and she forgives him. After they got out of the ditch, they find a cabin. Makenna leaves Sam I the cabin because she can no longer support his weight and his broken ankle. She goes looking for help and promises to send help for Sam. After a few days of walking Makenna comes across anther Cabin but this one is occupied with an old man, Walden. He calls help and police begin looking for Sam.

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This dog was symbolic throughout the book because at home Makenna had a dog. For the first half of the hike, Makenna was alone. Some nights she would miss her comfy bed and her dog to cuddle with. Then she meet a dog on the hike she named him Hank. She would feed him and when she was scared and alone, Hank would always show up to save the day. One day when Makenna was lost in the woods two strange men were there. She didn't know weather to trust them or not so she hid quietly. When she thought she had been spotted Hank showed up and lead the men away as a distraction. Eave when Makenna returned to finish the hike after Sam's injury she found Hank wandering the trails. She was so happy that Hank was ok. Makenna and Hank finished the hike together and Makenna made sure he was going to have a good home.

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I agree with the YA Book Guru that this book did have a strong female led, when she and Sam wandered off the trails they got separated for quite some time and she had to make some difficult decisions in order to survive. When Sam passed out and broke his ankle, she had to step up and help him to safety. Then she has to decide weather to go and look for help or stay and hope people would come find them. I think Makenna made the right decision of leaving to find help because no one would have known she wandered off the path. I don't necessarily think Makenna left home to get away from everything and everyone, like the Book Guru said. I think Makenna when on this hike to have and accomplishment  to kind of live up to her families legacy. Her father had hiked a great distance when he was Makenna's age and I think she did this so she could have something for her family to be proud of her for. On this hike Makenna slowly discovered her self and the true meaning of life, she did not  set out looking for these answers but somehow they got answered.  After the hike Makenna was supposed to start working at in internship but ended up giving the opportunity to Sam who seemed more qualified for the job. While Sam's ankle was heeling Makenna went back determined to finish her hike. She didn't really know where she wanted to go or who she wanted to be, but somehow she knew she would get where she needed to go, and be who she needed to be as long as she kept doing what she loved.

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My thoughts: This book was very empowering to me as a female and how society doubts women and their abilities. I share McKenna’s stubbornness to be able to do everything alone and the opinion that just because I am girl doesn’t mean I always need help. I also understood her on how she felt that she needed to get away from everything and everyone. This book was good, but didn’t exactly pull me in or extremely impacted me like other books have for me. It is a good book for a easier read.
By, YA Book Guru
https://yabookguru.wordpress.com/2016/04/28/book-review-the-distance-from-me-to-you-by-marina-gessner/

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I think this quote really can sum up Makenna's journey in one sentence. She started hiking the Appalachian Mountains to live without elements in civilization. She and her bestfriend were supposed to experience this together but then her friend bailed last minute. When she says "if I could not learn what it had to teach". I think this line really shows the obstacles she had to overcome on the trail. When she first started the hike there was the issue of her overpacking. Half way throught the hike MaKenna scraped her leg making if diffucult to walk, and during a quick stop for water at a stream she was attcked by a bear and toppled down a hill breaking her phone and other valuables. The last line of the quote really shows her journey, not just her journey as a hiker, but her journey in life. In chapter 11, MaKenna and Sam, a friend she met on the trail decide to wander off the trail and look for a mystical waterfall. They end up getting lost in the woods for sevral days, and face many near death experience. For most of this time MaKenna was alone and scared, and I believe this is when she relizes that even though she had the gift of life she had never really "lived" before.

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"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." (Gessner p.315)