Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026 Issue #383

From Dubois County

Good afternoon, Reader,

I can understand what Jennifer Pharr Davis went through on the Appalachian Trail when she decided at 21 to hike 2,200 miles from Georgia to Maine on a soul-seeking whim.

I mean, as someone who has only really hiked a half-marathon-length route around Jasper as part of the Heartland, I can’t say I relate to her trekking 2,200 miles and eventually setting a new record by completing it in 46 days.

Where I meet Mrs. Davis at is in a shared experience over a PowerBar.

I only know about this shared PowerBar experience through her story last night at the Scout’s Distinguished Citizen’s Award. (See the story in the headlines.)

Here is her story.

She explained that during one stretch of the first hike she did, it rained 12 of 14 days. One morning, she woke up to yet another rainy day, dressed quickly, packed her wet tent and headed down the cold trail.

She was hungry as she began walking. "So I pulled out an energy bar, and this is back in the day when the primary energy bar was a PowerBar," she said.

She opened the metal foil and found it impossible to bite into the PowerBar because it was frozen.

A superb storyteller, Jennifer set the scene with rain, wet, heavy gear, and hunger, then topped it off with her stumbling down the trail, licking the PowerBar like a popsicle.

She ended the story by being forced to seek safety in one of the many special shelters along the trail during a thunder-and-lightning storm.

Finding herself in a small, dry shelter full of male hikers who were also seeking safety from the storm, she tried to change out of her sopping wet clothes on the back side of the shelter, under a couple of inches of overhanging metal roof, when lightning struck.

While pulling a shirt over her head, the dispersing lightning jumped from the rooftop to her outstretched hand and traveled down through her body into the ground.

"I had just been struck by lightning. There was no doubt because it was one of the most painful sensations I had ever experienced," she said.

She panicked, but once she realized she was okay, her demeanor shifted from horror to elation.

"After a few minutes, I didn't see any negative side effects. So at that point, I took a deep breath, and I thought to myself, the 21-year-old inside of me thought to myself, 'Cool, you know, I had just survived the lightning strike. This is my origin story. This is where I get my superpower, or a blonde streak in my hair, or a different colored eyes, or the gift of telepathy,'" she said. "I wasn't sure, but I was high on adrenaline."

Great story, and she was a great speaker; her book is good too, btw.

I’ll finish the connection to my PowerBar story tomorrow. I didn't get struck by lightning, so it may not be as cool as hers.

Have a great day.

From Dubois County with love.

Matthew and Amy Crane

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​Inside Indiana’s state surplus warehouse​

​Southwest Dubois programs receive two Regional Innovation Awards​

​Ron Flick named recipient of the 2026 Dubois County German Heritage Award​

​Dubois County Community Foundation invests $450,000 in new Boys & Girls Club chapter​

​Nurse Practitioner Michaela Schuetter joins Deaconess Memorial Medical Center​

​Dubois County Chamber awards third quarterly grant to Traditional Arts Today​

We have a community calendar full of great activities and events happening in Dubois County.

If you have an upcoming event you'd like the public to know about, please add it to our calendar.

​See it here.​

​Jason Heber Gladish, 44, Petersburg​

​Ivan E. Smith, 70, Crystal​

​Anna Mae Schlachter, 100, Jasper​

​Jasper Engines & Transmissions offering Open Interviews October 30, 2026​

​Dubois County seeking Court Reporter​

​Dubois County Clerk’s Office seeking Deputy Clerk​

​The Servants seeking Customer Service Representative​

​Saint Meinrad hiring for RNs and LPNs​

​Dubois County Community Foundation seeking Executive Director​

Check out all the job opportunities by clicking here: Employment​

Contact Amy at amy@duboiscountyfreepress.com or 812-639-9650 if you would like to list openings on our website.​

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