Together the night before

Peacocks

Last night we camped at a KOA in northern Georgia in my parents RV. The campground has some resident peafowl--two male peacocks, one solid white peacock, and one peahen. We were able to catch a couple of them with feathers fully extended; a neat treat before we embark on our hike.

Rainstorms

B flew in to Atlanta in the evening. A weather system was moving through the area--our Ladonia friends received some nasty hail. B's flight from Chicago was rerouted to Nashville, and he sat on the tarmac for thirty minutes before they retried the approach into Atlanta.

Once back at the campground, we pulled all our gear, food and packs together into the wee hours of the morning. To celebrate the beginning of a new chapter, we opened a bottle of Chilean wine given to us by a good Chilean friend of ours.

Where in somewhere are you putting your "stuff"?

Heavy Fragile Kitchen Book

We are generally anti-stuff. Some may attribute this to us being frugal. But the main reason is that when you move it, you immediately want less stuff. We have moved multi-state 3 times in the last 5 years, with over 5,000 miles of cargo van driving. After each move, we kept the boxes. So now at this point, the boxes have 3-4 different markings on them making it hard to decipher what is inside; "what's in this box labeled heavy fragile kitchen book or Matt's ice tea glasses kitchen utensils"?

Storage Unit

B recruited his brothers, A and R, to unload the van and organize the storage unit. B and R returned the van in the rain and took the famous Buick to its 6 month parking place. Seeing it there, all forlorn, brought tears to everyone's eyes that witnessed the good-bye. Now, back to the future.

Moving Out Together

The logistics behind this move are difficult to explain, with many people confused, including ourselves. But the moving van is locked. The Buick is loaded on the dolly. And the apartment is cleaned-up and checked-out of.

The 14-Hour Drive

B drove the moving van along with the famous Buick from Alabama to his mom's house in Missouri. The drive in the van made a 12-hour trip stretch out to 14 hours. Two hours from the end, B had to stop and top off with a Shamrock Shake so that he wouldn't create a yard sale across the highway. The only casualty was a 52 oz bottle of Ajax that leaked out the back of the Penske.

A Car-Sick Cat

K drove her car with Cirby to meet up with her parents in north Georgia. They have an RV with a tow-dolly so they will be able to take Cirby and her car once we depart on the Appalachian Trail. Unfortunately, Cirby was stressed out from the move, or maybe just car-sick, and threw up on K during the drive. Needless to say, an unhappy Cirby rode the rest of the way in his carrier.

Loading Up Together

Two Matts and a Truck

I forgot how frustrating it is to pack everything you own into boxes--especially the kitchen items--and then figure out how to strategically place everything into a moving truck. Thankfully two of our firefighting buddies, Matt and Matt, helped us out with their amazing tetris skills. Dubbed "Two Matts and a Truck", they helped us get everything loaded into the back of our Penske. We appreciate all of your help. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

Bon Fire

To send us off in true firefighter fashion, MDM hosted a bon fire and cook-out for us. What a wonderful way to end the day. We had chili dogs, guacamole, and Peep s'mores (a s'more with a Peep chick for the marshmallow). These past three years we've appreciated your friendships and leadership and we will miss you all!

Together Minus One

Unfortunately, the third member of our family is unable to make the journey with us. Cirby, the cat, will be taking a six-month vacation to my parents house. They have three cats which are spoiled, so I'm a little worried that Cirby won't want to come home.

Pros of Bringing Cirby on the Appalachian Trail

• Companionship
• Good Listener
• Warmth when it is cold at night

Cons of Bringing Cirby on the Appalachian Trail

• Cirby = Bear Food
• Cirby = Tick Magnet
• An extra 19 lbs 12 oz to carry

Disclaimer: This entire post and video is actually just an excuse for me to post pictures of cats :-)

Eating Together

Many of our friends and family have asked what we are doing for food along the Appalachian Trail. No, we won't be hunting or fishing--that requires carrying even more equipment, and also I don't know how to cut up, dress, or cook anything that we would catch.

Therefore, everything that we will eat, we will need to carry on us. We will be visiting little towns and country stores about once every six or eight days, so we will stock enough food to get us to the next spot.

Proteins:

We will be carrying foods such as jerky, nuts and peanut butter, to name a few.

Carbohydrates:

We'll pack foods such as dehydrated noodles (Ramen), dehydrated potatoes, tortillas and crackers.

Vitamins:

We will try to eat fruits and vegetables along the way, but we also bought a bottle of vitamin supplements to fill in for the vitamins we may not get from our diet.

Sodium:

This is one thing we won't have to worry about as the quick ready meals, like Ramen, etc. are chocked full of sodium.

Lions, and Tigers, and Bears oh my!

To keep bears out, we bought a stuff sack for all our food so we can suspend our food high up in a tree. To keep critters from chewing through, the stuff sack is constructed of cuben fiber.

Setting Goals Together

2,185 miles plus.
From Springer Mountain, Georgia to Mount Katahdin, Maine.
Only 30% of attempting thru-hikers ever reach the finish line.

And while physical prowess plays a huge role, ultimately the psychological and emotional stamina plays an even bigger one.

We've been warned it will be hard. Boring. Exhausting. Discouraging.

But in those moments of despair, Zach Davis, in his book "Appalachian Trials," advises that we create three lists (below our lists have been combined together and abbreviated). So on the days that we "think" we want to quit, we need to remember what our original purpose was for the trek:

• I am Thru-Hiking the Appalachian Trail because…

• It is a challenge, and we are up to the exploration and the adventure
• Thrive on change and are ready to make a move
• Postponing life for perceived convenience is a lie
• See what else life has to offer versus sitting at a computer all day

• When I successfully thru-hike the Appalachian Trail, I will…

• Have more trust, confidence and better communication with spouse
• See life and challenges with a new perspective
• Understand a simpler life and be thankful for the smaller things

• If I give up on the Appalachian Trail, I will…

• Feel like a failure and regret the decision
• Have to explain myself to everyone, SEPARATELY!
• Lack confidence and question ability in self

Somewhere with Don's Brother

Novices. Experts. Students. Retirees.
An impromptu community is created along the Appalachian Trail.

One of the things that excites us about the Appalachian Trail are all the wonderful people we are going to meet along our journey. Today I met Don's Brother who is also going to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail this year. We met for a hike at Standing Boy State Park, and the weather couldn't have been better. I was introduced to Don's Brother thru a mutual friend, Reggie--who always is in the know, and I couldn't pass up an opportunity to compare notes.

He is a super great guy with over 1,000 miles of Appalachian Trail hiking under his belt.  His gear is similar to what we have which is encouraging (K and I don't want to be the fools of the AT). He is starting a few days after us and I hope we can hike a few days with him.

If you haven't had a chance to go to Standing Boy, make a point to get out there this spring before the briars grow. Big Dog Running Store has trail maps available.

The Work Hike Somewhere

Early this morning, my team presented me with the above video. In true comedic style, some of my co-workers document the arduous and sometimes perilous task of trekking from point A to point B.

It has been a pleasure working with each of you and I wish you great success in each of your endeavours. Godspeed.

The story you heard was true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.

Inspiration to Hike the AT Together

When we tell people we are hiking the Appalachian Trail, it has been fun hearing the first few questions people ask:

• Who is taking care of the cat?
• What are you going to do with your stuff?
• Where are you going to sleep?
• What are you going to eat?
• Are you taking a gun?

• What is your spouse going to do? What?!?!  And they're ok with doing that?? (usually this person only knows one of us. People that know both of us already know we are both half-crazy, adventurous people)

The hardest question to answer though is: "why/how did you come up with the idea?"

In short, there is no one answer.

Pacific Crest

When we lived in the People's Republic of California, we were exposed to camping and hiking opportunities along the backwoods trails and the fire roads in the Sierra Nevadas and Lake Tahoe regions. We were vaguely aware of the Pacific Crest Trail, and mentioned how cool it would be to hike it someday.

College Alumni

Last year in the spring, we received a college alumni magazine in the mail. There was a small article about an alumni that had hiked the trail in 2011. We contacted him on Facebook and asked him some of the basic questions people ask us now. Not only was he was super nice with his reply, but very encouraging and candid in his answers.

Loner

Surfing the internet, we found numerous blogs and videos of hikers along the trail in the Spring of 2012. The most memorable was a hiker, trail named "Loner", who was posting videos via YouTube. His videos stood out because they were 1) entertaining 2) frequent 3) not just about him. It became our go-to show,

"Has Loner loaded any new videos?"

"Yes!!"

"Let's watch them!"

 

 

The Tipping Point

Sooo, if there was one tipping point, it was that Loner showed us how much we wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail.  Below are a few of our favorites along his journey:

• Loner meets a skunk
• Loner meets a rattlesnake
• Loner makes it to Katahadin

Packing Together

Boxes. Check. Packing tape. Check.
Time to pack. Heavy sigh.

We're packing our 700 square foot apartment to fit down into a 10' x 15' storage unit in the Ozarks. We won't be coming back to the South; So it's move. Sell. Or donate. Mostly move, though.

The engineer side of this duo, has required us to create inventory lists for each box, that match up to a master inventory list all to be inputed into Excel, formatted, coded and cross referenced through several spreadsheets. The graphic designer side of this duo, has required us to label each box in the upper right hand corner, in red, with a rectangle around it and corresponding icons indicating level of importance.

Ultimately, we need to be locked and loaded to roll a week from this Friday.

Shakedown Somewhere

Drove up to Roosvelt State Park today for a Pre-Appalachian Trail Shakedown.

Overcast + snow flurries = the perfect weather for testing out our gear. My fingers didn't quite agree though.

We stopped at a trail junction for lunch. Budig Ham on a hoagie, and an apple. With the sub-par temperature, we realized that we didn't want to stop long and quickly were on our way.

Shakedown was a success. There are a few minor things we still need to purchase, but overall it's full speed ahead.