morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2008-01-02
To: Still another list
Miles today: 0.0

I¢m laying flat on my stomach on the floor of the laundry room. The front panel of the washing machine is off as I point a flashlight inside and stick my hand into the mucky mess. Greg walks through and comments ¢You need to show me how to do that before you leave.¢ There¢s a whole other list to add to my list of things to do before we leave on our hike. I need a list of lists! ¢¦Things I need to show Greg.I think it¢s probably a military wife thing. Years of being left alone to ¢handle it¢ as he traveled to unreachable places teaches a wife to just deal with stuff. My favorite was dealing with centipedes in Hawaii¢¦ pick it up off the kitchen floor with tongs and drop it quickly into a ziplock bag and throw it in the freezer to die. Then later it makes a great science project! {those crazy homeschoolers!} So I¢m sitting there on the laundry room floor as Caleb and Greg sort through the handful of guitar picks I¢ve retrieved from the washing machine pump fan and I¢m thinking¢¦ maybe I won¢t show them this one. Maybe having to do this for themselves and they will start emptying their pockets before putting clothes in the laundry! ¢¦but I¢m just dreaming. Then I paid for such unkind thoughts the next day when I started a load of laundry and the clamp, I apparently didn¢t put on all the way, slipped off and flooded the room. Since I was busy getting ready for dinner guests Greg got to deal with putting it back on. I guess I can check that one off. :0)
Date: 2008-01-09
To: School
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Lydia is working away intently on finishing certain subjects before March. She¢s not interested in carrying that two-inch thick math book on the trail with her.   I realize early on in my journal I mentioned writing an entry about our plan to ¢do school¢ on the trail. As a homeschool parent I¢ve always believed that life is school, but for the purposes of the journal I won¢t go into homeschool philosophies, transcripts and all that¢¦ stick to the hike details.Subjects we can easily do either pre hike or during the hike are English, Health, Science, History and of course, PE. Here¢s the plan¢¦ For English¢¦ Journaling. In addition to keeping her own journal on the trail I¢ve also asked her to read a few journals before starting. I picked up a copy of Lewis and Clark¢s journals¢¦ then I got so interested in it she hasn¢t actually gotten to read it yet. I had a copy of Ed Garvey¢s book, but I can¢t seem to find it. And of course, she needs to finish A Walk in the Woods. (I¢m not sure your allowed to thru hike without reading that one ;0))For Health she is studying a Wilderness 911 book. That¢s mostly for my peace of mind. If I fall off a cliff somewhere I¢d like for her to know what to do. History along the AT is everywhere. At least on the section hikes we have done we¢ve encountered many historical markers and sites. She has a small lightweight lined notebook for recording the history we find along the way. If there are past thru hikers reading this that know of especially interesting or ¢not to miss locations¢, we¢d love it if you¢d give us a heads up.Science. In Connecticut a few years ago we decided we could do a whole unit study just on the unusual mushrooms we saw along the trail. Again, she has small lightweight notebook for science. This one has every other page lined or blank, giving a page for writing and a page for drawing. I ordered a Waterford Press Pocket naturalist Guide for AT Wildlife. It¢s a nice light, folded cardboard with color pictures of animals that we could see along the AT. Unfortunately I haven¢t been able to find the same thing for plant life. I did order a copy of The Appalachian Trail: A Visitor¢s Companion, but it will be much too bulky to carry with us. So she can draw or take pictures of any interesting plants she sees, but we haven¢t figured out the identifying yet. ¢¦Any suggestions are welcome. P.E.   ¢¦.. :0) How many PE credits do you get for hiking the AT?   She¢s also picked a stack of classics she wants to read along the way. She bought copies in paperback and has torn off the covers, discarded the introductions and has split them up into drop boxes. So don¢t be surprised if you find some Sherlock Holmes, Three Musketeers or Mark Twain left behind at shelters. That¢s the plan¢¦ but with every other year we have homeschooled (13 and counting) I find that when it¢s all said and done, life doesn¢t always go just as planned. Maybe we¢ll find something even more interesting to study along the journey.
Date: 2008-01-09
To: Art
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: broken clouds

I can¢t believe I forgot Art! Of course she¢ll do Art on the trail. She¢s been working on photography for the past couple of years and got a new digital camera for her birthday for the hike. I believe it was the second year, Tracy had asked all the ladies hiking to stop by her house to take a look at their gear. We¢d learned a tough lesson the first year when a large can of peaches showed up at lunch time¢¦ we needed to talk individually with each lady about what really needs to be in a pack.   So I¢ve got all my things laid out and she starts sorting through and weighing stuff. She picks up my pencil roll and says ¢What¢s this?¢ ¢It¢s pencils¢¦ drawing pencils.¢ ¢Why do you need more than one pencil?¢ ¢Because they¢re all different¢¦ the leads are different hardnesses for drawing different things¢¦¢ (Made perfect sense to me) She just stared at me for a minute, then said ¢You get to take ONE pencil. Pick ONE.¢ I guess I should be glad that¢s all I got. She then proceeded to Wendy who had a thick paperback book. When Wendy said she only had two chapters left to finish, Tracy ripped out the last two chapters and told her just to carry those. Wendy wide eyed said ¢That wasn¢t my book.¢ Ooops. Tracy was dubbed the Weight Nazi that year. With time and experience my pack and gear has gotten lighter and Tracy has stopped checking me. So now I can take whatever art supplies I want! A couple years ago I decided I would like to try watercolor on our thru hike instead of just sketching. I found a very small palette and some little travel brushes. I can¢t say that I¢m very good at it yet¢¦ but I¢ve got six months on the trail to work it out. ¢¦or I¢ll bail back to the pencil roll¢¦ the WHOLE thing!
Date: 2008-01-12
To: Growing stories
Miles today: 0.0

Tracy objected to the last journal entry. She says we compromised and I got to carry three pencils and Wendy got a 1/3 of the book. Wendy rebuts with saying it was just 1/4 of the book. Ahhh¢¦. We get older and our stories grow and get more interesting. As I remember that was our roller coaster hike. Serious thunderstorms had been predicted and our families were a little concerned about our safety. Turned out the storms had passed over and we were spoiled by the hospitality at Blackburn Trail Center and Bears Den. We were a little embarrassed to admit to our husbands what a great time we had. Except for the constant up and downs in an August sauna it was a great trip¢¦ despite the reduction in pencils and reading material!   I look forward to having many more adventures to ¢grow¢ from this years hike. ;0) I¢ll post my version¢¦ Tracy can record her versions on her journal. :0)
Date: 2008-01-23
To: Dreams and Doughnuts
Miles today: 0.0

I was cleaning out my email inbox and found this email I had sent out to my hiking partners earlier in the month¢¦. Subject: I'M NOT READY!!Date: Fri, 4 Jan 2008 08:07:03 -0700I had this dream last night. I've read about how some thru hikers have crazy dreams leading up to hiking. In this dream you two show up at my door and say you've decided we need to go ahead and get on the trail now. I should grab my stuff and lets go. But I say... I don't have all my stuff yet! I just ordered River's new pack, Lydia and I still have shoes coming in from REI....   But apparently it doesn't matter cause we all pull out all our stuff and beginning putting it together. I realize I also don't have food ready yet! THEN Katie shows up. She has brought a bag of stuff to help in case we need it. I look in this large plastic garbage bag and it is filled with old worn bath towels and old holey smartwool socks. I say 'thank you'. She turns around and leaves and I throw the bag in the garbage. I like nights where I don't dream better.Lydia¢s response to this email¢¦I had a dream about the hike the other night....Except it was more pleasant than that... And we had doughnuts... LydiaThis is why I¢m looking forward to hiking with my daughter!
Date: 2008-02-04
To: Getting Antsy!
Miles today: 0.0

I keep sitting down to write another journal entry and find I don¢t know what to say. I¢m starting to feel really antsy. It¢s still fifty one days until we start the hike¢¦ that should be plenty of time to get ready, but the more I work at getting ready the farther behind I feel. Truth is¢¦ we really could leave right now and have everything we need. Almost. I¢ve lost track of how many trips Lydia and I have made to REI. Yesterday we were making ¢one last trip¢. Lydia said ¢Why do you say that? You know it¢s not true.¢ Yeah I know, but I can dream. Every time we walk in it¢s for that last item. The last couple of trips have been to fill out our repair kit¢¦ extra Camelback mouthpieces, replacement buckles, etc. Two trips and we still haven¢t walked away with the right size for Lydia¢s waist belt. I think we have it all together¢¦ then I remember I still have to get extra cell phone batteries, memory cards, I need new glasses¢¦. It goes on and on. Not to mention we¢ve got to get River in for her shots and Lydia to the Ortho for some retainer repair work. Aghhh!! It never ends! We aren¢t getting out to hike near enough, but when we do we have a great time. On Saturday we drove up to Brainard Lake for some snowshoeing and had a blast. It was an easy trail and well marked¢¦ which was good since I¢m still figuring out how to walk with giant flip flops on my feet! But I kept up really well with Greg, a fantastic feat for me. On the way back we stopped at Nederland and had a Blue Cheese Burger at the Bear Brothers Bistro. It was amazing! ¢¦either that or I was REALLY hungery¢¦ or maybe both.   We¢re in the midst of our string of snowboarding company. The McPeak family visited last week and the Fahrs arrive Thursday. Tracy will also be arriving on Thursday. Supposedly to work on her drop boxes, but I imagine there will be plenty of snowboarding involved. More friends arrive the week after that, then we will have a month of quiet in order to cram in the rest of our prep work. I think all the company will be good¢¦ help me keep my mind busy and not sitting around day dreaming about getting on the trail.
Date: 2008-02-13
To: Just another day at my house
Miles today: 0.0

We¢re having a great time¢¦ and still working on getting ready. Yesterday afternoon after snowshoeing up at Echo Lake I took Dennis, Pam and Tracy into Golden for lunch. As we drove past College of the Mines Pam commented that they have a friend attending there. So after lunch and a quick walk around town we headed back to the college where they managed to locate Mirah and invited her out for dinner. We stole her away from her studies for the afternoon and took her home with us. I realized how strange my home must seem as Pam began introducing her to people¢¦ she already knew the four of Pam¢s family, then there is Jim, who is staying with us until his family moves here, Tracy, who is ¢in transition¢ between the hike and her next adventure¢¦ then there are those of us who actually live here¢¦ I don¢t know how she kept it all straight. Coming into the house, first you have to step over and make your way through the snowboarding/shoeing gear, piled next to the fireplace are all the trail books and notes I¢ve been going through, in the hall upstairs Lydia and I have our packs and gear spread out to sort through, down in the basement the teenagers were working on putting music to the snowboarding video they had made of themselves earlier at Arapahoe, in the storage room Tracy has begun sorting and packing her drop boxes and is dehydrating bison jerky ¢¦A visit to our house might have been a little overwhelming!   In the midst of it all we are getting some things accomplished. On Friday Tracy, Pam and I went to REI¢s Winter Clearance sale. It was almost a party it was so much fun! I did come away fairly unscathed since I¢ve just about got everything I need for the hike. Pam really did well with some great deals. We thought we were just going to stop in for a few minutes, but ended up there for hours. It¢s fun to shop when you are getting good deals.So now the crowd is back up a Keystone for another snow day. I¢m getting reorganized and ready for the next group¢¦ Stella and Faith will arrive this evening, hopefully before the snow starts. Meanwhile I¢m making another shopping trip, narrowing down the drop box supplies. I¢m beginning to feel like I might just about be ready. ¢¦maybe.
Date: 2008-03-01
To: A really tough week
Miles today: 0.0

A week ago this morning we got a call that my sister-in-law Donna (see journal entry #10) had lost her battle with cancer. Greg and I kicked into a frantic rush to get tickets and reservations to travel from Colorado to Kentucky and arrive in time for the viewing on Sunday afternoon. It was an emotionally and physically exhausting trip. After the funeral we spent the night with Greg¢s folks. I was crashed in the comfy chair next to the fireplace when Greg¢s mom came in and asked me how I was doing. The first thing that came to mind was ¢I¢m glad I don¢t have to get back on the trail tomorrow¢. Yes, I know¢¦ it¢s not really ¢all about me¢. But I have no idea how hikers deal with issues like this in the middle of their hikes. Despite the sadness of the occasion it was nice to be able to reconnect with family and friends just a few short weeks before our planned start. I was able to catch several folks up on our plans and only got the ¢are you nuts?¢ look from one or two new acquaintances. After the funeral I headed out to the car to wait for Greg. He was a pallbearer, so he was the last out of the funeral home, but we were one of the first cars in line. As we began the drive out to the cemetery I realized I should have gone to the bathroom earlier. We drove slowly, of course at funeral pace, out to Bush. ¢¦that would be go to small town Kentucky, then drive out to smaller town Kentucky¢¦   We got to the burial and the graveside service was nice, but thankfully short. I¢m standing there concentrating on not thinking about how far it is to the nearest bathroom when I notice Emily, my niece, is doing ¢the dance¢. I was, of course, ¢doing the dance¢ also in my mind, but somewhere along the line grown-ups learn we are not allowed to do the dance publically. My brother Phil, Emily¢s dad says to her ¢Talk to your aunt Tammy, she can teach you how to go to the bathroom outside.¢ Thanks Phil. Then I realize ¢Whoa, maybe that¢s not a bad idea.¢ A quick glance at the surrounding area revealed we are standing in farm land¢¦ scattered trees, cows, horses and farm houses, but no clusters of woodland that would be helpful. ¢Sorry Emily, I think we are stuck.¢Her dance did attract enough attention that we were able to get some cars moved so that we could get out and drive to Kevin¢s house to use the facilities. I grabbed Emily and we were off. Kevin is in the middle of remodeling his house. As soon as we entered Emily and I went in different directions in search of a bathroom. Unfortunately Emily picked the bathroom that¢s under construction and didn¢t have a door. I think it would have been easier to convince her to go behind a tree! I don¢t think Emily will be joining us on the trail this summer. ;0)   Back home now working on our final last stretch of hike prep.
Date: 2008-03-20
To: Road to MD
Miles today: 0.0

Lydia, River and I began our road trip today. Our plan was to start early this morning but a prediction of ten inches of snow delayed our start. We waited until rush hour had passed and it appeared ten inches wasn't really going to happen, then we loaded up. It was a strange thing saying good-bye to Greg and Caleb for six months. Didn't seem real.The roads were clear enough, though we hit some thick fog in Kansas. Now we've crashed in a hotel for the night. River is a bit restless. I think she may have thought she was getting in the car for a hike, but got tricked into a long car ride. Two more days of this and she may be real grumpy with us!This is my first journal entry with my Pocketmail. We'll see how it works. Greg has graciously agreed to be our transcriber. Thank You!!Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9
Date: 2008-03-22
To: Arrived in MD
Miles today: 0.0

Well we finally made it to Maryland despite driving rains and threats of tornados. We followed that storm all the way across the country. It was exhausting! Thursday morning we got up to check out of the Econolodge and the guy said something about watching out for the white stuff outside. I looked out the window to a gorgeous blue sunny sky. It felt like a weight lifted off my shoulders! There was a slight dusting of snow on the grass...nothing on the road. I just smiled and said 'I think I can handle that'. Then we cruised on over to Maryland.River was truly climbing the walls of the car by that time, so we made a short detour on our way to Pam's house. We swung into Rockburn Park to get River out for a run. We threw her frisbee for her to run and run and run... but not near enough to run out her energy. It did help to settle her a bit.Next we headed out to the Fahr's house. Their hospitality has been wonderful! They've just let us crash on them.Last night Lydia went to Kassie's for a sleepover. I went with Pam to her church's Passion play. It was very moving. River is spending her time trying to make friends with Rocky and Kayak... two grumpy old dogs who really don't want to deal with this puppy...and two cats who REALLY don't want to play with her.I just have a couple chores to do today, a trip to the bank and such. Yesterday I made a stop at a store to pick something up and Pam commented that she hoped I would forget because she wanted to get it for me. I told her right now I have so few things on my To Do list that I can stay pretty focused. Not long until my To Do list will be narrowed down to "Walk".   ;-)Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9
Date: 2008-03-23
To: Easter
Miles today: 0.0

We spent the evening last night with Nic and Stella. Our intentions were to get up very early and drive into DC for the sunrise service. But as we headed to bed last night no one was interested in the early wakeup required to make it to the Mall in time for the service. We made an alternate plan to get up and go to their neighborhood beach before sunrise and have our own service.After rising at 6:30 for a 7:04 sunrise we realized a problem. It's a natural assumption when on the east coast that the sun will rise over the water at the beach, but that is not necessarily true in Maryland where the beach may face ANY direction. Turns out their beach faces west. Plan change and we made a quick drive over to the Naval Academy. We still weren't facing quite the right direction, but it was closer. We read the Easter story and spent a little time sharing what Easter means to us. Unfortunately this year it was a deadline for me... just to get here.After that it was back home for a wonderful breakfast. We discussed how next week's Sunday breakfast wouldn't be quite the same. Definitely no cream filled Cadbury eggs.We then took off for a walk over to their community beach. When we arrived at the beach we were the only ones around so we took River off leash to give her some playtime. I don't know what made me think I could keep a Golden Retriever out of the water! At first I tried, but finally decided if the cold didn't bother her it was okay with me. After this week of travel she really needed some fun time. Needless to say she was soaked by the time we got home.Lydia and Faith didn't go to the beach with us, but I think they had fun at the house. There were signs of silly string when we got home. :o)River's crashed at my feet. Faith and Lydia have conned Nic into taking them to the store and there is talk of gardening... but I'm thinking I'm with River.
Date: 2008-03-25
To: Trails Names picked
Miles today: 0.0

After discussion with Tracy and Carolyn we decided to pick our trail names before beginning. Several years ago Tracy had given me a patch to go on my pack of Rabbit from the Winnie the Pooh stories. She brought herself a Tigger patch. It came from a standing joke we had among our friends about how our personalities matched the Pooh characters.   I had forgotten about this until Greg made a comment about Lydia having to hang out with Tigger and Rabbit for six months. So I thought¢¦ maybe. I ran the idea past Tracy and she liked it. She had already named her orange Element Tigger. Then I asked Lydia. She liked it and started reading up on the Pooh characters to decided which would fit her. She picked Owl.   Since her last hikerchick inspired name was ¢oh mature one¢ it seemed Owl fit just fine. That left River. We found a website that described each of the Pooh characters and Roo seemed to fit her. Carolyn is also in on the Pooh names.   She was recently described as a Pooh by a friend, tho she is not interested in being called Pooh¢¦ maybe Winnie. No definite decisions yet.   So our team would be Rabbit (Tammy), Owl (Lydia), and River (Roo), along with our friends Tigger and Winnie. These are the descriptions of our characters from a website¢¦. ¢Rabbit, has a brain. His life is made up of Important Things. Likes to organize things and take charge of group events, even if nothing gets done. Becomes disoriented very quickly in unfamiliar surroundings. ;0)Owl, has a brain. Speaks eloquently. Everyone thinks he's the wisest.Spells his own name "WOL", although he can spell "TUESDAY".Can even spell "HIPY PAPY BTHUTHDTH THUTHDA BTHUTHDY."("A Very Happy Birthday with love from Pooh¢).Favorite Things to Do: Tell stories to guests and anyone who will listen.Roo, Thinks he is capable of anything.Best Friend: Tigger Favorite Things to Do: Playing with Tigger. Pooh-sticks.Favorite Food: Likes most everything except extract of malt.What He Does Every Tuesday: Spends his time with Rabbit.¢
Date: 2008-03-27
From: Trails Names picked

To: Harper's Ferry
Miles today: 1.0
Weather: light rain

After a great week of renewing friendships in Maryland, we headed out on our adventure today. All week long we've been saying it doesn't seem real that the time has come to head out... it still doesn't and I'm sitting at Harper's Ferry writing this!We woke this morning back at Severna Park to a gloomy, rain threatening day. By the time the hike team met up at IHop for a kick off breakfast (Owl had the Who Cakes) it was raining. We perservered through it and made it to Harper's Ferry just as the sun came out. God is good!We have two wonderful friends, Mary and Janet, with us as we start our adventure. We parked Mary's car at the parking lot at the top of the hill and drove Janet's into town and managed to find a rare open space at the foot of the hill. After the obligatory starting pictures at the footbridge, we headed up the hill... up, up, up... but what a gorgeous view!When we reached the car we drove back into town to the ATC, signed their log and picked up a couple postcards. We met Gary who will be starting his NOBO hike next week. He told us his trail name, but it was African name and I'm afraid I'd slaughter it. Nice guy tho, maybe I'll get the spelling when we meet down the trail again.From there we checked into the KOA, grabbed a nice dinner and picked up some groceries. We are splurging on ourselves tonight. We rented a heated camper cabin, took hot showers and now everyone is sitting around relaxing. Tigger is reading the paper (last thing I want to do!), Csoring and I are clicking away on our pocketmails and Owl is giggeling to a book she downloaded on her IPod. Roo is having a blast on the porch chasing her tail and playing with rocks.What a great start! Now tomorrow... start chalking up the miles!Rabbit, Owl and RooJoshua 1:9