Date: 2010-03-26
To: Pack weight now 21.5
Miles today: 0.0

Well, I've been in Dallas for the last few days visiting my sister and my best friend from high school. The weather has been gorgegous and such a nice change from all of the rain in Seattle. Last week I was busy with wrapping up my life in Seattle. I cleared out my apartment and found out that everything I own now fits into one side of David's closet. I really have parred everything down quite nicely. Less to worry about while I am gone for 7 months. My last day at Starbucks was last Tuesday. It felt sad and good to turn in my aprons and keys after ten and half years with the company. I am now unemployed and homeless...and you know what, it feels pretty good. Very freeing.I stayed with David for my last few days in Seattle and probably drove him crazy with all of my things all over his apartment. We had a going away party with friends last Friday night. It was so good to see people come out from all aspects of my life in Seattle from the past five years. Thanks to everyone who came out to see us off!David and I sat down last sunday to weight and itemize everything in my pack. End pack weight the first time around was nearly 27 pounds! This sent me into a minor pack weight freak out and i went and dropped $500 the next day on a new pack and sleeping bag. I was originally going to use my 75 liter Oprey Ariel pack since the straps were in better condition and more comfortable than my 50 liter Marmot Femme Nikita pack. Though, 75 liters is ginormous! So I used my REI dividend and 20% coupon and "bought" (it was free w/ dividend) a Gregory Jade 50 liter pack. I was originally going to get an Osprey Aura 50 liter but it seemed to pull me backwards when loaded. I had never tried any Gregory packs before, but when I put this pack on, I was very satified with the way it hugged my back, it's small size and it's comfortable hipbelt. I also ordered a new sleeping bag. I own a Montbell Spiral Down Hugger #3 (30 degree rating) but I feared that it would not be enough with the tempts that the east coast is experiencing this year. So I borrowed a North Face Snowshoe 0 degree bag from my friend Lauren. It is a great bag, but a bit heavy at 4 lbs and it takes up a huge amount of pack space. So I bit the bullet and ordered a Montbell Spiral Down Hugger #1 (15 degree rating) to take along instead since it weighs only 2 lbs and takes up alot less room. I had to have it shipped to my sister's house here in Dallas and hopefully it will be in today. So with the new changes, I dropped my pack weight down to 21.5 without food and water.   Everything else is going well. I felt alot of anxiety last week about leaving Seattle and I got really sad when my plane took off on Tuesday. But now that I am in Dallas with friends and family, I am completely emersed in this experience and I keep forgetting that I'm taking off on this trip in just five days. I also started having dizzy spells the day I flew out of Seattle. It's now three days later and I'm a bit worried about them. I'm not sure what is causing this and I am just hoping that it goes away in the next couple days. David is flying into Dallas on Monday to meet me and then we are both flying into Atlanta on Tuesday afternoon. We should be at hiker hostel on Tuesday night. Well, that's all now. I'll try to post again before we hit the trail.Cheers!-Beth