Date: 2017-05-08
To: Sweet Briar College
Miles today: 0.0

Does anyone have suggestions for kindle books, audio books, or music / playlists on spotify? Let me know if you do. You can leave a message in the guest book with ideas. I am all done with college which is crazy! I have completed a music major as well as a french major. I'm still surprised at myself for pulling off this french major. When I decided to study abroad in Nice, France my junior year, I figured that my music major is almost finished, so may as well major in French as well. By gosh I did, good job self. Two not very useful majors for the price of one, both backed by four exciting years at Sweet Briar College. For my senior capstone project in music, I created a concept album of ten original songs called Machine. If you are interested in listening to it, here is a link https://store.cdbaby.com/cd/br... It's also available on iTunes, just search Bria McCall MACHINE. I've put a lot of hours into this project and it's a weird feeling to be done. Today I went on a practice hike. This is my second practice hike so far, both about 7 miles. The first one I think my pack was weighing around 25 lbs if I had to guess. Everything worked well except my shoes rubbed my right pinky toe. I have a pair of Salomon XA Pro 3D. Today, however, they didn't rub. I will make sure to have moleskin with me on the trail. I also bought a pair of Oboz Sawtooth shoes that are coming in the mail. Figured I'd pick up a second pair of shoes while I still have pro deals from my college outdoor program job.Today my pack weighed in at 33 pounds according to my roommate's bathroom scale. Not sure how accurate it is. I stuffed my 53L gregory pack as full as I could. I wanted to hike at the max weight I will be at on the trail. I even threw in some cans of soup for extra weight, so hopefully I will never be over 30. The pack felt fine. We will see if it still feels fine when I'm up to 20 miles a day. I have several food sponsors for this hike. The biggest is Santa Fe bean company. They sent me a giant U-haul box stuffed full of beans. I have a video of my roommate jumping out of it like a jack in the box toy. When I came back from my practice hike, she had made a pack of them because... let's be real, it's the end of the school year and we are all too lazy to food shop. My backpacking stash is too convenient. I made a big burrito with the leftover beans and it was pretty tasty. If there's one thing I would want a big U-haul box full of, Santa Fe beans would be one of them. Both times I came back from hiking, I've been exhausted. I took a long nap today only to be woken up by my mom calling to ask about what she should wear to my graduation. My school colors are pink and green. She informed me that she is wearing a pink dress and picked out a pink polo shirt for my dad...if only you knew my dad. I politely suggested she take the shirt back and dress my dad in black or gray. I then went to dinner where I stuffed my face at the cafeteria. They had a decent vegan meal which are few and far between. I took advantage. I've been trying to eat a lot lately. I could really use some extra weight for the hike. I've even been eating some non-vegan foods. This is mostly because I'm a cheap college student with a mandatory meal plan to the school cafeteria. Sometimes my wallet and my morals say two different things. I can only imagine how much I will be eating on the trail. Dear stomach...it's time to stretch.