Date: 2013-01-18
To: The Adventure Has Begun
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

I left Maggie Valley on Tuesday in the midst of torrential rains!!! And, as you can see in the news, the flooding has been devastating in western NC. Most notably for all of us, Highway 441, which bisects the GSMNP, had a huge landslide and will be impassable for quite some time. As I left the mountains in that pouring down rain, I was sad and not looking forward to spending 3 months in the flat lands. But, here I am!! And ohhhh what an adventure it has been so far!    I arrived in North Fayetteville at the apartment that I had found online. It looked very nice and was only about 20 minutes from work. I unpacked my car but didn't put anything away because it was too late and me and the pups were tired so we hit the sack. I woke up and hopped out of bed to get ready for my first day of work. When I turned on the light in the kitchen???? And....all I saw was about 20-30 roaches crawling on my belongings!!!!!! I FREAKED out!!!!! I'm tough but oh my God I was sceeved out completely!!!! I through half my stuff out, packed my car and loaded up the pups. I met the manager at 9:00 am and told her I wanted my money back!!!    I was stressed beyond belief because now I had to have my company find me another place and fast!!! Needless to say, I wasn't going to work that day so I waited to see what I was going to do. To make a long (and frustrating) story short...I'm staying in a pet friendly hotel and working here in Dunn until Monday morning when I will move into a very nice (believe me, I checked) brand new apartment complex just South of Raleigh. And, my commute to Dunn will only be 30 minutes, which is very doable.      Not a great start to my 3 months here, but I have my goal insight and Ill endure what ever I need to in order to reach that goal...to take that first step off of Springer Mountain come April 14th! :0) I'm actually sooooo glad that I will be in Raleigh rather than Fayetteville...it has so much more to offer. Raleigh is a very cultured town and the apt. complex that I am at has 2 very large state of the art gyms on the grounds and 2 huge dog parks for the girls! I'm also very close to some great trails near a couple of lakes. It will be a perfect place to train! I have set up extra work for almost every weekend so I will meet my budget goal, as well. It will be busy but, again, I need to keep my goal in mind.    Ok...enough of that. I'm still looking at sleeping bags. I was set on the Marmot helium 15 degree but with the warm winter that we are having (except for the last couple days) I think a 20 degree bag with my liner will be perfect. Any suggestions for a specific lightweight 20 degree???    I'm also looking for an ultralite rain jacket and pants. I looked at Frogg Toggs but the pants are not durable enough. The jacket is definitely more important so I want it to be waterproof but breathable...any such thing in the ultra lite realm??? Again, Im still researching this.   I'm still looking at options for journaling on the trail too. All of the dictate apps require connectivity (4G or wifi) which I won't have the majority of the time. I was thinking about getting a small lightweight digital dicatator machine. But, if Im not near a town for 3 days...can I connect it via usb to my Iphone, download it, and send it when my Iphone has coverage while out on the trail? I am so clueless on this!! Any suggestions would be welcomed! I just can't text on my phone ....not for my journal, unless I want thumb tendonitis ;0)   The picture above is of myself and a group of early NoBo's last year in February. They were so happy!!! I'm thinking tonight about the NoBo's that have already started their journey and how difficult these past few days have been for them as far as the weather goes. We have had rain for 13 days straight!!! I wonder how that effects them...and, I wonder how that will effect me when I am out on the trail. Based on my experience when I rode across the country on my bike...(it rained alot)...I think I will be just fine. Uncomfortable, yes, but I really think I will be able to push through and push on :0) But...my thoughts and prayers are with all the hikers out there on the trail these past few days and with the 50 year old man who was found dead at Tri-Corner Knob on Saturday (natural causes).