Date: 2005-02-08
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter   What a great weekend! I left home around 6:00 AM Saturday morning equipped with directions on where to meet the Florida Trail Association (FTA) people that were going on the weekend hike. I had packed my pack with everything I would bring on the start of my AT hike, one month from now. I wanted to test the weight and see how things felt even though I have hardly changed anything I was carrying from last year.   I hate driving around the Orlando area as it is. Seems like you¢re throwing money at the toll collectors every 5 minutes and it is even worse when you are not sure where you are going. We were going to leave around 8:30 and I hit the Orlando area around 7:45so there was no problem there. I was cruising down the interstate looking for the exit I had to get off on and I cruised, and cruised, and finally started thinking, ¢I might have passed it. Maybe I¢ll go a little further just in case.¢ Well, a little ¢further¢ later I stopped and called Rodney. Sure enough, I had overshot big time. I turned around and flew back down the road and finally made it, albeit a little late.   After introductions the 11 of us threw packs into the vehicles we were taking and started for the Croom Tract in one of the state forests. I rode with Alicia, whom I had met at Doe Lake on New Year¢s. We had 6 packs in the back of her vehicle and we were following Rodney. Following Rodney was like trying to follow the proverbial ¢bat out of hell¢. We did manage to make it in one piece and we started on the hike around 11 or so.   It was a perfect day for a hike. The weather was excellent with temps in the 60¢s, a cloudless sky and a slight breeze. I walked with Alicia. Alicia knows things. I learned about pocket gophers, palm warblers, gopher tortoises, different plants and other odds and ends. That was fun. After awhile we all stopped for lunch and everyone starting talking about one of a hiker¢s favorite subjects, food. We relaxed on the hilltop, (an actual hilltop here in Florida!) for about a half hour and then moved on. The trail led us through a couple of different ecosystems, from palm trees, palmettos, pines, etc. and then into the scrub oak, oak tree systems. Pretty amazing how much the plant life changes between the two.   We arrived at the camp area around mid afternoon and everyone proceeded to get set up. For me the pattern of setting up came back without thinking. Pitch the tent; get out the thermarest, and then the sleeping bag. Toss what I want into the tent and then close up the pack and tent. There was a fire spot so wood gathering was next. A few of us gathered enough wood for a nice little fire. After all the preps were done we sat around and talked. Until it was time to cook up dinner which we all did. I brought the standard hiker fare, Lipton Sides. Oh boy, training for the next few months! After dinner we got the fire going and enjoyed the cowboy TV.    It did get cool when the sun went down and the fire was nice. There was no moon and the sky was cloudless. The view of the stars was awesome! A perfect ending for a perfect day! When I crawled into my sleeping bag I was grinning. Not much longer and my life will go back to the simple ways, where my home is on my back and happiness is finding a flat spot to pitch a tent. The next morning we hung around the area for a while, relaxing. We broke down camp and got going around ten. Because it is mostly flat here you can make good time and by one we were back at the vehicles. Rodney took off again and Alicia and I set a leisurely pace. A leisurely pace until we remembered we had all the packs in the back. We figured we better get going so the others wouldn¢t be standing around all afternoon. We made it back to Orlando and considering how I had gotten lost on the way in I confirmed with Alicia what I had to do.Alicia: ¢Head east on Interstate 4.¢ Me: ¢East?¢Alicia: ¢Yeah, you want to go east don¢t you?¢Me (thinking about the directions): ¢You¢re right, east on Interstate 4 it is.¢   We all said our goodbyes and off we went. I got onto 4 and headed easy without any problem. After awhile I started seeing familiar landmarks and then it hit me. East on Interstate 4 is where I went when I missed the turn into Orlando coming into town! I passed a sign that said I-95 was 22 miles up the road so it was decision time. If I turned around it would be at least that many miles to get back to the Beeline Expressway, which would take me to I-95, but further south than where I-4 connected with it. I decided to stay on I-4. The distance difference would be a wash. I was laughing the whole time. One thing good came from it. There were no tolls to pay going this way! Later I sent Alicia an email and said, ¢Read the journal entry when I post it and just remember the directions you gave me.¢ She must have thought about it because I got an email back from her, ¢Oh my God ¢¦ No!¢ That too, cracked me up. 31 days till I start heading to Springer!