Date: 2011-04-13
To: 1 Day To Go
Miles today: 0.0

Wow guys. Wow.Today has been another good one. A wide span of emotions and feelings. I had a super large extra strong cup of coffee this morning before heading to the light rail station, and have been feeling a little on the jittery side since. Probably a mix of the caffeine, and also the feeling of entering into the unknown. I met someone the other day who was telling me that one of the strongest feelings they get when being in nature is that of humilty, being humbled by the span of things. And that is partially where I am right now, but with a good edge of confidence mixed in there as well.I walked to few blocks to the MARTA (atlanta's light rail) station, again drawing some nice looks on the street, what with the bamboo pole and all. On the train two fellas start chatting me up, and they were trying to convince me that I needed to buy myself a Bowie knife to ward off bears. But they also looked like the type of fellas who never venture that far into the wilds. By the time I exited at the North Springs station, I had been well-wished and blessed by 3 or 4 people. Which is nice.I was the first of 7 hikers to arrive for the shuttle, getting there at 1 for a 2:30 pickup. Chris, a 57(?) year old judge/cop from Vermont arrived with the intentions of thru-hiking, and soon after a kid just graduated from high school joined us as well.Leigh arrived just after 2:30, and I finished reading the short Garcia-Marquez book I was reading by the time we got to the hostel. The ride was pretty quiet for the most part, with most of us travelling solo except a pair of brothers from Texas. After a quick tour of their more than adequate facilities, I found myself engaged in conversation with Trek, a gentleman who appears to be in his late 50's, who is about to start his 8th journey thru-hiking the AT. He answered questions about two things I was still a bit unsure of: poison ivy and ticks. And really he has proven to be a great aid for all of us arriving today, helping my two aformentioned rail station pals out by slimming down their gear. And in the process of over-listening I feel pretty good that I have everything I need and very little of what I don't. (By the way, It seems that half of the fellas so far are going to start hiking with their "Kindles".... which I can only find to be... well... interesting).We made a last minute supply run to the Super Walmart in town where I picked up a pair of gloves, the only I felt I was lacking. And then I grabbed a pizza from a local joint on the way back to share with a fella from Chicago who will be hiking the first 100 miles or so of the trail.It has been such a blur of a day, that I'm having a hard time rembering names, and also this may be the only time that I see some of these guys.At supper, as we had our pizza and subway sandwiches, everybody started opening up a bit more. Of the 7 of us in the van, it would seem that 4 are thru-hiking. The Texans are hoping to make it to Damascus, VA where they have grandparents.And now I'm feeling very settled and assured. I still need to weigh my pack in the morning to see just what kind of burden I'm carrying. But I can pick it up easily enough with one hand, so that is a good sign.Tomorrow the shuttle leaves for Springer Mountain around 8:30. As Trek advised, I will be taking things one day at a time. Humbly.Cheersblog directory