Date: 2013-04-22
To: Hawk Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 8.1
Weather: clear sky

It's 3:00 am and my youngest son Jake just called to wish me well. Did the 3 s's (shit, shower and shave) in about 10 minutes. Won't be doing two of those things very regularly for the next 5 months. I put enough deodorant on last for a while and jumped on the scale to get a pre-hike weight. 195 pounds of pure muscle and bullshit.   If I'm lucky enough to make it all the way to Maine I'll probably weight about 175 - 180 pounds. I gave my black two black labs Duke and Rudy a few last second treats. I really wished I could take them but it would be too much work. I'm going to have enough problems just taking care of my own dumb ass. As long as we're on that topic I can't help thinking that this has got to be the dumbest thing I've ever done. Who in their right mind would leave a comfy life to hike the Appalachian Trail. Maybe I should just pretend I'm hiking the AT and hide out in the basement with Duke and Rudy and my 65 inch tv.   Grabbed a last Diet Mountain Dew and left for the airport. Kissed my wife Judy goodbye and thanked her again for being understanding and letting me go. Felt a little guilty as I checked in - "what am I thinking and what makes me think I can hike the AT".   My daughter Teresa said I could come and hang out in Phoenix for 5 months and we could pretend I was on the AT, right now that seems like it would have been the smarter choice. Sorry for rambling on but I have some many crazythoughts going though my mind that I just have to get off my chest. Consider yourself lucky I'm only mentioning the PG thoughts. I have had a few x-rated thoughts as well. By the time I'm done with his trip I'm confident of three things: 1. I'm definitely going to be talking to myself   2. I'm probably going to be a lunatic 3. If I make it even as long as two months I'm going to be looking at life a little differently. The flight was on time and we arrived in Atlanta at 7:50 am. I took the metro to the North Springs station. A young women sat next to me and started to tell me how she just cheated on her boyfriend and how he deserved it. She was mad because after he found out she cheated he said he was going to cut out her heart and then kill her. He was going to cut her body into pieces and throw it out the car windows. I'll admit it she caught me off guard and I smiled and nodded my head a lot. I mean how do you respond to that? This is going to be a great trip.   At the end of the metro line I met up with Survivor Dave (who my daughter Teresa thinks may be a serial killer) who will be taking me to Springer Mountain the start of the AT. When Dave picked me up there were two other young men with him. They were from Quebec and took a bus to Atlanta. They left Saturday afternoon at 1:00 pm. Dave was nice enough to stop at IHOP and I shoved as many pancakes in my fat face as I could. Make that pre-hike weight 197. We arrived at about 12:15 and walked a mile to get to the top of Springer Mountain. I signed the trail log, took a few pictures so I could document I was actually here (that sounded just like a cop), rested a few minutes and started my journey. I hiked 8 miles in about 4 hours (plus the mile approach) and stopped at Hawk Mountain Shelter. The shelter was packed but everyone moved over so I could squeeze in. It was a tight fit but I didn't want to set up my tent so I accepted their hospitality. I learned a lot today. I'm going to start a list of lessons learned on the AT. I'll share those little tidbits in the coming days. Dean