Date: 2015-03-22
To: Dahlonega, Georgia
Miles today: 380.0

One for the money. Two for the show. Three to make ready. And four to go. These are words my father used as he loaded all 5 of us kids into the VW Bus in the early 60s. So, I believe this is appropriate as I loaded all 4 of us to include 2 fully loaded packs and other luggage into an ancient Honda CIVIC. We look like a 3 ringed circus, on steroids. The only thing we didn¢t have is a trailer and a roof rack. But my wife assures me that it can be arranged! And now it is, ¢Look out Georgia! Here we come!¢ I have all sorts of feelings running around my body and brain. I am pulled by the fact that I am now retired...I will miss those with whom I spent the majority of my waking hours. I won¢t miss the trials and tribulations of the job. I will miss the patients for whom I cared. I won¢t miss those who abused their bodies with all sorts of things and then demanded that they be first in line and first to be put back together. I will miss being part of the miracle of medicine and witnessing a debilitated human being become whole and functional again. I really won¢t miss getting up at 0400 every morning. I will miss the train ride to work and the ability to just read a few more chapters in whatever book on economics (I know boring) I had chosen to read. I am not sleeping very well. I keep waking-up and thinking about what I may have forgotten to pack. Or could I make my pack a bit lighter? Or what will it be like on the trail? Or what will the weather be like? Did I even pack the right stuff? You got it...All the things I can¢t control. It is interesting that these things did not seem to bother me when I was in the Army. Perhaps it was because I was younger. Or perhaps it is the fact that I did not have a choice. Maybe it was that the Army told me what to bring, how to pack it, and where to put it. I have butterflies about being gone for 6 months. I don¢t know why. I have been gone for 2 years at one time with the Army. I am afraid of getting Lime Disease. It never bothered me before. Heck, I have been in countries with far worse insects and diseases. I have been places where people were trying to kill me. That never seemed to bother me. With all of this said, I know intellectually that as soon as I place my foot on the trail I will be at peace. Everything will be under control, or I will make it that way. I always have...My soldiers and fellow co-workers had always looked to me to be the voice of reason and calm. I always had the ability to work my / our way out of situations without anybody getting hurt. It just worked that way. Well we left Strongsville this morning. I put into action the Breadcrumb Tracker just prior to leaving. It works! You can see me in near real time as I move along with my great adventure. Thanks to Leif of Trailjournals.com there is a hot button to the Breadcrumb Tracker. So, you go to www.trailjournals.com/cw5 and on the left-hand side of the blog page, underneath my picture there are several hot-buttons. The hot-button underneath Sponsor Parkinson¢s Research is a hot-button Breadcrumb Tracker. If you click on this hot-button it will take you right to Google maps where you can see my progress. You may want to make this one of your favorites. We are now in Knoxville TN for the night and it is raining! Once again ¢God loves Infantrymen, that¢s why he gave them rain.¢ We will start fresh tomorrow around 0930. The Breadcrumb tracker will be on and we will be off to Dahlonega, Georgia. Good night and sleep tight!