morvasaaty/AppalachianTrail-LD-Hikers-Blogs-and-Weather-20-years huggingface dataset:
Date: 2005-11-23
From: Miami, turkey day

To: Couch
Miles today: 0.0

HAPPY THANKSGIVING" Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Turkey Sat on the backyard fence....CHORUS "on Thanksgiving day.""...and as he sat on the backyard fence..."CHORUS "This is what he'd say....""Aaaaaaa Gobble Gobble Gobble Gobble Gobble Gobble Gobble"ALL "Hope to run away, it's Thanksgiving Day.."I am thankful I crossed paths on THE path with each of you. I am thankful that people come to this site and read my expressions. I am thankful for the support I received from family and friends. I am thankful I am still alive and kick'n.ON ONThe DominoPS- The last two years I was in Helen, Georgia for Turkey Day.I will miss the holiday lighting ceremony they have there each year the day after Turkey Day.
Date: 2005-12-02
From: Virtual Office

To: Another Virtual Office
Miles today: -5.0

My new title(self-proclaimed) is Domino Ireland, creative[noun]On another note, I have heard from alot of people. Will reunite with Feelin Free and Cuppa Joe next week in Vero Beach. Maybe we can lookup Doc Narley?It is strange to think that this year will be over with soon? Very starnge indeed.Last night I had a dream about abunch of us suddenly being in the same place, sort of a reunion. Many of us had our loves with us as well as some folks that were just interested in our stories. Funny, there were no woods around anywhere and it was the first dream I have ever had that had anything to do with the trail people, or trail for that matter.Sing it with me... "...happy holidays. Happy Holidays, may your...."On On
Date: 2005-12-03
From: From Domino's Mom

To: message for the internet
Miles today: 0.0

A Message from Domino's Mom, dictated over the phone from her nursing home in Tulsa, Oklahoma:"Thank you for making me feel special. I go back and read the cards you sent me all the time, they make me feel good. Thank you for caring about someone and following my Son's journey. If you can, go visit someone you dont know in a nursing home- make them feel special. Merry Christmas." -Delania Webbwww.bafound.org www.brainaneurysm.com
Date: 2005-12-08
From: Dragon Fly Cafe

To: meeting another AT 05 GA-ME Hiker
Miles today: 0.0

Tune out!On the AT you get the opportunity to be alone with yourself, your thoughts, your goals, your dreams; your direction is constant and the wild makes thinking, just being: easy. Now, of course, your demons, haunts, and all those little or big things that scare you are there too, they are just a little more concise, clear; dealing with them is easier.The real world is different. Out here I find myself screaming in my brain, "WHY!" "Why are there sooooo many things that dilute the clarity of my thoughts? Can I not be alone with my thoughts here too? I AM in control of my thinking. Am I not?" Tuning OUT. Just how do you tune out allthe stimuli? All the massive amounts of interaction, they become the constant. Dealing with the constant while trying to be constructive, creative and semi-critical in my own thoughts, now that is tricky. All seems like a waste of energy at times.So, the AT lets you Tune Out! If you figure out how to do it out here, let me know.By the way, does anyone out there-besides you FishnFred- have, own or operate a Wood Shop?
Date: 2005-12-09
From: meeting another AT 05 GA-ME Hiker

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

Yesterday, I met The world famous AT Hiker FEELIN FREE at my virtual office. She had visited Cuppa Joe and was heading south to see a friend in N. Miami. I had been on a path to find them the day before, driven up to Vero Beach, called Cuppa's number about 30 times from 1PM until 8PM and then called it quits and headed back to Jensen Beach. I finally got an answer at 9:30PM so had to settle for her meeting me. I did get to talk to Doc Narly after tracking him down at the Vet he works at by calling other Vet offices and getting refered to his location. He sounded great and said "there are only 90 more days until I am on the AT again" To me that sounded nutts. But, for those of you that will be 06 hikers, I hope you have the pleasure of meeting, socializing and hiking with The Doc Narly; he is one of a kind and special. I cant imagine gearing up to go again but he was extremely excited. Says he has new boots and new poles as well. This, I cannot imagine.Well, only a few more weeks until I close this Journal and the 05 chapter of my life. I will most likely transfer on to another blog or start 'Biz Blog'n' on specific things. I hope to compile an AT "Food Critic" 05 entry and put up a few more pics before I go to another site.What adventure is next? Well, there is the 2448 miles of The famous Route 66 from Chicago to LA that I'd like to do; most likely on Bike sometime in the next two years. (I have a Hasher buddy that's committed to it on Roller Skates-see Rolling Rapper- on a google search.) Maybe I'll do it on a Rding Lawnmower or something? I will be doing/involved in alot of Marathons too. Anyone what to join adventures or such please email me at dominoi@hotmail.com or theimagiro@gmail.comAny future hikers that want to off-the-wall advice(like killing mice with your Leki or the creative uses of food saver bags) please feel free to drop me a line to EMAIL. Are you a WOODWORKER? Email me. (yes, I know FishnFred is too).SlapHappy Holidays to you.Hey, right now, go GEOCACHING. It will get you back in nature and be a fresh adventure instantly. www.geocaching.com
Date: 2005-12-24
From: The X-Mas Tree

To: The Gifts
Miles today: 0.0

Happy Holidays to all and to all a GREAT YEAR!The trail has been full of memorable twists, turns, surprises and smiles. More trails to come next week, next month...next year. Whether you follow the whit eblazes of the AT; Or, the flour plops of a hash house harriers run. Maybe you simply follow your instinct only? Whatever your path, may it be filled with positive people and fantastic experiences. Let's let bitterness and sorrow follow some other path. Better yet, let us all hope they find a place far from us and stay stagnent, still, debilitated. If this is the case there is little chance we cross paths with them in the future.Be safe but have fun. Have fun but be yourself. Be with great people but be in control of yourself. Keep a smile on your little face. It is ok to let me tell you what to do, this time. On On!If you got a GPS for Christmakwanchanaka then go here: www.geocaching.comIf you got new runnign shoes DONT go here: www.gthhh.comIf you got something that makes you itch, well, too bad for ya. Dont scatch(in pubic).Much Love.
Date: 2006-01-08
To: Myspace Blog
Miles today: 0.0

Happy New Years Everyone. Good luck all you '06'rs and returners to the AT. It is an adventure, your own personal one. Dont force things. Stay happy.Well, my adventures will continue on my myspace site at:My URL:http://www.myspace.com/imagiro My Blog URL:http://blog.myspace.com/imagiro I will probably post here to from time to time.I miss the trail but love new adventure....so on on!See some of you at TrailFest-Hot Springs and Trail Days- Damascus!!
Date: 2006-01-17
From: Good Luck 2006

To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

GA-> Good Luck to all you 2006 Dreamers, Repeats and just plain crazies. I hope I get to meet many of you on the trail this year. Do you believe in magic?Keep a clear focus. Be open minded. One day at a time, live in the moment. Everything you leave will still be there when you get thru. As Jimmy Buffett says "...there will be jobs and chores and questions, and plates I'll need to twirl, but tonight I'll take my chances on the far-side of the world."- FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD- JBAgain, good luck. Keep a smile on your little face!(even in the rain, sleet, snow, heat, sweat, sun)TheDominoGA->ME 05
Date: 2004-09-14
To:  The Decision is Made
Miles today: 0.0

In May of 2003 Mike rode to Tennessee to a seminar with a fellow worker from another part of our state of Ohio. When his friend mentioned that he had walked the AT sometime in the past Mike asked him many questions. After hearing many stories about this man's experiences on the AT Mike came home and retold all the stories to me. Now, earlier in our marriage, Mike had mentioned that he would like to hike the AT and that it would be fun to do together. I did not know anything about the trail but he gave me an idea of how long it was and how long it would take to hike. How could we leave jobs, family, friends, home, etc., and just take off to take a long hike in the mountains? After reading many books written by persons that have thru-hiked the AT we now know that there are many that do just that! But we also know that there are also many older persons that are retired that do not let their age keep them from getting out there and giving it their best! When I saw his eyes light up just talking about someone else's experiences on the trail I told him we could do it in 2 years when he retired. Mike was immediately on the internet looking up info on the trail and dreaming about starting it. That was when the decision was made and from that time we have been making plans to walk it in 2005. We started reading as many books as we could about the trail and about backpacking. We have never backpacked before but we both are aware that this will be the most physically challenging thing we will have ever done. We began walking several times a week and kept that up until I went back to work to accelerate paying off bills and to start buying some of our gear. I am a nurse and work night shift and all my days off are spent recuperating from my night shifts and keeping up with errands, paying bills, fixing meals, and laundry. But we know from all we have read that we WILL be able to walk the whole trail if we take it easy in the beginning and listen to what our bodies tell us. We will do everything in our power to do it in 1 season but if we have to we will go back and finish it the next year. But our goal is Georgia to Maine in about 6 months.   I found trail journals last year and looked for a couple or anyone that was close to our age who was thru-hiking. I followed Ken and Marcia Powers all the way through. They had already done the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide and they were just a little younger maybe than we are when they first hiked. So they gave me hope that we can at least do the Appalachian Trail. Who knows, maybe we will do the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide later.We invite you to follow what we have done in the way of preparations and then as we start the trail about the middle of March in 2005.
Date: 2004-09-24
To: Gear Purchase
Miles today: 0.0

As with our itinerary, we realized that our gear purchase had to be addressed soon. In May we met The Flying Porkchop (trail name for Scott Ourth) through a mutual friend in Michigan. He had thru-hiked the AT in 2002 and he was anxious to give us lots of pointers on gear, etc. He recommended The Outfitters in Harpers Ferry and assured us we would not go wrong with them. He was absolutely correct! We made a trip there near the end of June and spent from the time they opened until the time they closed having Laura help us pick out what we needed. We had some ideas at this point on some of the gear we wanted but pretty much we were clueless as far as what we really needed. We had decided we did not want a down sleeping bag because if it gets wet it does not dry well and the insulating quality is pretty much lost. Being novice backpackers but knowing how much it rains we do not want to take a chance. We were advised to have 2 bags--one for warm weather and one for colder weather. We decided on the Mountain Hard Wear bags--less than 2 pounds each.For backpacks we bought Mountainsmith Auspex for Mike and the Chimera for Diana.Diana is worried that she does not have enough room for everything. She packed everything she had into it one day and had very little room left for food, first aid supplies, and winter gear, which she did not yet have to add. We will have to work on this. Laura, at The Outfitters, had shown us how compression straps can help to minimize the bulk of the sleeping bag and clothing bags. We have since read about stuff bags that you can buy that have the straps already. We'll have to check into those when we visit The Outfitters next time. Other gear purchased was a Katadyn water filter, Aqua Mira water purifier for when we don't filter our water, titanium cook pots--1.5 and 2.0 liter sizes with handle and lid, an alcohol stove, Leki titanium hiking poles, New Balance trail runners, trekking socks and sock liners, rain gear, and MSR hydration systems our backpacks. We were overwhelmed with everything that was purchased that day and we brought home more than we ever thought we would be able purchase from that little store. So don't underestimate what you get from a store with little space. We will be returning in a month or so to get our winter gear. We did get some gloves from CampMor that were on clearance and they will work fine and at a much lower price. We've also picked up a few pieces of hiking clothing such as shorts and shirts. Diana is still wondering how in the world she can get all that in her backpack. Help!!
Date: 2004-10-03
To: Incentive to finish the trail
Miles today: 0.0

While we have been intent on finishing the trail from Georgia to Maine we realize that because of the conditions in which we will have to walk and the physical toll that it will take on our older bodies, we needed something to keep us focused and motivated to stay on the trail. The book, A WALK FOR SUNSHINE by Jeff Ault, is about Jeff's walk to raise money for the home called SUNSHINE where his brother resides because of his cerebral palsy. Other people have walked or are walking for other causes such as breast cancer, global eradication of polio, and asthma awareness for the American Lung Association, and many others we are not aware of at this time. Since Mike is a volunteer for Outreach International, a wonderful organization that helps the poor to help themselves and uses staff indigenous to the country in which they are working and because we have seen first hand what a difference they make we chose to walk for this organization.How we have seen first hand their work is by going on site visits to places where they are at work. Diana went to the Philippines to learn about their work there and visited villages where Outreach has impacted the lives of the people. Mike went to Nicaragua to witness the same there. We have so much compared to these countries. There are affluent areas in these countries as there is in this country. Outreach has been and is still at work in the US in areas where certain sections of the population have struggled due to circumstances beyond their control.   Many reflections by persons that have finished the trail have included the fact that the "stuff" that we have does not matter. They have found that all they needed while they were walking the trail was on their backs and caused them to think that so much of what they have in their homes is not truly necessary. Some have returned home to even sell their homes to move into smaller ones. At the same time, these people depended on others to have what they desperately needed--a hot shower (even a solar shower) and washer and dryer for washing the 2 outfits they had been wearing for the last 5-10 days, and clean sheets on a soft bed. So we told Outreach International earlier this year that we would like to use our walk for raising money for them. Compared to many other organizations their budget is small but they would like it to be bigger so that they can go into more areas of need. Outreach has volunteers across the US and all of them will be contacted to help raise money in the way of pledges. We are very excited about helping them in this way. After only 2 days of talking to people we have almost $2600 in pledges and cash combined. So this will be what will keep us going. If anyone would like to know more about Outreach International their webb address is www.outreach-international.org.
Date: 2004-10-27
To: A New Development
Miles today: 0.0

We have been planning to do this hike together after Mike retires but when Mike finally checked into his retirement he found out that he would be losing too much in retirement if he retires early to start in March. How disappointing!! But since we had already committed to walking for Outreach International,pledge forms were in the process of being edited and shortly printed, and an article about our hike had already appeared in the Volunteer Newsletter, I said I would have to start without him. Since this time he has decided to take vacation for the first 4 weeks of the hike and walk with me. Then after his retirement in July he will meet up with me wherever I am on the trail. When I tell people this they are concerned, of course, about me being alone on the trail but I try to reassure everyone that I will not be totally alone out there. Before I had done any reading of books and trailjournals I might have said, "No way!" But now I feel confident that although I may spend some time alone there will be people out there watching out for me. After a month of having Mike to help with figuring out how to best take care of the details of cooking, getting water, setting up the tent, hanging the food bag, and packing the pack, it should not be as scary. And by that time we will have met hikers that I will be seeing after Mike leaves the trail. But the best thing is that Mike will be walking the last 2 months with me and we will be able to climb Katahdin together. This started out as his dream and I have made it mine, also. Mike is truly the adventurous part of this duo and without him I doubt seriously if I ever would have thought about doing it. But I know I can and he supports me all the way!
Date: 2004-11-02
To: Harpers Ferry and Trial Run
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

This past weekend (10-30; 10-31) we visited with Laura and Ron at the Outfitters at Harpers Ferry and picked up our cold weather camping gear. As usual Laura had already laid out many of the items we needed. They are so great. I highly recommend to anyone to visit Ron and Laura when you go to Harpers Ferry. We arrived home with our fleece tops, long underware, etc. and with renewed excitement for the trail. Sunday, Diana and I did our first trial test using a lot of our equipment that we anticipate using on the AT. We arose early in the morning,(in fact Diana woke me around 4:30 A.M.) to pack our backpacks and set out for Zaleski State Forest in Vinton County Ohio. Nice rugged torain and a day loop of 9.9 miles. Our packs weighed around 25 lbs. We made the whole loop and finished just before dark. It was absolutely wonderful!! Yes, we were tired and our feet ached a bit, but really we were none the worse and our confidence level really went up. I was most proud of Diana!!! She just trudged along, step after step, never complaining! She is so determined to do this AT! Me too!! Nothing will stand in our way! Hope you all can sense our excitement!!!As you have read previously, Diana will be on her own for around 3 months of the way! I am so darn proud of her for making the decision to do this on her own. The neat thing about it is that I know she will be in good hands with the AT family! We are realizing more and more just what a family this is by the emails we are getting from many who read our journals. Just a big thank you to all! Your support is greatly appreciated.I'll sign off for now, but wanted you to know about some more of our preparation for the jouney. Keep reading and keep emailing!!
Date: 2004-11-18
To: Zaleski State Forest ( overnighter)
Miles today: 0.0

Preparations are continuing and the excitement growing as we anticiipate our start on the AT March 11th. Last night we got our Europa II tent by Six Moon Designs out and sealed the seams. We will give it the "test" this Friday night as we are going on an overnight 15 mile hike to finish the backpack trail in Zaleski State Forest in Vinton County, Ohio. We plan on getting there at daybreak, hiking 10 miles to a campsite and then hiking back out on Saturday. This will be our first experience with our stove and preparing our "feast" for the evening meal! So it should be interesting.Can you believe that we are even kinda hoping for inclement weather? We would like to test our rain gear and how we hold up while sloshing through muddy trails. This because we have heard that once in a while the AT weather gets a little nasty. Ha!!!Each day it seems our thoughts go toward our journey. We have read that unless you are totally consumed with the thoughts of completing the trail, then you will not complete it. I believe we are totally consumed with the thought and are committed to walk from Springer to Katahdin.We still have a couple items to purchase yet. We need a good lightweight digital camera and a pocketmail device. Anyone have any suggestions?I will stop for now and update you on our overnighter as soon as we get back.
Date: 2005-01-13
To: Only 56 Days Until We Leave Home
Miles today: 0.0

, the holidays are over and the day of departure is quickly approaching. We have been fine-tuning the mail drop schedule (thanks to Ghost from 04 for valuable info) and entering data into the pocket composer we received. We will be able to receive and send e-mails from it via phone along the way. I've started adding e-mails of persons and started a to-do list. As each item on the to-do list is done along the trail we will delete it to make more room for other info. We will add the e-mail address to our about page if there are no problems involved in doing it, but here it is: theduhls@pocketmail.com. We also bought a digital camera last weekend. With the help of our son, Michael, I had some info on what to look for in a camera and had done some research on-line looking at different ones and had listed ones that we would be interested in. Then with our son-in-law we went to pick one out. We bought the Nikkon Cool-Pix 4800. There were some very good reviews of it on-line. There is much to learn about how to use it. Our first real use of it will be in about a week when we go to Zaleski State Forest again for another overnight. We had wished for a camera the last 2 times we were there because of the beauty and views. Granted, everything is a bit brown now but still beautiful. Hopefully, our journal entry after the hike will include a photo. I have decided to ask for a leave of absence from work since I think I would like to work some when we get back. A leave of absence for hiking the AT does not seem to fit into the criteria for granting a leave. "Personal reasons" does not seem to include a hike--only some family crisis, etc. Well, I can think of no better personal reason to grant a leave than to hike the AT with your spouse of 36 years after raising a family and before ill health could prevent one or both of us from doing it together. I must say that I borrowed a little from Aloha! Anne's (03) request for her leave from her employer. My decision, to ask for the leave, is because I am vacillating about what I really want to do. There are times when I think I just can not go back for one reason or another and other times when I feel good about what I have accomplished for my shift. I'd rather stay where I am than to start over somewhere else. I decided to let my employer to make the decision for me. I won't be upset if I don't get a leave (well, maybe a little) because I know I can always go somewhere and get a job in a hospital as a nurse. So now all I have to do is turn in my request and wait for the answer. I'll be turning in my resignation if I don't get the leave approved.Until next time---56 days and counting. Oh, so much to do!!