Date: 2013-02-20
To: 2 Weeks from today!!!
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

Today is Wednesday and two Wednesdays from today I will start from Springer for what I hope to be an adventure of a lifetime. Fourteen days is very little time when you consider I started my countdown on paper 106 weeks out. The trip cross country from here (Boise) to Georgia will have three days of approximately 700 miles each day, then I will take my first zero day on Tuesday and walk on Wednesday.I have been reading the journals of all the new entrants to this years class and following the few that have already started. Those out there now are experiencing some challenging weather conditions, primarily the cold, especially at night. I am sure there will be plenty left for those of us starting in a couple of weeks....bring plenty to bundle up with at least through the Smoky's.Have my gear together and one or two of the maildrops mostly ready, beyond that I will communicate with home base. I have the 2013 AT Guide and my wife has the 2012 version to follow along with me from home, very little difference.My itinerary calls for March 6th to August 20th with a number of zero's thrown in. If I am within 5 or 10 days either way I will be happy, but would prefer for it to be on the earlier side.There will be quite a few others starting the same day and within a couple of days on each side. I can already tell some that will start after me and catch me fairly quick and am looking forward to meeting all these great folks that share the dream and passion of this journey.One of the things that I am still a little unsure of is the journaling along the way. There are some on trailjournals that are amazing, example from last year is the Troverts and from this year bloggers/trailjournalers "Karma" and already on the trail is "Prayerwalker". Mine will not be a shadow compared to these due to my limited tech skills (both of these bloggs are pro) and writing/composing skills. I will try and keep you laughting though. Thinking now that many of my entries I will either voicemail to my wife or voice enter into journals from my android. From the way it seems to hear my voice though I am beginning to wonder if I have a speech impediment.A couple other purchases for the trip are a camera and a watch. Now it used to be all you did with a watch was look at it and a camera was point and shoot. Well the watch has an altimeter and a barometer and various and sundry other modes....I'll probably just look at it hahaha. The camera is an Nikon AW100 with way more features than I will have mastered at the beginning of the trip. I first saw it in Backpacker Magazine and love the shock proof, because as previously revealed in an earlier post I am sure there will be some falling down on this trip, it is waterproof and can even take pictures underwater. My hope with this feature is that all of the underwater pictures are actually planned and not me groping as I float down a river unintentionally. The AW...I am guessing for 'all weather' also has gps and is freezeproof down to 14 or 17 degrees. I know the basics but have not learned the edit on the movies...oh yeah it is also 1080 hd movie. Hope I have many followers and signers to keep me encouraged and share the many and varied times with.I will enter a time or two again before we leave, thanks for following.Rambling Rex (at least for now....the trail may change my name).