Date: 2010-02-03
To: T-minus 56 Days and Counting
Miles today: 0.0

56 days seems like an eternity right now. I really feel like that little kid that¢s sitting in bed waiting for Christmas morning to arrive¢¦only I have 55 more Christmas Eves to go. To say the least I am very excited about taking that step off of Springer Mountain in Georgia on my journey to Maine. I have been asked how prepared am I and how I am coming along so I thought I would write an update on everything on my preparedness for A Walk for the Future.The last few weeks have seen many changes to my lifestyle and all of it is in preparation for my trek. The month of March not only sees me getting ready for my hike but also is the time when I am quitting my job and moving out of my apartment. Actually to be honest with you, my lease is up here at my apartment in Frisco, TX on February 28. My plan is to stay on floors or couches with friends while I finish out work. However, being out of this apartment by the end of February is the cause of some stress. I have a lot of stuff I need to get rid of. I have to decide what needs to be kept and what needs to be tossed. Most of my stuff is either being tossed, donated, sold, or given away. The only real stuff I want to keep is my book collection (mostly Civil War and spiritual books), clothes, hiking equipment, and various other loose odds and ends. Everything else is gone. It¢s tough going from being in a settled environment to a nomadic life. I think that once I get rid of my stuff and I have that piece of mind that I will be alright with this nomadic lifestyle.A couple of weeks ago, I made it official at work that I was leaving. I picked the date of Friday, March 19. That will give me time to spend some days at Cornerstone Crossroads Academy before I go to Maryland. I will be leaving Texas on Thursday March 25 and hopefully getting to the Old Line State (MD) on Friday, March 26. I¢m not quite sure how this will go because I will have the little Choochsters (my dog) with me on the drive to MD. He has never been in the car for more than an hour and he seems uneasy with riding. Tough, get used to it pal is all I can tell him. Anyways, my boss has been really supportive with me leaving to follow my dreams and has been working with me to keep all my doors open. That means she wants me to be able to at least try to get my job back when I come back. I¢m not sure about that but I don¢t want to close any doors. You never know. All I know is that March 19 is my last day¢¦I¢m quitting my job. After that, I am in the Lord¢s grace to spread His message. Like I have stated before I want to start an outreach ministry when I come back so hopefully it will all go great.I would like to take this opportunity to thank class of ¢07 AT thru hiker Diesel for his generous gift to me. Because of his generosity I will be able to get some of the supplies and equipment that I thought that I would have to skimp out on.   I had never met him before but I reached out to him via email after reading his trail journal (which can be found at http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=5323) seeking advice. He¢s been awesome with the advice and is a very generous guy. Anyways, because of his bigheartedness I can now buy some warmer clothes for the cooler nights (anyone that knows me personally knows that I am the world¢s biggest wuss with being cold¢¦weird for a guy that grew up in NH). Thanks Diesel.Lets see, other updates¢¦well, I have my pack and my hiking footwear as stated in previous blogs. I¢ve decided that I¢m going to not mail my food and supplies in advance to be held at the post offices but instead I¢m just going to get stuff when I get to the various towns. I decided to do this after I realized that I could not possibly know what food I would want several weeks into a trip. You try eating noodles every night¢¦not exactly something you want to open in a box of supplies 3 months into the trip. Therefore, to save myself the money of shipping stuff I won¢t use I am just going to buy my supplies at town stops along the way. I can always change my mind when I get to Harpers Ferry. That¢s where I am leaving the trail for several days to rest at my parent¢s house before I start the second half.Oh, I think I have solved the question on how I am going to be able to update my blog while I¢m gone. Diesel told me he got the internet on a great portion of the trail so I¢ll just update my blog via the internet on my phone. I think it will truly be neat as all get out for my friends to read about what I did that same exact day instead of like a week or two later. Plus, it will give me something to do at night. Well, that¢s it for this update. I know, not the most entertaining of blogs or updates but I thought I would just get it down on paper. I started writing my journals back in September when I official ¢came out of the AT closet¢ so to speak with my desire to hike the trail. I wanted to capture my thoughts and emotions with everything involved in this process so that maybe one day I could look back and read about it. If you¢re interested you can read it at www.awalkforforthefuture.com in the travel blog section. Starting from journal 1 back in September to now you can see the evolution of everything that has transpired since I made this decision. God bless,One Lifewww.awalkforthefuture.com