From: home 

To: a trip down memory lane
Miles today: 0.0

PREPARATIONS======2006======(....a renegade scrap of paper, birthed last summer as a ¢to do¢ list, grew up to be a journal page¢¦¢¦.i found it buried in my ¢heart¢, that stack of papers and books at my bedside which numbers my days¢¦..it is resurrected now, amid cards and dust bunnies, to begin the ending¢¦¢¦¢¦.this little scrap says it all¢¦¢¦¢¦)            ¢ flashbacks.....they torment me........or is it that they pleasure me......            these tiny moments in my mind.......small windows throwing back the             shutters for brief, light-filled snatches of scenery on the other side........         places i¢ve been ......mountaintops i¢ve hiked over......portions of trail         i thought i¢d forgotten .........a curve in the woods.....clouds in the twilight.....         faces........towns.........waters.......sometimes even a scent stabs at these          uninvited ,but welcome memories with so much longing i think i will         crumble........i can¢t get the trail out of my mind¢......................................... and so went my thoughts last summer¢¦¢¦.the beauty of a 110 mile hike to fontana on the benton mckaye trail served only to intensify the longing¢¦¢¦.it also dumped reality in our laps: we were three years older and out of shape! could we really anticipate another AT thru-hike?............nevertheless on august 24th (my birthday) paw-ee said to me,¢let¢s do it!¢¢¦¢¦¢¦..so we began preparations immediately! we had gear from ¢03 that could be revitalized, but still knew we had plenty to do to get ready by february¢¦¢¦¢¦we tore into it like kids opening presents at Christmas!...paw made himself a new lightweight(11 oz.) pack and started sewing up a few more pieces of clothing¢¦..i got busy cooking and dehydrating as we decided we wanted to do maildrops again with good food from home¢¦..and we hiked, of course, up and down lookout mtn. 3 to 4 times a week( 6 miles)¢¦¢¦on september 28th, isaiah 55:12 rose like a tender melody in the midst of the blaring hooplah of our frantic preparations: ¢you shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace¢¦.the mountains and the hills will break forth before you into singing¢¦¢   we set a starting date : february 12th, 2006! this would be 10 days earlier than our ¢03 start¢¦¢¦as the new year rolled around our excitement grew¢¦¢¦..in the early morning hours of february 8th, i had a beautiful dream about returning a dying fish to the cold, clear waters of a tumbling mountain stream¢¦..the fish revived! my joy was complete! ¢¦¢¦that night as we crawled under the covers and nestled our tired heads into our feather pillows, paw-ee said with a hint of shiver in his voice,¢four more nights in a soft, warm bed!¢was he trying to scare me?....no way!....i felt as happy and as ready as if a lively,speckled trout were splashing its joy inside of me!======2003======   before our hike in ¢03, i scribbled down statements and questions like:                                 ¢don¢t forget to call the ranger¢                     ¢how safe or pure is snow for consumption?¢         ¢some folks will wait for spring¢¦.i¢d rather walk towards it¢¦¢                                    ¢hiking poles¢¦..hmmmm¢¢i like walking into mystery¢¦places i¢ve never been before¢¦¢¦..that¢s why i          like reading my bible¢¦¢¦¢¦¢¦¢¦..it¢s an adventure!¢¢charlie gives new meaning to the word ¢husband¢¢¦what a GREAT hiking companion!¢MY thoughts,especially, were a sea of joy mixed with terror!...but paw-ee remained calm over the waves, as always, the sextant of his thoughts fixed on that distant star, katahdin , even though he ,too, studied every ¢what if¢ that popped into our heads¢¦.like every other hiker before us, we became ¢itchy¢ to hit the trail¢¦..anxious to escape the rigors of preparation: days and nights of sewing, shopping, cooking, packaging, studying, planning, reading, and exercising¢¦.would the day ever come when we could just simply get out there and start hiking?!!..... ¢¦the day DID come at last!...saturday, february 22nd!.....but none of it could have ever happened had it not been for God¢s gift to us of some very special people¢¦¢¦¢¦(you may read an amazing story about them in our "thanks to heroes" entry)*(please observe here, that at the end of each journal page, we will be adding a brief commentary intended to update, compare and reminisce over various elements of each of these two hikes....you will see the first example of these in the *NOTES listed below.....hope they are helpful)*NOTES/OBSERVATIONS/COMPARISONS*miss janet( erwin tn ) asked us this year (¢06) what we did different this time¢¦¢¦besides paw-ee hiking with the ¢new¢ poles she sold to him at a very good price, there were actually several things we altered:*mainly, we lightened up¢¦.each of us shedding about 5 lbs. of our load.....*we maintained a strict vitamin regimen this time BEFORE and DURING our hike¢¦.extra doses of glucosomine, borage oil and flax oil worked absolute miracles for knees and joints!...this made a huge difference( especially for maw-ee)*we weren¢t quite as strict about pre-hike exercise as before, but we did continue to hike regularly for about 6 months prior to our start (as stated for ¢06)*we bought food and supplies as needed, rather than in a couple of pre-estimated bulk loads ( which ended up in surplus )¢¦¢¦this probably cost a little more, but amounts were more accurate*i substituted the torn pages from a paperback new testament and psalms rather than carry my 2 12 lb. bible*we purchased a digital camera rather than disposables¢¦¢¦worth it!*we were less rigid about sticking to our ¢schedule¢¢¦..(we had to be, since we seemed to be hiking faster in '06 than in ¢03