Date: 2009-09-10
To: Prep #10
Miles today: 0.0

COLDThe windows are always open at the cottage except when I¢m out running errands. Had a cold front move through here last week and woke up to 43°. As I snuggled deeper under the covers, I debated getting up and closing the windows but remembered there¢s no heat at the cottage so windows open or closed would make no difference. I laughed when I realized that I better get used to it because I¢m going to be sleeping outside for six months next year. The day always goes better when you start it out with a giggle.I posted that little bit of humor on my Facebook wall and got half a dozen offers of rooms to stay at next year from friends whom I¢ve obviously not talked to enough about my 2010 thru-hike. Here I am living, breathing, eating thru-hike and they don¢t know about it?? My morning giggle turned into progressively hysterical laughter as each new e-mail came in with another offer of a place to sleep next year. I¢m so easily entertained! NEW TOYSPackages have been arriving every few days for the past several weeks. I usually find shopping to be a chore. Who knew that buying new gear was so much fun!? After four days of non-stop rain, the sun came out and things dried up enough for me to spend the afternoon setting up my new tent, figuring out how to work my new SteriPEN UV water treatment, adjusting my new trekking poles, how to put on my gaiters and attach them to my shoes, and learning how to put my new 30° down sleeping bag into a compression dry sack. The bag surprisingly only weighs 22 oz. and compresses down to 6x12¢.Then there¢s the NeoAir sleeping pad. While camping for two nights during the recent trail building weekend in Wisconsin, I brought along my trusty 5/8¢ closed cell foam (CCF) sleeping pad that I¢ve always used. The bones didn¢t take too kindly to the hard ground that weekend and I realized I wouldn¢t be able to compromise my comfort for six months next year. So I paid the big bucks and got a NeoAir, albeit on sale at 20% off. Got the regular which is a little longer than I needed, but found gently curling the top 8¢ of the pad back onto itself made a great ¢pillow¢. I¢m a side sleeper so the length worked out perfectly. And, oh my!, the comfort! Probably the best investment I¢ve made for this trip so far. My only concern is how well it will insulate from the ground cold which I¢ll put to the test during my shakedown hikes. If need be, I¢ll bring along a 7 oz. 3/16¢ CCF to put under the Neo during the cold weather portions of my hike.FOODI¢m no trail gourmet although I like to eat good healthy food. So I¢m planning a number of mail drops containing dehydrated and pre-prep meals.   I¢ve come up with 9 different hot dinners, a couple cold meal entrees for when boiling water is too much work, and a breakfast curry (a nice break from eggs and oatmeal). Found the secret to dehydrating pre-cooked meals like lamb stew with barley and carrots is to cook it with a minimum amount of liquid so the flavors are concentrated when dehydrated but reconstitute to normal when rehydrating on the trail. Used whole grains as much as possible, lots of vegetables and fruits, low glycemic carbs, even have some tofu and edamame in a couple of the meals.   Trail hunger is legend so I sized the meal portions to total 3,000+ calories per day not including snacks.FITNESSDid something the other day that was sort of scary in that I couldn¢t remember the last time I had done it. Had to have been over 15 years ago. I ran. Not the Middle East country, but like moving one¢s legs fast. After doing my 4 12 mile morning hike, I decided to do another half mile by going two laps around the quarter-mile track at the athletic field here in camp. As I¢m walking it occurs to me I¢m on a track and tracks are for running. So I ran, and have now discovered all new sets of muscles that haven¢t been used in a long, long time. It wasn¢t a full-out run, but it wasn¢t a wimpy slo-mo jog either. Was waiting for the knees or ankles to complain but they didn¢t. Very exhilarating, and now a part of my regular morning routine. SHAKEDOWN HIKESMade shelter reservations (required, even though we¢ll be tenting) for a full gear (except no water treatment needed) 30+ mile, 312 day hike of the Kettle Moraine Northern Unit in Wisconsin in late October. I made this a public trip on www.thebackpacker.com so in addition to my hiking partner, Keith, as of this writing, four others will be joining us for all or a portion of the hike: Lorax and Firebug (whom I¢ve backpacked with before), and Nimblefoot and Wounded Knee.In November, Keith and I are heading down to Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois for a 1-week, 70+ mile full gear hike on the River to River Trail (R2R) finishing the day before firearm hunting season opens. It should be cold enough by then to check out our cold weather gear. My water treatment experience has been limited to finding my water caches or merely melting snow.   So the Shawnee hike will have me actually paying attention to water sources and getting comfortable using my SteriPen and Aquamira. Not particularly concerned about being able to do the miles, but need to see how we hike together; if one of us is noticeably faster than the other or likes to get an earlier start or take more frequent breaks. Pretty sure our distance per day will be about the same but whether we¢re hiking it together or meeting at the end of the day will be determined. We¢re not sharing any gear (tent, stove, water treatment) or food as we¢re planning on being independent of each other on our AT hike even though we¢ll be hiking together.