Date: 2017-01-07
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light snow

In 3 months, on Friday, April 7th, I'll get into a rental car and drive to Macon, GA. The plan is to meet my sister Nancy ..attend my brother Jim's play, "A Drowsy Chaperone," then leave on Sunday with Nancy to ferry me to where I left the trail in 2015. Jim plans on retiring this year after 32 years as the founding Artistic Director of Theatre Macon and will actually be acting in this show. I thought it would be a perfect way to start this adventure. Nancy will drive me to Robbinsonville, N.C. where we'll spend two nights at the beautiful Bed and Breakfast, Appalachian Inn. We'll meet my hiking partner Nancy (Jeboots) and her husband Bob there. She and I stayed at The Appalachian Inn in 2015...it's a wonderful place. Then on Tuesday Jeboots and I will head into the Great Smokey National Park. ..where I left the trail on 6/27/2015.I will be writing this journal to my granddaughters, Ansley and Delaney...I've thought about it a lot...although I'll certainly miss my whole family...I'll miss "my girls" the most. Why? Because Al, Vinny, Amy, and Nick, will all understand where I am... but my precious girls will not...especially Ansley. Vinny told me tonight that Ansley named one of her Barbie Dolls "Memaw Barbie"...nothing tugs at my heartstrings more...they are such a huge part of my life! I can't go a week without my girls "fix." In a sense, this will enable me to take them along on my journey...and I hope that one day this journal will inspire my girls to follow their hearts and dreams. So here goes...Dear Ansley and Delaney,To hike the Appalachian Trail started as a dream of mine but not until later in my life. Throughout my 30's, 40's and 50's I followed mini dreams...running marathons around the country...from Lake Tahoe to NYC to Grandfather Mountain. Yet I always yearned for the next adventure...the next challenge. It happened by accident...I love to read and by chance in 2013 I downloaded the book "Wild," a true story about a young woman who attempts to hike the Pacific Crest trail solo in 1995. That was when it occurred to me...the Appalachian Trail's southern terminus is in Georgia...one state north of Florida...and hence my dream began.I retired from a 35 year career from the State of Florida in December 2014. My plan: hike the Appalachian Trail from Springer Mountain, GA to Demascus, VA., a distance of about 468 miles. Over the next 6 months I bought my gear; read more AT books than I can count; planned my resupply boxes; attended a hiking clinic at the Top of Georgie Hostel; and walked miles and miles at Eagle Lake Park with a fully loaded 35lb. pack. In the end none of this fully prepared me for what the AT is.   I can tell you what it is not: it's NOT a hiking trail as we all perceive a hiking trail to be.   It's not a walk in the woods. It's rocks and roots and boulder climbs... it's ascents that never end and knee jarring descents. The trail in Georgia alone chews you up and spits you out. There's a famous tree at Neels Gap, 31 miles in, where hundreds of hikers each year call it quits and throw their boots in the tree. I get it...Three nights in, I thought "what in the hell was I thinking?" I equated it to running a marathon; getting to the finish line only to have to set up your tent, eat some food, crawl into your sleeping bag, get up in the morning, put on the same cold, wet, dirty clothes you wore the day before and running the marathon again. Over...and over. My Achilles heel...my feet. I learned a very valuable lesson...prevent blisters rule number one. I ended up making it to Fontana Dam...the last stretch from the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) to Fontana by myself...solo.   I know there are many who say they love hiking alone. Hiking alone is fine...you do it even when you're hiking with others due to different speeds, etc. But tenting alone... in the middle of a National Forrest, in the mountains, days away from a road...is entirely different. At Fontana Dam...mile 165, I left the trail via my trail angel...my sister Nancy ...who drove hours to pick me up when I called to tell her I needed to get off the trail...I could no longer get my battered feet in my boots... it was a heartbreaking decision but I knew that one day I'd return..as hiking the trail truly gets into your soul.Which brings us to today...I'm in the final stages of preparation for starting journey #2; I know what to expect...I know it will test my mental and physical limits; I have a great hiking partner and a loyal Trail Angel; and I know to take care of my feet. Headed: North; Destination: Wherever we get off.