Date: 2006-02-24
To: 48 left...
Miles today: 0.0

Not that I¢m counting or anything like that. It seems like just yesterday it was 66 days and now here we are at less than 50. When we get sub 30, I will probably be useless in all other aspects of my life. Everything is coming together slowly but surely. I made a heck of a workbook in Excel with gear lists, weights, food purchases, gear purchases, maildrop information, et cetera. I even went so far as going through the data book and calculating daily averages for mileage and elevation gain/loss. I probably could have found it online somewhere but this ¢planning¢ is all I have until Go Time so leave me alone. I am active on several online hiking forums and want to thank all of my friends in the backpacking community for your support, your offers to help and your excitement to come out and spend some time with us on the trail. I hope that many of you will be able to make it to Trail Days in Damascus so that we can spend a weekend catching up. But if you aim those Super Soakers at me¢¦I will get revenge. Oh yes, I will. Although both Antonio and I already have ¢trail names¢ that we use on the forums, and that most people know us by¢¦we aren¢t going to use those names on the AT. I¢ve been ¢lilmountaingirl¢ since about 1995 when a dayhike on the AT (from West Hartford to Hanover) went wild with my friend Sara. I was living in Miami at the time and was visiting family in VT. It was while on the AT that day I decided to move back to New England and proudly exclaimed, ¢That¢s it! I¢m moving back to Vermont and becoming ¢little f***ing mountain girl¢! So for those of you that didn¢t know¢¦my complete trail name has one more word. Several variations of LMG have arisen: lilmotorgirl, lilmountaingoat, lilmountaingearwhore (yeah, I¢m a gearaholic), and so on. Anyway, I think part of the fun of hiking the AT is letting a name find you. I¢m just afraid I will get named after something stupid that I do¢¦like falling on my face and being called ¢Faceplant¢ for the rest of my backpacking life. Though Antonio is known as GreenMonkee¢¦I think ¢Flying Monkey¢ suits him better. 1) He has the ability to hike faster than anyone I know and 2) he climbs anything and everything he can from flagpoles to rocks to trees. But alas, we shall wait and see what finds us. I have also made a bit of a decision in the pack category. I was planning on taking my Osprey Aether 45 but after some initial packing and testing, I have decided to start with my Osprey Atmos 50. Fortunately, my friend Kate, who is shuttling us to GA, will be hiking the first week with us. I intend to leave my Aether in her car while we hike the first week and if I¢m unhappy with the performance of the Atmos, I will switch it out before she goes on her merry way. Although I love the simplicity of the Aether 45, I think I will be happier with some of the extras that are on the Atmos (pockets, etc). Time will tell.I am at the point where I will tell anyone about my thru-hike plans. We were in EMS last weekend and the cashier politely said ¢are you going camping?¢ to which I replied, ¢we are thru-hiking the AT, northbound, and we leave on April 15th.¢ She got about 5 minutes of jabber out of me on the subject while Antonio stood next to me smirking. That was EMS Cashier #2 that I rambled to in a matter of a week. Hey, she asked. I still need to weigh my gear, but once I do that I will be posting my first final gear list. Since I have had to make no new purchases (told you I am a gearwhore), I am familiar with all of my gear and how it performs in various conditions. That said, I¢m feeling pretty good about what I have decided to bring and what I am leaving behind. Trail journals have helped immensely in seeing what works and doesn¢t work for other people as well. I am also confident that I am not bringing loads of unnecessary items (read: a lot of stuff I¢d end up sending home). Disclaimer: I¢m sure I will eat these words by Damascus. Too bad words aren¢t carb-loaded and laden with calories, eh? My mom teaches 6th grade in Vermont and when we take my car up there for storage, Antonio and I are going to do a little AT presentation for her students. You know¢¦bring in the loaded backpack, set up ¢camp¢, show them the stoves, headlamps, et cetera. I think it will be fun for us, the students, and my mom. Though I do wonder how many angry parent calls she will get about how their 12 year old came home wanting to leave home and thru-hike the AT. Bwahahahaha! Corruption of young minds is a beautiful thing.Now¢¦would someone please be so kind as to speed up the next month so I don¢t have to wait anymore? Muchas gracias.