Date: 2013-06-07
From: Home Day 1

To: Home preparing to get back on the trail again
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

I decided to stay home another week to finish chores, let my sore ankle heal a little longer, and to spend time with my sister Teri who came to see me from Atlanta and I don't get to see that much. I know it will be that much harder to get back to the trail with the adjustments once again and getting my hiking legs back. People have warned me about losing my hiker legs in only a week, so I know it will be difficult at first. My plan is to get back to the trail by this Saturday, June 15th, but I still haven't fully decided where to start back. On the one hand I would love to just catch my friends I've been hiking with, Thistle, Indy, Morris the Cat and Stupid, Mountain Man, Nomad, and Piper, and Sunshine and Cannibal Curious who are hiking with them now. On the other hand I'd like to make up some trail so I don't have to do too much after I'm done to complete the AT in whole. I'd even considered flip-flopping, going straight to Katahdin and heading South. However, I'm really looking forward to that aqua blaze (traveling by river in a canoe) once I get to Waynesboro, VA. The way that works is we purchase a canoe for $520, then go 138 miles to I believe somewhere near Harpers Ferry, WV, and turn in the canoe to be purchased back by the company for $220, which means basically renting it for $300. I have my own canoe, but it would probably cost close to the $150 it would cost me to split the bill anyway, so it's probably not worth the hassle going home to get it. Whatever I choose to do, I'm looking forward to getting back on the trail. It would be easy to stay home and get busy on my next business venture, work on the house, take the trailer out and RV it, play my guitar, fly my RC Helicopter, paint, etc. But I am dedicated to finishing what I started. After all, I haven't even gotten to the best part of the trail yet. I can now take what I've learned and employ it to the remainder of my journey. I vow to lighten up my back pack for one thing. I know I tend to collect things and carry too much food. I will carry only what is necessary...and fun. I will leave my golf ball and duplicate items and playing cards and saw and other heavy things I don't use on the trail. I will leave most of my winter items home, though I'm hearing it's still a bit nippy in the mountains even still. I now have some shoe inserts that mold to my feet when heated, so maybe that will cut down on the blistering I encountered. I also have to get busy hiking. It was easy to let up and take off late and finish early, but now I have to average over 15 miles a day to get to Katahdin by October 15 when they close. I will probably have to flip-flop to avoid that, but it would be nice to hike straight to it without having to do that. I've noticed my calluses on my feet are starting to come off...not a good thing. I don't want to have to rebuild those again. It took a lot of painful blistering to build those in the first place. It was good to be home, but I have to get back. I have to come home once more in late August for a couple of doctor appointments, but I will go back once again and finish the trail. I will probably start my journal on a daily basis once I hit the trail. This time I have a phone charger, so I have no excuses for not keeping up with my journal. I want to thank everyone for supporting me and reading my journal, and thanks so much for the nice comments. Keep'em comin'. I will do more writing and less reporting hopefully, so maybe I can make this more interesting from here out. Happy Trails