Date: 2007-03-19
To: An exciting 6 months ahead
Miles today: 0.0

Bootz and I are still alive and doing well. Today marks our 2 year anniversary of starting out 2005 thru-hike. We look back fondly on our 6 months hiking the AT. An adventure of a lifetime that has forever changed us. The next 6 months will bring a different type of joy to our lives. Today, I am offically 4 months pregnant and I'm due to have our first child on September 3, 2007! It's ironic to think how 2 year ago we took our first steps toward Katahdin and a bit less than six months later we laid our feet upon her summit. About six months from now, we'll (hopefully, give or take a few weeks) welcome a new life into our family. We are thrilled and I'm feeling quite well (after a month or so of feeling pretty crappy!). This past fall we made up our minds to join our fellow '05 hikers on a thru of the PCT in '08. We were trying to get pregnant but had not yet been successful and had decided that getting our minds onto another goal would be a good idea. Hiking is a way of life for us and will always be. Wouldn't you know that within 2 months of deciding to hike the PCT we were pregnant! That hike will have to wait...maybe we'll someday have the youngest thru-hiker! Time will tell and we know that whether it be 5 years or 25 year, we'll contine our long-distance hiking.Life for us has been BUSY yet fulfilling. We continue to renovate our historic commerical downtown property in Salisbury, NC. It is coming along nicely and you can really see the changes we've made although we are not quite ready for a tenant. We hope to have someone leasing the first floor this spring or summer. We have also purchased a house and are undergoing a complete renovation on that property as well. It is also historic, built in the 20's. It will be perfect for us and although we are sick of working on it, May is our goal for moving. All of the renovations will not be done in May be the major ones will be. When we're not renovating, we fill our time in a variety of ways. We volunteer with a group that is starting a natrual foods coop. Bootz heads up the website/forum work and I've been concentrating on launching a produce buying program (www.breadriot.org). In about a month we're offering a community film viewing of the documentary Kilowatt Ours (check it out www.kilowattours.org). We're very committed to the environment and we hope that others will see the value in conservation. Bootz is launching the Lightblub Project. This will be a fundraising opportunity for Boy Scout troops to sell compact florescent bulbs.I work 2-3 days a week for a gentleman in town who started our local historic preservation society. I am helping him to start a different foundation for historic preservation education. I also pick up a variety of other jobs when they come my way. Bootz is working full-time doing construction with his uncle's company. Either working on our building or various other projects.Last year we began hiking the peaks over 6,000 ft in the southeast. So far we have 17 of the 40 designated peaks in the program offered by the Carolina Mtn Club. THese weekend trips have been wonderful and more realistic lengths of time than our previous hike. We've hiked some with Radio and Krazy Katie as well as our friend Michele (and her dog Lucy) from Salisbury. We enjoyed seeing Vapor, Yard Sale, K KAtie and Radio at the SoRuck this January. We took a trip North last October for Bluey's wedding. We spent some time with RAJ hiking in the Whites and saw several other '05ers at the wedding. So life is treating us well. We anxiously await the rewards of the next 6 months. We hope to find out the sex of the baby next month. We wish all those beginning their 2007 thru-hikes a successful and rewarding adventure. We'll be following along and dreaming of our days on the trail. Much changes from Springer to Katahdin, enjoy the adventure as it is not the destination as much as the journey and the friends you'll meet along the way. To all our 2005 friends, we miss you and think of you often. If you ever come to NC and are near Charlotte, please email. We'd love to see you!