Date: 2005-01-10
To: "charades with an orangutan"
Miles today: 0.0

5:40pm1.10.05So, I fired off yet another mass e-mail this morning, telling folks about my plans. Already heard back from several, and every single one of them is a hiker. Now, what does that tell you? Reading other journals on TJ, I¢ve seen quite a number of countdowns -- 45 days, 68 days, some people are in the hundreds. Well, I¢m content to know it¢s just over 2 months for me. I¢m not quite to the point where I need to have a daily tally. But, it does remind me of the calendars Matt and I used to make, leading up to Christmas. The week before, we¢d have hour by hour countdowns, and it was always exciting, waking up in the morning and being able to X off 8 whole hours. I¢m not quite to the ¢spine tingling, Christmas Eve¢ anticipation yet. I¢m more in this state of suspended reality, where I can¢t quite believe I¢m actually doing it, but rationally I know that I am.Yesterday, I was chatting w/ Carly when Nina let it be known that it was lunch-time. At 18 months, Nina may not be verbose, but she gets her point across more directly than many adults I know. ¢Ummnum¢ is her way of saying ¢I¢m hungry¢. And, the louder the volume and the greater the frequency, well, you¢d better hussle. So, we loaded her in her chair, and Carly began the intricate dance of feeding her daughter. (Again, Nina knows what she wants, and isn¢t shy about demanding it. Very precocious child.) Carly goes to the fridge, pulls out a container of yogurt, displaying it for Nina¢s opinion. An emphatic shake of the head. A package of cheese is modeled next. Another unquestionable ¢No,¢ followed by ¢Ummnum.¢ A carton of milk is held up. Firm headshake. Then, my ears are assaulted by a positive yowl of ¢UMMNUM!¢ Carly, quite calmly, says to me, ¢It¢s definitely not in the fridge.¢ ¢What isn¢t,¢ I query. ¢Whatever it is she wants.¢ Seeing my skeptical look, Carly reassures me that this method, although lengthy, is preferable to the previous way -- putting all the options in from of Nina, and the one that didn¢t end up on the floor was the (promptly consumed) victor. Now, Carly says, ¢It¢s like playing charades w/ an orangutan.¢ But it works. She opens the cupboard, pulls out a fruit cup, and is rewarded w/ a nod and a contented ¢Ummnum¢. Problem solved. Case closed. My respect for all parents just slid one notch higher.9:10pmOne corner of my bedroom is slowly becoming this amoebic mass of hiking gear, inexorably shifting, expanding, sprawling, encroaching ever closer, consuming everything in its path, swallowing it whole. I don¢t expect any major changes over what I carried last year. I spent so much quality time in my PCT 1 tent, I don¢t think I could part w/ it (tho¢ it does need a seam-seal treatment). And, as much as everybody raves about AquaMira, I just can¢t overcome my ingrained reservations of dumping chemicals into my water. Attribute it to a childhood of drinking unpurified well water. So, I¢ll be toting my MSR filter again. One change that I am seriously contemplating is a switch to a down sleeping bag. Western Mountaineering is (more than a little) pricey, but if you look at it as a lifelong investment¢¦ And, knowing that I¢m a cold sleeper, and recalling those frigid nights huddled in a shivering, quivering lump in my Cat¢s Meow bag (20 degree rating indeed!), I can quite honestly say I have no desire to repeat that experience. But other than that? My gear¢s been pretty extensively field tested, and, okay, maybe my pack¢s a bit on the heavy side. But hey, it¢s my pack, and my back (and knees). Speaking of my pack, though, I should probably give it a nice, prolonged soak in some soapy water. I still don¢t really notice it, but I remember vividly that day when Dad visited me near Pearisburg, VA. He hoisted my pack, to test what it felt like. And his comment? ¢The weight¢s not too bad, but how do you cope w/ the smell?¢ Smell? What smell? Never noticed any smell. Ohh¢¦ You mean the hiker funk¢¦ Yeah, well, I¢m pretty much immune to that. (Although never, ever hold a thru-hiker¢s sock to your face and inhale. It¢ll knock you right out.) But, at least I could start off w/ a freshly-scented pack. As my pile of equipment grows, so does my hope, and excitement, and anticipation. Confirmation from Cuppa Joe -- March 14th it is! Strange to think that I¢ll be standing on the exact same spot exactly one year later. But, although the geography might be the same, the journey will be different, w/ new faces, new experiences, new adventures.It¢s kinda weird, putting my journal online now, before even starting my hike, exposing myself to public scrutiny. Last year, I kept a hand-written journal on the trail (and still do, and will do the same this year as well), w/ the intention of it being a personal record. After I left the trail, I decided to post it, hopefully giving others some fragment of what I received from reading theirs -- hope, encouragement, understanding, humor, information. But now, as I write I¢m aware that what I write will not be mine alone but will be shared through the wondrous technology of the internet. And I wonder how much that will affect my writing. I¢ll certainly try not to let it, b/c on the trail you need a release for all of the swirling thoughts and emotions brewing in your mind, and you need to be open and honest in your emotions. So, though I may be writing to an audience (though I don¢t know how interesting my journal will actually be¢¦), I¢m also writing for myself.