Date: 2015-01-12
To: Seventy-Two Days
Miles today: 0.0

The excitement definitely is building! GORP and I are down to just seventy-two days before we step foot onto the top of Springer Mtn once again, make a turn of 180 degrees and begin our journey northward. It's a little surreal. I think I'd feel the reality of it a bit more if I were back into my regular walking routine, but I'm still nursing this plantar fasciitis ailment -- being cautious and trying not to reinjure it until after tomorrow when I go to see my doctor. I'm hopeful he will be able to say or do something which will resolve the problem. It may be simply an affliction which will continue to nag me. I can walk on it. It won't hold me back!GORP and I continue to dialogue back and forth on the phone, tweaking our hiking plan. It's comical how often our conversations become peppered with comments about this ailment or that ache, this promising new knee brace or that pain reliever. I suggested that we both go ahead and change our trail names to Moanin' & Groanin'. I gave him the option of which he wanted to be. lol It reminds me of something Robert Frost once wrote: "Weep for what little things could make them glad." We live in a world where many believe that more is better. We often lose sight of the value of little things, small joys, tiny satisfactions -- imagining that it is only in the grandiose that happiness and contentment are to be found. No so! I think we all need to develop a greater thankfulness for the small favors, the small kindnesses shown us -- the ability to walk, the joy of seeing a sunrise or a sunset, the smell of a campfire, the warmth of a sleeping bag on a cold night, the comfort of a hot mug of coffee or tea on a chilly evening before bedding down, the sounds of squeaking trees and rustling leaves when the wind picks up overhead. Let us not overlook the value of these small blessings! If there are moans and groans mixed in, then let us be thankful for these as well. Pain is a reminder that we are alive!GORP and I have decided that we're not going to mess with drop boxes with one exception -- the NOC at Wesser. I figured that we needed a box mailed either to the NOC or to Fontana Village -- before we head into the Smokies. The NOC has a number of things there in the Outfitter store but at times it can be slim pickings. The same with the store in Fontana. So, I'm working on that box even now -- making some early decision on what I want to ship. I've also typed up a small card (and have laminated it) that will help me get into and out of grocery stores more quickly along the way. I've listed on the card a quik list of food items I will be in need of so that I don't just roam the aisles in a fog. In town, I'll be able to stash this into my pocket and zip in and out getting the necessary items on the list without wondering what I went in there for in the first place. Hopefully it will help.Well, I know that a few brave (or crazy) souls have already hit the trail in this cold and icy month of January. I don't envy them at all. I grew up around the NC mountains and I know how bitterly cold and unfriendly those hills can be in these winter months. I wish them well, but it will not surprise me to read of the necessity they encounter -- with alarming regularity -- to leave the trail and take shelter in some nearby town to escape one storm or another. It was that way for us in 2013 and I started on March 15th that year. All the best to them.For the rest of us, let's use this time to recheck our equipment, spray another coat of waterproofing on our boots and tent, sew up any rips or tears in our backpack, get our first aid kit in order, and spend the rest of the time on these dreary wintry days going over our guide books and dreaming of the fun we're going to have out there.See you soon!