Date: 2010-10-15
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I imagine that given time, I'll cherish all these miles. From a couch in New Jersey the miserable days will be irrelevant for they were spent on the trail. Peeing. We seem to all get up at the same time in the middle of the night to pee. We jokingly set our pee time before we fall asleep. When one person finally unzips his bag, we all follow suit, having been tossing and turning for an hour or more. The best thing about getting up to pee is the enjoyment of getting back in our bags. While hiking, we simply turn left or right, remove equipment from boxers and pee. Pooping on the trail reqires at least a little walk into the woods. Most of us are on a strict schedule. Trail towns and greasy foods messes up our daily morning schedule.Weight loss. We lost a bunch of weight initially. I lost 30-35 pounds in the first month. That tapered off thru the mid Atlantic states where towns and delis were abundant. I started at 230 pounds, and I'm lingering between 190-200 now. As we are hiking into more remote areas, and mountains, I imagine we will all be dropping some more lbs. My girlfriend was concerned that if I lost too much weight it would affect the quality of her hugs. That my friends is love!Beard. I got one. It's Irish red and growing daily. Now I had it trimmed real short for mom moms funeral but it, and my hair are growing wildly. I don't really like beards. Being a military guy I have always been clean cut. Haircut, every week, shave every morning. Hell, my bathroom smells like a barbers shop. I use the old school shave cream applied with a brush, and followed with a strong fragrant after shave. The thing is.....out here...a beard is a mark of experience. A sign of "street credibility" if you will. The way thru hikers are differentiated from mere weekend hikers is we got huge beards and we a distinct hiker funk. We don't exactly smell like dove soap. So the beard stays.....annoying as it is and despite the fact it looks like a dead ferret. This is going to be a rough couple of weeks ahead. Playoff season and my beloved Phillies chasing another pennant. I caught Roy Halladays no hitter by turning my phone on every 20 mins for an update. In about the 5th inning I realized it was a no hitter, and my heart dropped every time I waited for my I phone to turn on and delighted to see another 0 in the hit column.I have decided a couple things out here. I decided I have to learn the guitar. I have got to finish getting my pilots license when I get home. I will never turn my back on excercise (I hope). The outdoors will always be a big part of my life, and weekend trips will be a huge part of my life. I hope to visit many of the places alo g the trail that I otherwise would have never known. I will pick up hitch hikers......so help me God I'll pick up hitch hikers. I'll never forget that....these mountains....well they ain't gonna climb themselves. These trails won't hike themselves and these sights won't see themselves. I won't forget to keep living this life.....there is so much to see, so much to experience. I hope you all experience some of this! So maybe you can't thru hike the AT, maybe you can't climb all these mountains. But here Is an idea.....climb one.