Date: 2005-12-23
To: IN THE BEGINNING
Miles today: 0.0

My love of backpacking began in California in the mid-seventies as a teenage girl. Lucky for me I got to spend weeks at a time during the summers in the backcountry of Kings Canyon and Sequoia National Forests. These trips had a tremendous influence on my values and I felt a deep sense of belonging in those mountains. Before long however, I came to live with a relative in Florida and here is where I still am.   Raising three children gave me reason enough to stay put, so I made the best of what the flat Florida landscape had to offer. When the kids were little we visited the nearby beaches and we camped out a lot in the Ocala National Forest. As the kids got older and discovered the MALL they lost interest in things outdoors. There wasn't much money either as a single parent, so we didn't get out much. Instead, I would travel vicariously through the pages of National Geographic, studying the maps and planning my routes. Sometimes, I would clip articles from the travel section of the newspaper, saving them for future possibilities. One of these articles from 1989 was about thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail. I don't think I was aware of what the AT really encompassed until then, but I guess it's been a dream to hike it ever since then.   In Dec. of 1996 Robert and I met while working; he as a truck driver and I as a toll booth operator. He would roll through my lane several times a night on his way to the Port of Tampa to load his tanker with more gasoline. We eventually struck up a conversation and are still together nine years later. In the spring of '97 he took me on my first trip to the Smokys. It wasn't the beloved Sierras of my youth but these old mountains stole my heart anew! We've been visiting the Smokys once or twice a year since then. We like hiking up Mt.LeConte and up the trails that lead to various waterfalls in the park. We're both short, fat and out of shape though, so these little hikes can be challenging for us.   Meanwhile, back in '98 I came across another article about a thru-hiker, Bamboo Bob. I also went out and bought the Bill Bryson's "A Walk in the Woods". Then one day, as I was talking to my good friend Danette about my interest in the AT, she said to me " I work with someone who has thru-hiked the AT. Would you like to meet her?" Well of course I wanted to meet her. Anyone who could accomplish that is a hero to me! So I met Terry "Julie McCoy Cruise Director"; Class of '96. She shared with me her tales of rain and sore knees, hitch-hiking and trail angels. It was fascinating! She gave me a great photo of herself on the summit of Katahdin, trekking poles raised in victory. I've kept that photo as a bookmark in the many books I have since read of many journeys north. My interest was peaked once again and I began to share with Robert my thoughts about someday thru-hiking the AT - solo. Well he and I had never even camped together before, and he hadn't been camping since he was a young child. None the less, his response was: "If you go, I'll have to go as your support". I quickly explained to him that this type of endeavor is not something you can do for someone else, you'd never make it! The subject was pushed aside for a few years while we stumbled through raising turbulent teens and welcoming three grandchildren into our lives.   Now that the era of child-raising is coming to end, we're able to focus more on ourselves and are looking forward to a different kind of life ahead.A couple of years ago we started reading trail journals and many books written by previous thru-hikers. Robert is now as enthusiastic about our hike as I am. We've tested our mettle on the AT from Amicalola to Neels Gap as well as other short hikes. From those experiences we seem to be average hikers; not too fast, not too slow. My knees did hurt a lot coming down Blood Mountain so I started taking glucosomine. We don't train much which may be a mistake but we're both still very busy in a day. Robert will soon start taking two days off in a week. That should help. I think once Christmas is over we will be able to start solidifying our plans.