Date: 2009-02-09
To: 31 Days and Counting.....
Miles today: 0.0

Check Six¢s Notes ¢Only 31 days to Springer Mountain kick-off on March 12th! I co-lead a Brownie Girl Scout troop with our daughter, and she and I thought it would be fun to teach the girls about the AT. We invited a Junior Girl Scout troop to our meetings to learn about it as well, and last week we had the girls write down questions they would like to ask Old Goat. They came up with wonderful questions (47 in all, and I¢m sure they¢ll have more this evening). I told them Old Goat and I would come to this evening¢s meeting with all our gear and show it to them. So last evening we packed our gear, and I hardly slept last night! Not for fear of this evening (I enjoy the Brownie meetings), but with anxiety about packing for the Trail. We weighed our packs (with 3 days food, but no water), and mine weighs 25.7 pounds and Old Goat¢s weighs 32.3 pounds. Because I¢m so worried about being cold, I know I have a lot of extra stuff. I look forward to warm weather and being able to shed some of the weight. I spent a lot of last night thinking I have WAY too much, but being too afraid to leave certain things behind, and wondering what important things I may be missing. We both are glad we have this Brownie demonstration meeting. We are using it as a pack shake down, and to make sure all our stuff fits into our packs. It¢s good to not wait until the last minute and then realize we are missing something absolutely vital to our safety! When Old Goat read the questions, he came up with a great idea ¢ we¢re going to answer some of the questions in the form of a skit. Since most of the Brownies are in 2nd and 3rd grade, a skit should be more interesting than just talking about everything.We plan to come in to the room with all our gear on, as if we are hiking the AT. We¢ll talk back and forth as we hike around the room, answering some of the questions in our conversation. For example, at one point we¢ll say that it looks like it¢s going to rain, then we¢ll put our pack covers on. Not long after, we¢ll pretend it does start to rain and we¢ll put on our ponchos. (Question ¢ What do you do if it rains?) After a little while we¢ll pretend we are stopping for the night and we¢ll put up our tent. (Question ¢ How big is your tent?) I¢ll talk about layering to keep warm (and put on my layers), and set up our sleeping pads and sleeping bags. Old Goat will talk about getting our water for dinner and breakfast, and then he¢ll pretend to filter water from a stream. I broke out the questions into categories ¢ general, animals, shelter/tent, personal care, and food. Some of the questions were ¢ What was the most interesting thing you ever saw on the Trail? What do you do if your feet get tired? Do you like the cold? Do you ever want to just pack up and go home? Did you have any very scary moments? How many people fit into a lean-to? Where did you go to the bathroom? How often do you change clothes? What do you do if you get a blister? What types of food do you eat? This evening will be fun. We've been working on our food - putting portions in Zip Lock bags and vacuum sealed bags and buying things that have a limited shelf-life (to August or so). Time is flying!! Only 31 days to go! To feel as best prepared as we can, there are a ton of details to attend to! I keep checking things off my list, but adding things as well. Once we leave home, I'll do my best to try not to think of things I may have forgotten. But we will have a cell phone with us, and I can call our daughter or son if I think of anything I may have forgotten. I hope there will be absolutely minimal (or even zero!) "uh-oh!!" things that come up. Time is flying!!! We'll be on the Trail before you know it!