Date: 2005-01-02
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Miles today: 0.0

You¢re just jealous because the voices only speak to me   Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a good one and I hope whatever you try to do this year works out well for you. I can honestly say this was one of the better New Years I have had in quite a few years.   The Central Florida Trail Association had a get together at Doe Lake in the Ocala National Forest. I was invited to attend, along with several other AT hikers. I headed up there on Friday morning. It is about a 3 hour drive for me and I arrived around 1:00 When I got there the people I knew had not arrived yet but I found out there was going to be a 4 mile hike starting around 2:00. I quickly set up my Tarptent so I would not have to worry about it later. I had brought my pack with just about everything I was going to carry at the start of the AT this year. Wanted to give it a working shakedown. I was smiling to myself as I set up the tent. The pattern on how I set it up while on the trail was still there and I caught myself doing some of the same adjustments I would do every time last year. Shortly after I finished setting the tent up I noticed a couple of people walking toward me. They asked what kind it was. We introduced ourselves and I had a pleasant surprise. It was LWOP .. He thru-hiked in ¢04 and I remember reading his journal entries as I was hiking. It was good to meet him. He left on Feb. 28, about 2 weeks earlier than I. It is amazing how a conversation can carry on when a couple of AT hikers get together! I have mentioned before, about that special bond that comes from being out there and I do not think it ever goes away. The 2:00 hike group gathered and there were about 30 people going on the little jaunt. I shouldered the old pack, went thru the strap adjusting ritual without really thinking about it and off we went. The hike went well. The foot felt good, the pack felt good and the weight felt good. I did decide that I need some new insoles so I will be picking those up. I was the only one packing a full pack and was asked several times what I was training for. Got to meet a lot of nice people on that journey. The bond extends to anyone that enjoys hiking so conversation comes easily! We got back to the lake and Wanchor was there. Wanchor and his friend, Joan were the ones who had invited me. Wanchor has done a couple of AT thru hikes and is active in the Florida Trail Assoc. I asked Wanchor if he had heard from Krispy Kritter. I was hoping he would show up and he said that he might show on Saturday   I wandered around a bit and was standing looking out over the lake when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned and got my first surprise of the day. It was Burn! Last time I saw Burn was at Trail Days in Damascus. It was the Saturday of Trail Days and it poured later in the afternoon. He and I stood (as well as several others) around the bonfire that was going to be going that night trying to keeping it burning. It was raining pretty hard for awhile and we did all sorts of things to keep it from going out. It didn¢t and the bonfire for that night went off without a hitch A week or two later I heard that he got off the trail   Then Burn surprised me with another piece of info .. Crash Test Dummy was also there. I had met Crash in Hot Springs during Trail Fest. He was doing the ¢mega hike¢. From Canada to Key West, about 5,000 miles give or take a few. He started his journey on July 4, 2003 and he has about 400 miles to go. I also got to meet another thru hiker whom I had read register entries from..Bear Bag Hanger. We fell into the trail stories routine and then it was dinner time.   A BIG meal was ready for the taking. There were about 50 or so people there by now but there was more than enough food. After dinner LWOP did a slide show on his thru hike. There was another slide show about the Florida Trail and then there was some guitar entertainment. I will admit, there was also a liberal amount of adult beverages flowing and everyone was having a good time. Not that I drink beer or anything but if I did ¢¦yeah, right ..those of you that know me are rolling eyes now! The next day there were several activities, hikes, canoe trips, and AT roundtables. LWOP, Bear Bag Hanger, and myself told those that stayed for that segment many things about the trail and we also told many stories. As the morning progressed I was laughing to myself because I knew that if we were not stopped we could go on for hours! About then I felt another tap on my shoulder and when I turned there was Krispy Kritter. I was tickled! Krispy started the same day I did last year and we bumped into each other several time during the course of the hike. The last time I say him was at The Doyle, in Duncannon, PA where we celebrated till the wee hours of the AM. I left that next morning but Krispy stayed because he had to get a maildrop on Monday. 4 days later I was off the trail. I told him I should have taken a zero with him that day and maybe the stress fracture would not have happened! It was real good to see him!   That night Crash Test Dummy and Bear Bag Hanger did a presentation and there was more revelry. I went to bed around 11:30 .. way, way past hiker midnight! Sunday morning I helped clean up and I took off around 9. A great weekend! Thanks to everyone and thanks to all the new people I met while there. It was fun meeting you and talking to you. (Alicia, remember the ¢O¢ next Thanksgiving!) Wow, this is long winded! But, it tells the story. This is what I hope to do with this years journal. I want you all to feel like you have walked in my shoes, which you really should not do after a week or so on the trail! As I have stated earlier I felt I shortchanged you all in some of my entries from last year. Ain¢t gonna happen this year! As I was typing this entry I got a very good piece of news from an '04 hiker. I am not going to say anything about it yet but it was a piece of good news. Great way to start the New Year! More on that later! 78 days to go!!!