Date: 2009-08-09
To: Prep #6
Miles today: 0.0

SUMMERAh, sweet summer! How fleet your time. ¢Tis already August. Had four kids (three grandkids and a best friend) stay at the cottage all summer enrolled in the on-site Camp youth program (sports, swimming, gymnastics, volleyball, tennis, etc etc). Ages 5, 6, 10 and 12. They gave me the gift of enjoying a child¢s summer of play for the first time¢¦again¢¦ through their eyes. Thought the caregiving would be 50% work, 50% pleasure, but I was wrong¢it was 90% pure joy. With no TV or video games, there was actual interaction during meals. Where dinner at home would be 15 minutes while glued to the TV, out here it would be at least an hour with loads of laughter. Summer homes and spiders sort of go hand-in-hand. Helped the kids get over their fear of spiders by giving the spiders names (no reason to be scared--that¢s Henry), showed them how to catch it with a paper cup and piece of paper, and how to release it (outside) in a habitat friendly place. No more screams and hysterics but sure went through a lot of paper cups! GEARTwo of the grandkids left two weeks ago and the other two left yesterday. So my first morning alone for awhile, I slept in (for me) until 7:30, made a pot of real coffee and started browsing the REI website. Close-out pricing, 20% off one item coupon, and last year¢s REI dividend credit were put to good use as $192 later, I bought a 2-man Quarter Dome UL tent and footprint and a Lafuma +30 down sleeping bag with compression stuff sack.   Decided on the 2-man because all the 1-man tents I¢ve looked at were so small I could see myself getting wet every time I touched one of the sides. And since reading about all the condensation issues on the AT, also decided against a tarp tent. [For more details, click on the "Gear" button to the left.]FOODBorrowed a dehydrator and am going to dry a few things and taste test the results. My goal is to come up with a minimum of 6 palatable main meals. While hiking, I¢ll have 3-4 of these dehydrated meals per week, 1-2 freeze dried meals (Mountain House pro packs) and 1-2 store bought (i.e. Knorr sides). Want to get all the dehydrating done by November and will purchase the freeze dried and store bought meals in bulk. FITNESSWhen I moved out here two months ago, I started doing a perimeter hike around the Camp every morning. It¢s about 1.5 miles, goes all the way down to the river, a hill back up from the beach, level for awhile, then a sharp climb to the highest point, all over rocks and roots and mud if it¢s raining. First few times, I was out of breath coming up from the beach and had to stop 3 times while climbing the high hill, both with jello legs. Now, I¢m doing the beach hill without breaking stride and the high hill with no stops. Progress. So I¢m up to three perimeters (about 4.5 miles) every morning (rain or shine). Have lost a little weight but more importantly am turning the jello to muscle.   I had some young friends out to the cottage yesterday (30-somethings) and they wanted to take a walk after dinner. I had to wait for them on the uphills and slow down on the downhills. Little did they know they were dealing with a thru-hiker in training! LOL. HALF SOLOI grew up in a close-knit family with regular family gatherings of aunts, uncles and cousins to celebrate birthdays and holidays. I was telling my cousin who is closest in age to me of all my cousins about my 2010 thru-hike and saw the glimmer of adventure glow in his eye and the light bulb appear above his head. So although I had originally planned to hike solo, I couldn¢t think of a better hiking partner than Keith. I¢ll start at Springer the day after him as he wants to do the approach trail and I don¢t. If I feel I¢ve missed something after I climb Katahdin, I¢ll go back to Springer and do the approach trail then. He has a time limitation and will be getting off the trail at Harper¢s Ferry after which I will be solo.LOW POINTWhich brings me to what I KNOW will be my low point on the Trail. At Harper¢s Ferry, I¢ll lose my hiking partner; I will be heading into everyone¢s favorite state, Pennsylvania; and I¢ll have just passed the 1,000 mile mark. I¢m usually a half full person but if I¢m tired and hurting and sore at that 1,000 mile mark, it will be hard for me to get the juices flowing to do another 1,000 miles. And frankly from reading Wags¢, Loon¢s and Gangsta¢s journals from this year and how the Whites are kicking their 20-something butts , I¢m getting my first nigglings of doubt. On the other hand, I¢m stubborn and I really want this badly. So on those days I question my sanity in continuing to hike, I¢ll just¢¦continue to hike. That¢s how it gets done¢one foot in front of the other.