Date: 2004-03-22
To: Zag.
Miles today: 0.0

I've decided to hike the Appalachian Trail. I've decided to seek out an adventure, to vanquish the rut of just working and sitting around the house and then repeating that monotony each day.It's a decision that requires countless other decisions. Decisions such as to not go looking for the next paycheck, but rather a cool mountain breeze (I wonder which will give me the greater return on investment when the year is over?) It requires selling a house (which I just sold) and moving everything into storage. It's a decision that demands listening to ones own heart and having courage. Before a single mile is put behind me I realize that the decision itself is part of the journey.How does anyone really make a decision to leave everything they've known their whole life to spend six months in the woods? Do we run from something or do we run to something? Has life become so homogenize, so expectedly routine that watching TV each night is the most common activity? Is it any wonder why we all are getting spare tires and atrophied muscle? Have we lost the imagination to look at a horizon and consider the possibilities? Even if one did, is it even possible to have a true-life adventure in today's overly cautious guardrail, warning sign world? Has adventure become limited to the billionaires who can afford the around the world hot air balloons or the 20 million dollar rides into space? Can one seek adventure without seeking a headline? And if someone did get a wild-hare notion to go explore, where could you go to avoid the thousands of miles of strip-malls? I can't remember even using the word ¢Adventure¢ in the last decade. Adventure holds a romanticism and mystique, I know it did for me. Drawn by the irresistible pull of possibilities and pushed to escape the stagnant, boring life I allowed to find me, it was easy to embrace the Appalachian Trail.This decision helps me fulfill one of my life's goals to not wait until retirement to enjoy life and its many textures. I've been to all 50 of our United States, but I've never walked through 14 of them. I've been picked up while in my car by a tornado, but never have I rode out a thunderstorm in a tent. I can run six miles, but I've never known the strength and athleticism of a 2000 miler. I've stood frozen in the angry face of an Africa bull elephant, but have never faced off with a rattler in the middle of the trail. I think its great that so many of my friends travel to Italy and France, but I wish they would try the splendor and awe of America's wilderness.In today's society, when the only adventures most get are from their DVD of Indiana Jones or the designated ¢lands¢ of Disney, the Appalachian Trail takes us all on a truly grand adventure. By sheer necessity, we who hike it learn the difference between what is needed and what is wanted; a distinction that has long been lost by most living in metropolis. It's been said that the outdoor experience has been an integral part of America's history. And so on this, the bicentennial anniversary of our country's most famous journey of discovery, the Lewis and Clark expedition, I'll be on an adventure as well. My exposure to the AT gave me a new level of patience, humility and a new sense of calm. I suppose when you've battled mountains, rain, hail, wind, heat, cold, snow and the sounds that go bump-in-the-night, new perspectives are likely to be gained. The more time I spent on the AT, the more my priorities found a new order. Not only will a new order bloom within my fellow Thru-hikers of the Class of '04, but so will the need for more of the AT experience. What may have started as an escape from something else has become for me a yearning to regain that sense of freedom, that simplicity. I'm choosing to start again at the very beginning, Springer Mountain in Georgia, and Thru-hike my way to Mt. Katahdin in Maine. Having an artist's and writer's background professionally, I plan on drawing and writing my way to Maine. I hope to share a bit more of the whimsical and different sides of the Appalachian Trail as they bump into me or I to them. Those who've attempted to Thru-hike the Appalachian Trail, have done so for the past thirty or more years under a trail name. The origins of the trail name are a bit fuzzy, but I'm sure escapism is a strong component. My trail name is ¢Postcard¢ and I intend to share my adventure with you through my postcard drawings and stories of the trail, and I'll do so in the format of my journal. So I invite you to come along on this grand adventure.