Date: 2009-03-11
To: We're on our way!
Miles today: 0.0

Old Goat's thoughts: We are on our way, our plane just took off and we're heading for Atlanta. We'll leave the Atlanta airport on the MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Tranist Authority) train towards the North Springs station. This is the closest station to Springer Mountain. We'll meet someone from The Hikerhostel who will shuttle us to their hostel. We'll spend the night there and they will then shuttle us to the Forest Service road near Springer Mountain. We will begin our journey by backtracking .9 miles to the plaque the denotes the Southern Terminus of the Appalachian Trail. We'll then start heading north on the trail down the same trail we just came up on officially on our journey.At the top of Springer we'll take some photos of ourselves, sign in the register and officially declare ourselves as thru hikers.Check Six's Notes:These last few days have been busy, but not without anxiety! I've had a lot of moments of panic. Old Goat was eating a potato chip at our Grandson's 2nd birthday party on Sunday and made a comment about needing to make sure we take in enough salt soon. When he said that, a wave of panic flashed through me knowing we were in our final days. Everything is set up at home for us to be gone for a long time now, so when we left there Saturday and said our goodbyes,they were the last face-to-face goodbyes for a long time. It was hard to say goodbye to our daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren for so long!During the birthday party Old Goat talked about the Trail and our plans a lot. I joined in for some of the conversations, but had to step away from it most of the time. I know I can do the Trail, but until we start hiking, I worry too much about things and find it overwheming to think about it all the time. So I escape from it by looking for distractions (talking about other things, TV, reading, etc).I did have an uncomfortable physical reaction to the stress and lack of sleep, but I'm glad that has passed now. I had a couple days of very loose bowels and my stomach being "off." Not sick to my stomach, but when I'd eat just a little bit, I didn't feel so well for a while. I'm glad that's past.Our son took us to the airport this morning. It was so nice to have a few more minutes to visit with him before our flight. He's a pilot, so he was able to go right to our gate with us, then he left to start his day. He's flying to the Dominican Republic and back today....just a few more miles (and hours!) than our flight. It was very hard saying goodbye to our other grandhildren and daughter-in-law last evening (and our son today) knowing it will be months before we see them again. The kids (ages 2 and 10 mos) will have changed so much by then!!! Did we mention our attire for today? We feel it's important to fly looking decent, so we buy clothes from a thrift shop that look good, and then ask that they be donated or given to someone else when we change into our hiking attire. I'm calm right this minute, but I've had some extreme anxiety over the last few days. My doctor gave me some anxiety medicine (that I normally rarely ever use). I take very little at any one time, so it just takes the panic away. In my "normal" state of mind (even when I'm anxious "normally"), I don't take any, so the medicine will last a very long time. I'm glad I've had it available for these few days. I took a tiny bit of it when we were driving to the airport because I was so nervous. (About the hike, not flying. I love to fly!) Once we got on the plane and I calmed down, it put me to sleep. Once we start hiking, I don't expect to take any more except occasionally to sleep, when I just can't stop my mind from worrying!The weather predictions look ugly for our first few days...rain, maybe some ice, and our son showed us an area of drought right where we'll be for a few days. Oh well, whatever the weather gives us is part of the whole exprience.One final note for right now. Typing in this Pocketmail is a challenge for me. I'm a touch typist, and can type 90 words a minute without errors on a good day. This keyboard is larger than on a phone (or Blackberry), but it's still way too small for me to position my fingers correctly, so I have to type with two fingers, and that's so SLOW and annoying!11:30 am...We are now at the Atlanta airport waiting for time to pass before we need to catch the train to get our ride to the Hostel. Twice now, groups of soldiers have walked through the waiting area (about 30 to 50 soldiers in each group in a loose formation being led by someone). As they enter people start clapping, stand, and continue to stand and clap (and occasionally cheer) as the soldiers go from one side of the waiting area to the other. It's very moving, and I'm thrilled to see people do that spontaneously (of course we join in!!!). We are both Veterans and it was always very moving when people would thank us from time to time when they saw us in uniform. So I have an idea how it feels to these troops, and it brings tears to my eyes to see it happen, and to participate in the applause and cheering. What a wonderful way to start our trek...with a beautiful memory of tribute to the men and women who help us keep the freedom which allows us to do things like hiking the A. T.Old Goat & Check Six