Date: 2004-12-20
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

This is something special.I woke this morning feeling snuggly safe in my bed, my body roasting comfortably underneath the covers, but the cold air that entered my lungs was a motivational spark like nothing I've ever felt before.Wait a minute though, I hate cold weather, why am I enjoying cold air? Wait another minute, why is it cold in my bedroom. OK, so a little explanation, simple questions first. Why is it cold in my bedroom? Well that's an easy one, it's cold in my bedroom because I live in an old, drafty house, and when I woke up this morning, it was 6. No, not 6:00, or six o'clock, it was six DEGREES outside, that's cold if you ask me. So although I didn't have a thermometer in my room, I estimate that it was probably a drafty 50 degrees in my room (I kinda neglected to remove the air conditioner from the window, which is almost like having an open window. For most people this would be a disadvantage, but for me, it keeps my overclocked computers cooler, and I've got plenty of blankets to sleep under, so I'm cool with it). So it's 50 degrees inside my room, I'm toasty under the covers, and chills run down my spine when I think about getting out from my refuge of warmth. Not chills of fear, chills of excitement. But again: I hate cold weather, why am I so excited. Because I know this is similar to what trail life will be like. My mind drops into imagination, I'm not in bed anymore, I'm in my sleeping bag, and I'm not going to roll out onto my bedroom floor, I've got to shimmy out into the cold air of a Georgia mountain in March, or chilly late spring morning in VA, or my last night on the trail on Katahdin. I'm ecstatic. Reality kicks back in and I'm in bed, I throw the covers off and prepare for the daily ritual of searching through the piles of clothes on my floor for something that smells good enough to wear.OK, so while it's not quite as cold as a mountain morning in march in my room, but then again, I won't be in my underwear when I crawl out of my sleeping bag. Unfortunately once I had selected my attire for the day my journey into trail life ended, but I'm now more motivated than ever to hit the trail.OK, gotta transform that motivation into action, or else I'll never hit the trail. Right now my main concern is STILL money, I'm thinking of some creative ways to raise some extra dough, but by my calculations I'll be just fine on the trail. I'm debating whether to sell my car or not, if I cancel out having to make car payments the entire time I'm on the trail I'll be just fine financiallybut I'll have no car when i get back from the trail. I'm also beginning my maildrop preparation, scanning surplus stores and bulk outlets for good deals on powerbars, gorp, and other trail food. I'm slowly training my mom on how to send maildrops. I'm still not sure how much i'll rely on maildrops and how much I'll pick up on the trail. But I do know that I will have at least a few maildrops.I'm also hugely indecisive about the task of journal keeping. Do I go for the old fashioned pen & paper and mail them home, or do I go "high-tech" geek style. As much as most people would like to think, I'm not doing to trail to remove myself from technology, it's not about being totally unwired. I've debated several different options for journals on the trail. At first there was the idea of an ultra-small laptop, but that turned out to be prohibitively expensive. Now I'm torn between the idea of several PDAs, or even just my phone (I have a nerdy phone that does nerdy things). Either way I'll need a keyboard, phone input or PDA 'grafiti' style input would both drive me insane before my first week. I'm also considering pocketmail, which I see many other hikers use. While it doesn't have the geek points that the other systems do, I have a feeling it's the best suited tool for the job.Ounce counters are choking now...PDA, Keyboard, TRAIL? I know, it seems crazy, but I look at it this way, a decent PDA/keyboard combo is much more functional than a paper notebook, and weighs just slightly more. I'm also considering the combo pda phones, which weigh less than a phone and paper notebook combined. Pocketmail also has some weight, but again, not that much more than the paper notebook.My geekiness is chronic along with my indecisiveness. All of this aside, if it comes down to a monetary issue, paper and stamps will have to do. So be it, as long as I'm on the trail it doesn't matter. Hrm..."as long as I'm on the trail, it doesn't matter", oh I can't wait for the trail.