Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza, Festivus … All that good stuff. We had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed our time in the Northeast. Because I like the numbers game, that’s how I’ll break down the last 17 days.We spent 10 days in NJ at my rents’ house, 3 days in CT at my sister’s…
Where in the world are Steadee & Deal??? That’s a good question. For the last two days, we’ve been in one place–my parents’ house in NJ. A record for us. We are actually staying here for the next 7 days. It’s a very good thing. We needed to catch our breath. Plus, we reunited with…
On Oct. 24, we finished our hike on the Appalachian Trail after 141 days, 14 states and 2,181 miles and took a train to Danville to pick up supplies and our vehicle. 42 days, 17 states and 7,100 miles later, we are back in Danville for a “resupply.” After leaving Florida, we made our way…
This weekend, we’ve been hanging out in Tampa with our good friend BEEF! (Casey). It was time to give our bodies and Trailblazer a little R&R, plus there was a lot of football to be watched; perfect timing to roll into Beef’s territory. We’ve visited Beef a few other times. I love Beef, but I…
We spent 3 glorious days and 2 glorious nights exploring Big Bend National Park. For a trip we weren’t planning to make, we have no regrets. I have so much to say & don’t know where to begin. This is a warning, folks, this could get long & ugly. We weren’t sure we wanted to…
We may be off the AT, but we are still making the most of being unemployed and homeless! We are proud to be temporary vagrants and for the last couple of days and next couple of days, our home is the road in Texas. Texas can easily be described as a land of oil rigs,…
Since we reached our goal of thru hiking the AT, we needed a new goal. So we are going to try and knock off as many state high points as we can while we are jobless and homeless! We are 2 days into our epic road trip and so far, we have driven more than…
Goodbye Chicago. You have been good to us for the past 3 weeks, but it is time to move on. In Chicago, we played lots of games. Sadly, the boys dominated. Deal, who is the worst speller in the world, but best strategist, won every game of Scrabble. My BIL, Russ/Napolean Dynamite, won every game…
– Your grocery list contains foods invented solely to make people obese and you choose the products that weigh the least, while packing the most calories – You have difficulty recalling passwords, but you can spit out your start/end date, trail name and number of calories in a honey bun with no problem – The…
No one seems to believe us, but we really liked Cleveland! Yes, I am talking about Cleveland, Ohio. We spent three days there and here are at least three reasons to support our opinion. The FriendsWe recently had 2 sets of friends (Sara/Caliente, Mike/theFr & Shayna/BFFcoworker & family) move to the Cleveland from Phoenix (odd…
So post-trail life. Still going well. By all measures of success, we are on the right track. Lots of job applications out there, some interviews and freelance work coming my way. We also decided aside from our side trip to Cleveland this weekend, we’ll leave Chicago Nov. 21. Chicago is getting way TOO expensive for…
It’s a rainy day here in Chi-town. I appreciate being indoors so much more after doing the trail. When we were on the trail and it was raining, we would sometimes get a phone call, text or e-mail from someone off trail saying they were thinking of us. I always thought that was so nice.…
We have been off the AT for more than a week and you would think now that I have easy access to cell service and computers, I would be blogging more often. Clearly not the case. I’ve been so busy … doing practically nothing! Well, we did have the wedding, which was not just a…
As we trekked through the last 70ish miles in Georgia, we got a little bit of everything. We planned a long time ago to slow down and take our time in our last state. I definitely enjoyed doing smaller-mile days, but Deal was more anxious with the goal being so close. In the end, we…
2,181 miles 14 states 141 days June 6 to October 24 Dream come true! Thank you for all your support and prayers – couldn’t have done it without you all. Bigger update to come later …
We have reached our 14th and final state, Georgia! Theoretically, we have accomplished our goal: we hiked from Maine to Georgia. But, the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail is actually 67.5 miles south at Springer Mountain and that is where our journey will end in just 5 days, on Oct. 24. For now, we…
Folks, we have walked 2,018.4 miles and have been out in the woods for 131 days so far. We have 162.6 miles and 10 days left. That all just seems unbelievable, doesn’t it? We resupplied tonight in Fontana Dam, needing very little after opening all our mail magic! Something else monumental happened. Fire Marshall loves…
Hello from Hot Springs, NC, at Mile 1909.2 on Day 125, where we took a nero (near-zero) to shower & resupply! We are staying at a super-cool hostel; an old Victorian house from the 1800s called Elmer’s Sunnybank Inn. Hot Springs itself is a neat little town, but we did not indulge in the hot…
Happy Birthday to my lovely husband!!!! I don’t have much service, but I had to send a shout-out!! My wish for him is that he gains weight because his belt loop can’t tighten any more!!!
Remember how I said it was unseasonably cold here and we were about to climb to higher elevations where it was even colder? Well, we conferenced and decided to take a ZERO day at the Mountain Harbour B&B/Hostel, where they serve the most unbelievable breakfast!! Fire Marshall & I left it up to Deal, since…