This may be my last post before we start hiking 5 million steps on the AT, but I have a few last-minute updates.Our starting weights are:Patrice (yes I am admitting my weight to the Internets, gasp): 133.8 lbsJustin: 155.2 lbsOur first mail drop will be in Monson, ME. We expect to arrive there June 17,…
I woke up next to this strange guy this morning …He looked like this yesterday until Tammy (of the GAF) took the clippers to him.Then he shaved all his facial hair. And now he looks like he is 18 and ready to enlist in the military!!! Just one more step to make life on the…
I can’t even begin to describe the roller coaster of craziness we are on. We’ve been in just about every state in May … except maybe Minnesota? We’ve been packing, unpacking, visiting family/friends, concert-going (J), sleeping in a different bed every night, trying to plan out those last-minute trail details and making sure our life…
We are just days from starting our big hike and things are super busy, but I am long overdue for updates. Numero uno thing requires a back story. J can’t eat nuts. On the trail, one of the best sources of protein is nuts. Most granola bars contain nuts for this reason (I assume). J…
We spent 4 days in Phoenix. It was certainly nice to see the sun, since NH has apparently strayed far, far, far from the center of the solar system. Here’s how I know we are lacking in our vitamin D. Homeless Man in the Park says to J: Brother, you need to get some sun.Then…
We’re still in Phoenix and it’s hot. We are getting ready to attend Sunshine’s wedding and we were all sitting around hanging out, including my old hairdresser from when I lived here. Well, we got to talking about me cutting my hair before the trail and donating it. I had a hair appt scheduled for…
We sold my car yesterday. It was bittersweet for me because Fernando & I have been together longer than J & I have been! He has lived coast to coast with me and we have shared 124,000 miles together. I know his new owner will take very good care of him, so that helps. We…
It always happens that we make our friends when we are leaving a place. I’ve found as adults, it takes 3 years to settle into a place and make friends, especially when you don’t have kids to make it happen for you. We’ve been in NH for 3 years, 10 months. So without fail, for…
Today is J’s last day of work. He decided to wear his favorite green shirt.Out of the 3 years, 10 months he has been in this position, he probably wore this shirt once a week. We said more goodbyes this week. J had his spring gathering with other rec directors around the state on Wednesday…
We are currently in Chicagoland! We surprised J’s mom and grandma. For the past 4 years, we have been coming to Chicago for Mother’s Day, but this year we said no can do. But we lied. And they were super surprised. We got to see SILAdventure and DocDoc for all of 20 hours (6 hours…
J has the incredible ability to get things for a discount or even for free. That guy is one smooth talker … He won me over with hello. He has trained me and I have gotten better at this skill, but I will never be J. Just like Chris Angel will never be David Copperfield.…
Our yard sale helped us get rid of some small stuff and we donated the rest. We still have some bigger items, like book shelves, etc., that we’d like to divest, but there’s time and craigslist. Gotta love the craig. The rest of the weekend was spent with friends. First, we went up north to…
WE ARE NOW 31 DAYS FROM STARTING OUR TREK. Sorry for the all caps, but I am bursting with every emotion possible! So anyways, 31 days. That’s 744 hours. 44,640 minutes. You get the point. D-Day is almost upon us. Oddly enough, June 6, our starting date, IS actually the anniversary of a real D-Day,…
Last week with the family here, we took off from trail planning. It was a very welcome break. I didn’t wake up in the middle of the night running over my to-do list in my head. Instead I just woke in the middle of the night in a pool of sweat because my parents get…
A few months ago, my dad suggested we (us, my parents, my sister’s family) take a vacation before J & I hit the trail. So we (I) planned it all out to coincide with the kids’ spring break and to take place up in the White Mountains of NH. My sister kept saying, “why can’t…
With 7 weeks until trail time, we are up to our eyeballs in gear for the trail. Buying, sorting and packing. We already owned enough gear to open our own little shop, but of course, we bought more toys for the trail. We got a number of gift cards to REI for Christmas and beyond,…
Lots of people are asking us, “can I/we send you something on the trail?” The answer is, yes you can, pleaseandthankyou!! We (translation, I) carefully laid out specific towns where we will plan to pick up packages versus towns where we shop and resupply at the local grocer. Here are some guidelines if you plan…
We did some major spring cleaning through our belongings this weekend to prepare for the arduous task of packing up our lives and dispersing it to several locations. But, we couldn’t let the weekend go by without getting outside and enjoying the sunshine and spring weather (finally). So we went biking with Paul & Kristen…
The town is talking … here’s an article in our local newspaper about J’s departure. Something I haven’t mentioned on the blog is that since J gave his notice, there’s talk about changing his position, cutting the hours. J does not want to see that happen. He thought by giving so much notice, they could…
Lots of questions coming in about our big adventure, so I put together a trail FAQ page. It’s long, but very informative. I can always add to it, so if there is something that needs explaining, let us know! Enjoy your education! What are you doing?We are attempting to thru-hike the Appalachian Trail (AT) Southbound…