Happy Birthday America!
From the top of Mt. Washington!!
MAINE – 1 state down, 13 to go!
So we’ve finished Maine! It was exactly 281.4 miles, the second longest state on the trail. I wouldn’t exactly call ME easy, but the challenges were rewarded with incredible beauty, much of it in remote wilderness. Here’s a recap of Maine …24 days11 nights slept in a tent8 nights slept in a lean-to shelter 5…
Mile 297.9 – Days 23-26
Hello from Gorham, NH, where we are enjoying yet another wonderful hiker hostel! We have finished Maine!!! It feels so good to have one state under our belt. A real mental boost for sure. But, Maine did not let us get out without a few more bumps and bruises … Here’s a recap of the…
Mile 256.5 – Days 20 – 22
The trail has definitely beaten us up these past few days!! We have been with Fire Marshall since we left Rangeley and we all agree we are ready to get out of Maine. As if the bogtastic bogs were not bad enough on their own, the mass amount of rainfall we got made them so…
Mile 220 – Days 17 – 19
Greetings from Rangeley, ME! We are in the process of receiving the best trail magic evah! Remember I mentioned we’ve been hiking and camping on and off with a fellow SOBO Fire Marshall? For the past few days, he has been 1 day ahead of us. His family came up from VA to vacation in…
Mile 187.8 – Days 13-16
The last update I gave you was from the Northern Outdoors Center, where we hobnobbed with some NOBOs and enjoyed the center’s luxuries. We even ran into some friends from NH (Grant and Jill who run Untamed New England Adventure Race). They gave us a dose of trail magic by picking up our tab at…
Mile 151.2 – Days 11-13
Hello from the Northern Outdoors Center in The Forks, ME (population 31), where there is no cell service, but there is free wireless! Three days ago, we left the luxuries of Monson. We had a mail drop to pick up in Caratuck, so we had a choice. We could either hoof it in 3 days…
Mile 114.5 – Days 1-10 Part Dos
The laundry is done and we are ready to hit the trail early tomorrow morning with clean clothes, clean bodies and full bellies. Monson has been a blast. Trail towns can definitely reel you in with their super hospitality and local culture. We are here with 5 other SOBOs we’ve been hiking on and off…
AT Mile 114.5 – Days 1-10
We are currently in Monson, ME, taking a near-zero (nero) day at Shaw’s Lodging, an awesome hiker hostel. We have showered, eaten and are now catching up with the outside world. First of all, we want to thank everyone for their thoughts, prayers, text messages, voice mails, letters, etc. We have had a great time…
44 miles complete!
We are about to go to bed but I turned on my phone and saw very random little service in Maine’s 100-mile wilderness. Figured I’d let you all know we are doing great and have been hiking for 4 days now and are 44 miles in! Keep those thoughts and prayers coming because they have…
One Last Post
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,…
Have You Seen My Husband?
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…
4 Days!!!
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…
One Week from the AT!
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…
Valley of the SUN
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…
Chop, Chop
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…
Adios Fernando
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…
More Cake
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…
Friday the 13th
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…
Surprise!
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…