Does anybody want to buy a Porsche?

It is Saturday and I haven't left yet. I won't go into too many details, but I have been tying up a lot of loose-ends and working on getting my car, a 1983 Porsche 944, ready to sell. Do you want to pick up a project car? This has been taking a lot of my time, but I am set to hit the trail tomorrow morning!

One of those loose-ends was writing a mass-email to pretty much everybody that I know (at least everybody that I remember I know)... which took over two hours to do because I didn't have any email addresses stored in MD and ended up having to look up every single email address. If I forgot to include you, I am sorry! No offense intended! Well, maybe... just to you Andy! I just wasn't cut out to be a spammer.

My pack officially weighs 42 pounds at most (with two liters of water and about seven days worth of food on board). Without the food and water, the bag should be tipping the scales at about 26 pounds. Not too bad.

Testing for text message!

Testing for text message!


...Well, it seems as though I will be able to use my cell phone to do updates while on the trail! (The above message came from my cell phone!!!) Those posts will not be as long as these past few... but I'll try and get as much info in them as possible and update them once I am in front of a computer!

As this is my last post before I begin the trek, I thought that it would be a good idea to let everyone know where I finally decided to begin hiking: The Delaware Water Gap. It is at the northern end of the PA section of the trail, which is approximately 231 miles away from the MD state line.

If all goes according to plan, I should reach MD by the end of September and have a convenient chance to bail out then (family members with AC are located conveniently close to the trail right over the MD state line!). If I don't bail, I should finish the MD and WV portions of the trail in a few days and be set to tackle the mere 550 miles of trail wandering through Virginia!

Wish me luck!

I should get some food sometime, huh?

I received a package in the mail today from Wisconsin. It contained the ever important books that will help me plan my meals and stops on the trail, books that I forgot to bring with me when I left the cheese state! Jessica was kind enough to sift through my storage unit to find them and ship them out to me. She’s so sweet ;-)

Since I have to carry everything that I will eat, I’ve got to pack as many calories into each pound as possible. Being a vegetarian makes this even more interesting... no meats makes protein a tough commodity to come by. There will be lots of pasta, grains, beans, nuts, and anything that is typically prepared by boiling it in water! Can anybody say Good Old Raisins and Peanuts? All the “expert” sources have said that I will consume about two pounds of food a day to support a hiker’s 4000(+) calorie per day diet. This means that I will need to carry about fifteen pounds of food alone in order to survive for a week on the trail. I’m sure that I will try to cut down on long legs of the journey in order to save on weight… eventually. Grocery shopping is going to be a fun time tomorrow!

Preparations

Ever since I was about four feet tall, I’ve thought about hiking the length of the Appalachian Trail somehow, someway. Unfortunately, serious planning had never taken place before this past fall. Then, for some reason, I went to pains in order to distract myself from school and work in order to figure out if it would even be possible for me to undertake such a trip. I mean, 2150 (or so) miles? Come on! Even I don’t think that it’s a smart idea…

After months of researching, planning, and wasting tax refunds on camping gear, I stand before you as a totally clueless traveler about to attempt a partial hike of the Appalachian Trail. The plan has shifted several times; I originally wanted to begin in July and wanted to do the whole trail. As you may notice, it is September and I am planning on beginning the hike in northern Pennsylvania. Oh well… as long as I try, right?

I am set to be dropped off on the side of the road by my old man this Thursday, September 13, 2007. From there, I will begin to hike south until it is too cold to do so anymore, or until I stop having fun. Forget A/C, forget clean showers, forget TV’s, and forget civilized life; I am on my way to lose myself in nature (so long as I don’t forget my map).

First Post

The purpose behind this blog is to keep my friends and family (and apparently the rest of the online community) updated on my whereabouts as I am roaming around on the Appalachian Trail and living life in different places. It seems as though it will be much easier to keep a blog than constantly maintaining an email list and calling twenty people a day. We will see...

Immediate news: I am planning on hiking a portion of the Appalachian Trail over the next few months. To give you an idea of where this trail is, I've uploaded this map to the left, compliments of the Appalachian Trail Convervancy.