April 7- April 19, 2024
Tallahassee, Diamondhead, Montgomery, Prattville, Gadsden, Charlotte, and Washington DC
Jimmy and I have just finished our 2,000 mile road trip and are now in Harpers Ferry waiting to begin our 2,000 mile backpacking trip. It was an interesting road trip that started out in Brunswick Georgia and took us to Kissimmee and Tallahassee, Florida, which is where our post two weeks ago ended.
Road Trip Weeks 2&3
From Tallahassee, we headed to Mississippi, Alabama and North Carolina to visit family. Then we took a rental car to Washington DC to catch a train into Harpers Ferry.
On this trip, we enjoyed a lot of time visiting families, but had to endure a lot of goodbyes as well. I was surprised to find how sad I was leaving Baxter behind in Mississippi. I know he is in a fantastic home and will be well looked after, but dang it, apparently I am fond of the big fuzzy guy. The excitement of the hike helped temper the sad feelings but admit that they come back during the quiet of the night.
From Mississippi, we headed to Montgomery Alabama. It turns out that the Olympic time trials for kayak and canoe racing were taking place there and Jimmy and I had the opportunity to watch the semi finals before leaving town. The venue was a really neat open space and watching the competition was a lot of fun.
These three weeks we have eaten so much food and have exercised very little. We just keep telling ourselves that soon getting enough calories will be a challenge.
Hiking Prep
At each of our stops we have spent time sorting through our backpacking gear, pulling out more and more items in an attempt to lighten our load. It appears that our base weight (packs & gear without food and water) is about 21 lbs each. With food we are around 30 A liter or two of water still needs to be added.
We did the last of our food provisioning in Charlotte and now should have enough food and snacks for four days. provisioning is an art we do not yet have down. We prefer to not over pack food because it just adds weight to our packs, yet do not want to run out of food in between towns.
Speaking of weight, it was interesting walking through Washington DC with our loaded packs. They felt heavy and they stick out far beyond our backs. We just hope we didn’t smack anyone behind us. After reaching our hotel we made adjustments to the weight distribution and to our straps. It appears that we adjusted correctly because the walk to the train station from the hotel was less awkward.
The final days leading up to our train trip found the two of us fluctuating between nervousness and excitement. It is kind of surreal that the hike is about to start. A lot of planning was put into place, and we are fortunate that the pieces have lined up.
Oh, I’ve had several people ask how my ankle and shoes are doing. The ankle is healing very well. It’s still store sore and stiff, but I do not believe it will hinder me, other than the need to be more cautious the first month on trail. So far the boots seem to be doing okay, but only a hard day on the trail will provide a clear answer.
We plan to continue to upload blog posts each week. These will be created from our cell phones on the trail and thus a bit raw. However the email and Facebook notifications will most likely be delayed. You may need to head to the website to see the blogs in a timely manner. I will schedule this and other posts to be sent out at 9 am on Sundays (fingers crossed). Our thru-hike progress on the Appalachian Trail can be tracked by using the Garmin tracker button provided from the Links page of the website.
The next post will capture our train trip, getting our thru-hike hang tags, then hitting the trail at the close of the Flip Flop Kickoff Festival!
Also, The last of the road trip pictures can be found here. Take a look at weeks 2 & 3.