March 22

This will be my last update from home before I hit the trail.  Leaving for Georgia tomorrow.  Probably won't get much sleep tonight.  I keep looking through my guide book, in anticipation of what I'll see the first couple of weeks out.  I get excited looking at every peak that I will climb.  The views, the shelters, the creeks, everything.  Ocassionally some fear creeps in, usually when I have time alone to think, and my mind starts wandering.  I think it's good to be a little scared, it shows a respect for the task at hand.  Overall I think I'm doing pretty well about all this.  I've put alot of time in research and planning for this, and that knowledge helps ease my mind.  Although, I do keep second guessing my choices in gear and supplies.  I just need to get out there and everything will work itself out.  I've done multi-day backpacking trips before, so I know what works.  Doing that over and over again for months on end will trim my choices down as I fine tune things even more.  Can't wait to get into the groove of things.  It's supposed to rain this weekend.  Kinda bummed about that for my first days (and nights) on the trial.  Oh well.  I mailed out my first resupply food box to myself, which I should pick up after about the first five days or so.  Just made hotel reservations for tomorrow night.  Mind is racing, hard to focus.  This is going to be amazing!  Bags are packed.  Ready to go.  Until next time...

March 15

Beware the Ides of March!

I finished my last day of work.  Turned in all my keys and the cell phone.  That was weird.  Not really sure how to feel about that yet, but it has been nice to not hear that ringer going off the past two days!  It is hard walking away after almost 10 years, and I'm going to miss C'ville.  Bye everyone!  See you in a couple months....

Now I'm at my parents house in Page County.  This is rural Virginia.  We have goats and cows for neighbors.  Sure smells different up here, hehe.  The funny thing is though, that this is just the kind of community I will be reconnecting with on the Trail.  There's so many small rural towns that I will get to see along the way, and I'm looking forward to the experience of seeing small town USA and a slice of Americana that could soon be lost.

Over the next few days I plan to run some errands to pick up some last minute items before I take off for my hike.  I think I want to stop by a pharmacy and pick up a couple doses of this drug I found out about online that is used to combat Lyme disease.  I figure if I'm in the middle of nowhere and notice a tick that is embedded in my skin, I can pop a couple pills until I can get to a doctor to have the bite site examined.  In other medical related news, I just got another bill from UVa for my visit to the hospital this winter.  Not a fan on UVa hospital system.  The invoice was dated 3/2/12, for a procedure on 1/5/12.  Are you kidding me?  Then the due date is 3/18.  So let me get this straight, you take 2 months to bill me, but expect payment in a couple weeks.....great.  Since I left my job, I had to pick up my own insurance policy, and that has been a bit of good news.  I got a call from the agent, and I ended up qualifying for the policy in a better health bracket, so my premiums will be about $40 less a month than I expected.  Awesome.  That equates to an extra hostel stay, trip to an all you can eat buffet, load of laundry, and pint or two at a pub each month.

I am going to start putting together some mail drops to send myself.  There's a few hostels and outfitters along the way through Georgia, NC, and Tenn that I want to stop by, so I'm going to send myself some food and supplies to avoid paying high prices for those items for the first few weeks on the trail.  I also need to start packing, unpacking, and repacking my gear to get used to where everything should fit in my pack.  Other than that, I plan on watching some NCAA tourney games.  Hope UVa can pull off a couple wins!  I have them upsetting Florida first, then I have them shocking Mizzou in the next round.  Hoping that their lock down style of D can slow down the talent Mizzou has, but it's a long shot.  The only thing riding on my bracket is bragging rights, so no biggie.

Some trees are starting to bud down here in the valley.  Flowers are starting to bloom too.  It's supposed to be 80* today.  This warm weather is throwing everything off.  I feel like I'm missing the start of Spring and I need to get on the trail.  I think winter will have one more surprise to throw at me though.  Probably end up snowing 3 feet on me somewhere in the Smokeys in April.

March 1

Been very busy lately.  This past monday, my uncle helped me move everything out of my apartment and into storage.  Had a great lunch at an Indian restaurant in town.  Then that evening my aunts prepared a delicious dinner of some of my favorites:  roast beef, cheese grits, asparagus, and yorkshire pudding.  Tuesday I had to work, and Wednesday morning I turned in my keys.  Officially no longer a Charlottesville resident, after 10 years.  It was kinda sad leaving.  I really liked that apartment.  Locking the door and walking away, I started to recall good memories.  I remembered shoveling out my car from the heavy snow storms, spending time with my brother wrapping Christmas presents in the living room, hearing the children play outside at the daycare center near by, all the early mornings and late nights coming and going.....and it hit me like a ton of bricks; I won't be coming back to that place again.  Reality is here.  This is a strange feeling.  I haven't felt it in years, since leaving Williamsburg after college, and leaving home before that to go to college.  My adult life so far has been spent in Charlottesville, so I am writing this with a heavy heart.  But.......for all those somber emotions, I am equally excited, and then some, to start this journey.  I can't wait to get on the trail.  What a marker to start the next chapter!  If you're going to do it, why not go all out, right?  I will be setting out with no other plans except to just take the trail experience for what it is.  I feel like starting at Springer with a kilt, blue face paint, and yelling "Frrreeeeeddddooooommmmm!".  Yeh, that's not going to happen, but it's funny to imagine.  Oh, and I've gotten a head start on my trail beard.  Haven't shaved in a week.  I feel like I'm cheating a little bit, but I figure it'll be good to get the itchy stage out of the way.  So if any of y'all see me before I leave, I might look a little different!  Considering I get 5 o'clock shadow at noon, this should get interesting.