Just a reminder …

For those of you who like to get email updates, and are truly interested in our progress, I just wanted to remind you that we have actually migrated this blog over to our own domain. We are bow officially twohikingidiots.com, and have pretty much stopped posting here. We hope you all would like to continue to follow us, and will keep this blog around for a bit longer so that those who wish can know where to go to register. We look forward to seeing you all there!

A small change…

The new site is ready.

Please visit us at www.twohikingidiots.com for all your future crazed hiking idiots updates.

If you have not done so, please resubscribe on the new site.

Thanks and happy hiking!

(Our Facebook page is unaffected and is posting normally)

A Sad Realization

When Steve and I undertake this hike, and then complete this hike, we are going to be going through quite startling physical transformations over the course of the 6-month hiking adventure.

We are both going to lose weight. A LOT of weight. Once we get into full hiking shape, on the trail, it will be impossible for us to eat enough daily calories to make up for what we are burning on a daily basis.

We are going to finish as lean, mean, walking machines…..easily in the best physical shapes of our lives from the past three decades or so.

We are also going to have a little more hair. Yes, even Steve….will have hair……….. 6 months of uncut, ungroomed hair! And beards! Six months of glorious hiking beards!

I have seen a trend in looking at photos of male hikers who have completed the trail.

Without fail, a male hiker will start the trail in Georgia, with no two hikers looking alike, and by the time they finish atop Mt. Katahdin in Maine, EVERY male hiker will look like the spitting image of 1980’s Singing Sensation Kenny Loggins.

At first, I thought…..COOL!! I go into this hike looking like Santa Claus’ twin brother and I come out the other end looking like 1980’s Kenny Loggins!

The wife was OK with this….

“You’re gonna look like Kenny Loggins from my High School days huh Idiot? I can live with that…”

But..

Then, I realized that this phenomenon only applies to hikers under the age of 40.

My eyes feverishly looked through photos of “older” hikers, hoping that they would at least come out of the hike looking like…

Actor Sam Elliott.

Yeah! That’s the ticket! I go in looking like Santa Claus….and come out looking like Sam Elliott!

The wife hears me talking to myself and yells across the room… “I could live with Sam Elliott!! Of course YOU would have to move out….but Sam could stay!”

But, of course, this was not to be.

I looked closer at photographs of hikers atop Katahdin that would be in OUR age range by the time we finish the hike.

Ouch!!

Without fail, every male hiker over the age of 40 who actually completes the trail, will be posing atop the sign on Mt. Katahdin and will be the spitting image of…

Someone quite different.

No Kenny Loggins for Steve or I….

No Sam Elliott for the wife.

Instead..

Just call us “Uncle Jesse”…………

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Appalachian Trials

(Book cover: Zach Davis)

One of the books that I have read concerning the Appalachian Trail has really hit home for me. This book is “Appalachian trials: The Psychological and Emotional Guide to Successfully Thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail” by Zach Davis.

As its title suggests, this book deals more with the TRIALS of the trail versus being a play-by-play recap of the authors hike.

After reading this book, you realize that probably 75% or more of the ability to complete the trail is purely mental.

I have read multiple books that all state that you do NOT have to be in peak physical condition to attempt the trail. On the contrary, most authors agree that if you show up in decent shape, with the ability to walk about 10 miles per day while carrying 30-50 lbs on your back, you will do just fine. The trail has a remarkable way of turning EVERYONE into a seasoned, fit hiker within the first few weeks on the trail. Translation: you do not have to show up with the physical ability to hike 25-30 miles per day, every day of the week. Over time, the trail will give you that ability.

This book suggests that the Psychological stress of the trail is the main reason that most hikers quit long before finishing the trail. The trail is a Psychological Marathon of epic proportions that few are prepared for. The trail has a unique way to Psychologically attack any potential hikers long before they even step foot on the trail itself.

I can relate.

The trail has been attacking me with my fears ever since I came up with this crazy idea.

My brain is constantly churning…

“I can’t make it!………My feet and legs will never hold up for that long….”

“I don’t have the balance to be walking on small ledges or rocks with a drop-off that will kill you”

“My biggest phobia of my life is FEAR OF SNAKES…..and this trail is crawling with snakes!!”

“What if I get a blood clot out in the middle of nowhere?”

“It takes an act of God for me to just be able to put on my own shoes, here in my house, with furniture and chairs to use for support. How will I put my hiking shoes on inside a tiny little tent?”

“The guide books say there are sections of rock scrambling where you must leap from rock to rock….. how can I leap with two numb legs and a bad foot?”

Most important…

“Good Lord! Ya mean I gotta POOP in the woods????!!!!!”

Sigh…….

I am guilty of something that most all AT Hikers are guilty of. I have spent a lot of time online reading Journals of AT Hikers and have spent a good amount of time watching every AT-Related YOU TUBE video I can find. People who write journals and who take videos tend to focus in on the HARD aspects of the trail. There are few videos of people walking along straight and flat trail through the woods. Most videos highlight the hikers scrambling over boulders the size of small houses, crawling up rocks and hills so steep that they are literally on their hands and knees, sliding down hills so steep that they have to hold onto exposed tree roots to keep themselves from sliding out of control, huffing and puffing up a steep mountain which seemingly never ends, only to point out that they have 7 more such mountains before the next shelter in which they can stop to sleep for the night.

All the while, I am sitting there, mumbling………. “Good grief! I can’t do that!!”

I call the wife and kid in here to the computer, show them videos, and then they too chime in unison “You can’t do that!”

The trail is already speaking to me, whispering.

“YOU!…….ARE AN IDIOT FOR EVEN THINKING YOU CAN CONQUER ME!! I WILL CRUSH YOU LIKE A BUG!!”

Obviously, most of my Psychological fears arise from my physical issues and my lifelong fear of snakes.

Most hikers are fine physically and have little to no fear of our slithering little poison-filled friends.

How does the trail get to them?

Various ways, including:

Body Freezing cold in the southern mountains during the early stages of the hike. Hiking in snow just deep enough to where you cannot easily see the trail, allowing you to twist your ankles on hidden rocks and roots. Temps so cold at night that your hiking boots and water bottles all freeze solid. Hiking in cold rain or snow to where most of your clothing and belongings get wet, causing all of them to freeze during the night.

Endless days of constantly hiking up and down mountains with little respite or flat trail in between.

Hiking endless days and weeks in forest so thick that you cannot see any views, cannot tell which direction you are hiking, with every day seeming to be a carbon copy of every day of the past few weeks.

Hiking and sleeping in the same clothes for days on end. Wet, musty, disgusting clothes.

In later stages you get oppressive heat and humidity that sap your energy and make each day a constant struggle of trying to stumble from one water source to the next.

Bugs! Trillions of bugs! Everywhere! Buzzing around your head, your mouth, all day and night long. Spending half the night in your tent swatting the bugs that have found their way in. Realizing the bugs are only going to get worse as you head north.

Realizing you have only enough food left for one meal, yet you are 30 miles from the next point in which you can get food.

These are actual Physical and mental issues that all hikers encounter, but issues that your mind tells you “WILL NEVER END”.

“ALL DAYS ARE GOING TO BE LIKE THIS!!”

It is these days that the trail claims most of it’s victims, even though there will be many days ahead where you are dry, well nourished, have great scenery, feel great, and the bugs are at a minimum.

A hiker, in good physical shape, physically able to complete the whole trail, will just up and quit, sometimes only days or weeks into the hike.

They will be standing in the middle of the trail, in the midst of a huge forest with seemingly no end, will be soaking wet, shivering, freezing to death, starving because they did not ration their food properly, will be homesick, will have blistered and bloodied feet, will have sore ankles, knees, and joints, their back will ache from the crushing weight of their pack, they are lonely because they have not seen another human all day long, they are paranoid about all the strange noises they keep hearing deep in the forest, they realize that they have 6 more MONTHS of this torture, they come to the realization that no one is forcing them to do this crazy hike…

and they quit.

More than a few hikers have all echoed the same advice: “Never quit on a bad day“.

Virginia is relatively early in the length of the trail. More than a few books I have read all agree that nearly 50% of the hikers will quit before ever reaching Virginia. Most agree that Virginia and the early states are the EASIEST on the trail. The trail is claiming most of it’s victims BEFORE they even come close to the real challenging stretches of trail.

Most are done in by the Psychological tolls of the trail.

They THINK AND BELIEVE that they are always going to be wet and miserable, the trail is NEVER going to be flat, they are always going to be hungry, they are always going to be in pain, these bugs are never going to go away, they are sure to step on a rattlesnake at any point now, and this was easily the biggest mistake of their lives.

(Part of the “Trail” in Maine)

When Steve and I hit the trail, I’m going to make sure that each of us is Psychologically prepared for everything that the trail with throw at us.

In 2010, I did a Charity Trip to South America with a Firefighting Charity that a relative had started. There was an instance where we were all on a bus, high in the Andes Mountains of Peru, on a road so-dangerous it is called “The Road of Death”, in which all of us were honestly in fear of our lives ending at any moment, when our leader Don just laughed and called out “It’s all part of the experience folks!!…It’s all part of the experience!”

I honestly feared I would die on that trip, but now I look back on it and laugh. He was right. It’s all part of the experience! I look back now and take pride in the fact that I survived the “Road of Death”.

That’s the way to approach the Appalachian Trail.

You just gotta realize that the trail is going to throw everything it has at you, trying like crazy to get you to quit.

No matter how miserable we may get, we just have to smile and yell up to the skies “That’s all you got?”.

“It’s all part of the experience!”

Years from now, Steve and I will be telling the fellow residents of the Nursing Home about how we were freezing to death, soaking wet, starved, crawling up mountains, jumping from rock to rock, dodging snakes, bears, moose, dealing with every flying insect imaginable, how we spent days running from toothless, knuckle-dragging crossbred hill people, and how we conquered it all.

It was all part of the experience.

Think about it. Who wants to sit and listen to a hiker who has completed the trail, with the hiker saying “Everything was a piece of cake, no problems at all, just a long walk in the woods…..(yawn)”

Heck, people want to hear the good stuff! They want to hear all the stuff you overcame in order to finish the trail.

It’s all part of the experience!

(Even pooping in the woods)

Humbled Idiot

OK, so Steve has gotten REAL serious about getting in shape and losing weight, hiring personal trainers to yell at him and all………

I walked 4 miles yesterday and had planned on resting until like…..October……….so that my body could recuperate from the trauma of yesterday’s walk.

Then, Steve takes the gloves off, so I have to rethink my strategy..

So, this morning, in the blistering 62 degree Texas Heat, I headed back out the door, to walk 4 MORE miles!

Yeah Baby!!

There I was, about a half-mile from home, chugging along, face down, gray beard billowing behind me as I cut through the wind, “I can’t drive 55” by Sammy Hagar blasting on the Ipod……

Maintaining a ridiculously fast pace that no mortal human could possibly keep up with….

Until I suddenly caught a glimpse of a large shadow over my left shoulder.

I struggled to turn my head to the side. With the massive amount of G-Forces I was generating by walking so darn fast it was not easy to do……

And then I saw THEM.

Yes, THEM.

Two gals, probably in their 70’s….

Pink hair, pink walking pants, pink water bottles, happily chatting away and laughing…

As they blew past me WALKING on the road.

I struggled to raise a tired arm to give them the “How ya doin?” wave….

and then they were gone…

Getting ever smaller as they walked ahead of me….laughing….joking…….with their pink hair blowing in the wind.

Translation: Death might be slow.

I am slower.

I chugged along for the remainder of that first mile. I reached the driveway that I know is exactly one mile from my front door and looked down at my watch.

22:00 minutes….

Appropriately, “All by Myself” by Eric Carmen was now playing on the Ipod.

Walking this slow, that’s what I’m gonna be out on the trail….

All by Myself.

Steve will have plenty of time to blog about our exploits seeing as how he will be spending hours on rocks and tree stumps waiting for my slow butt to catch up.

This Idiot has been humbled.Hopefully, after 1090 days of training, I can at least KEEP UP WITH the pink-haired speed walkers in town.

But, on the bright side, that’s 8 miles walked in two days….

Though the trail will demand we walk that distance BEFORE LUNCH each day…

Yikes!

Things are getting serious now……….

Only 1091 more days until we hit the trail, and Steve has cranked up the training competition a notch or two….

Steve knows that most of the calories I burn in a typical day are burned while sitting here typing at the computer on one of the 3,951 blogs in my Idiot Empire. Steve also knew that I had gotten an early jump on the weight loss and physical exercise challenge by going out and walking a couple miles yesterday.

I don’t know how he did it, but somehow Steve manipulated our local phone lines and Internet routers so that I had NO INTERNET service today….all FREAKING day long!!

I can tell ya this… You sure don’t burn many calories starting at your modem waiting and praying for the little GREEN light to come back on. (Throwing a cat at the modem does not help either)

So, while Steve was out signing up for some Personal Trainer-type thigamajig to help him drop some pounds, I managed to drag my Internet-less butt back out the door for a FOUR mile walk (Cannon fire….followed by ceremonial release of doves)………….THEN, I got on the stationary bike and pedaled some more miles.

(Start the theme from “Rocky” now)

The topper to this display of physical determination and prowess was the large piece of CAKE that I downed after climbing off the bike…….

(I’m a weak-willed Idiot)

On the actual Hiking front, I purchased yet another E-Book on the Appalachian Trail at about 8pm last night and as of 3pm today, I was done with it. No Internet connection leaves plenty of time to read.

I’ll talk more about the book in a later post.

(The book: “How to kill your hiking partner and dispose of their body in 10 easy steps”)

Now, if you’ll excuse me….I need to get back to the training table so that I can finish this meal of FAT FREE CHICKEN STRIPS, FAT FREE GRAVY, and ZERO CALORIE ROLLS.

Burp!…….

The trail tail grows

I did not really intend to write again so soon, but the decision to go forward with this has given me a serious sugar high. It has nothing to do with anything I have ingested recently. I swear!

As youse observant types might have noticed, there is a new menu item up that away ↑↑↑.

Whatever you do, don’t click on it!!!

Do NOT press HERE either! Just because our addendum to the plan may be so earth shattering … so news worthy that the word Idiot will no doubt need to officially change its dictionary definition … is no reason to CLICK ON THAT PAGE!!

Don’t do it!

I am watching you!

As a matter of fact, just ignore everything above this sentence!

A quick update:

I have now officially signed on as a TEAM BEACHBODY COACH. What exactly does this mean? It just so happens I am going to tell you. Wether you really want to know or not.

It means:

• I have actually paid out money to get my sorry ass in shape, meaning that if I don’t follow through, my financial advisor (mom) will no doubt spank me thoroughly and ground me for weeks.
• I now have personal drill sergeant, as well as a group of experienced exercise commandos, to ensure that I put down that candy bar and actually work up enough sweat to make the Sahara green.
• I have the potential to actually torment others after they see my new god like body and make a few bucks.
• I will now be the guy who can KICK the sand on the beach, thereby no doubt having a following of bikini clad beauties on my tail.
• I have a name for the best-selling book and movie that will no doubt come out moments after we finish: Mountain Watch. We will have a picture of both of our sleek oiled up bodies in a nice red swimsuit on the cover.

On top of that, I have actually started counting my calories. Granted at the moment I am just seeing how high I can go, but it’s a start. Add to all this getting out of bed by 930 and sweating for a whole ten minutes, and I feel well on the way to stardom fitness.

Oh yeah, we are supposed to be training: Day 1.5

GuiltedInspired by Mark’s fresh start and enthusiasm, I too must step it up, and it does not hurt to post the official starting stats to shamegoad me into action. So here I am with the details of MY fresh start:

April 3, 2013

9 pm

A Wedding Function Hall

Taochild (affectionately known as Kramer in this arena) has just finished working a bar shift, the first real “work” he has done in a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time.

Serving roughly 400 thirsty networkers for 3 hours, especially when beer, wine and soda is free, officially counts as heavy training in my book. So I am calling that my frist official workout.

The tossing and turning all night because of how sore I am was just bonus calorie burning.

April 4, 2013

Taochild’s cave

Clad in … well you really don’t want that picture … Mountain Steve rolls out of bed bright and early at 1030. This in itself is a feat since the bed is surrounded by three walls and a dresser. Being hungry from my labor (and lack of sleep) of the precious night, I grab a banana and make a turkey sandwich on a bagel  and sit in front of the computer for a bit of relaxation and catching up on things while I eat brunch. Only for a short time of course.

Two and a half hours later, having been sucked in by FB, specifically a conversation about how to get into shape that wore me out, I read the Idiot’s update and realized that I was already getting left behind.

I quickly ran to my scale (read that as a brisk waddle) and stepped on it. It will not be a completely good reading because I just ate and it is not the first thing in the morning, but it will be a working figure. I get on the scale and looking down, cant’ quite see what it says. There seems to be a belly in the way.

It’s down there somewhere!

I lean forward so I can see around said belly.

168.7

Ecstatic to be starting at such a good point, I realize that as I leaned forward, I put my hands on the counter for support. Hands removed and I get my precarious balance and look again.

Flashing a serious of numbers AROUND 244. Since this is roughly where I was at on my last weigh in, we will call it …

244.0

The masochistsdoctors claim I should be about 180 or less. So I figure I will aim for a more realistic number like 195 to 200.

I am writing this before actually doing any exercise today, but the plan is to either walk a couple of miles as the Idiot did, or do some iPhone exercises that can actually be pretty intense. Maybe even both if I feel like abusing myself. But here we have it. this is the official starting point. I too will be weighing in every monday morning, and I expect much abuse and vicious glares if I back-slide again!

OK now I am off. Putting on my sweat band as soon as I post this (even if it is pretty chilly in these parts too)! I might add an update when I am done.

NOTE:

Haven’t even managed to finish this post and already have an update. No I have not actually gotten sweaty yet. But I am chatting with a Personal Slave DriverTrainer as I type these words. The mere fear of what she is describing has already caused me to sweat off about 16 lbs. And the money I have now spent is definitely worth another pound or three. Well on my way now!

Training for the Idiot: Day One

(kctourwalk.com)

April 3, 2013

9pm

Idiot Master Bedroom

The Idiot and his wife are watching “Nashville”. (Quit laughing, I like Connie Britton, what can I say?)

The wife glances over at her Idiot husband, the Idiot husband that is clutching two chocolate chip cookies in one hand and a cool glass of milk in the other.

“How’s that training coming Idiot?”

(My wife, holder of two degrees in the Dark Arts of Psychology, knows exactly which buttons to push)

April 4, 2013

Idiot Household

Clad only in dark green jockey briefs (TMI), the world’s whitest human shuffles across the floor and approaches the digital scale.

He sucks in his gut, raises his shoulders, throws his head back, and then lets out more air than a Sperm Whale that has been submerged for three hours. Now shriveled and “airless”, the idiot wobbles onto the scale and tries to stand perfectly still.

The scale creaks, cracks, and groans under the weight of the overweight whitest man on the planet.

289.6

That is my official APPALACHIAN TRAIL TRAINING PROGRAM starting weight.

In my head, I envision starting hiking at about 225 lbs. The trail supposedly takes 10%-20% off your body weight over the course of the hike, so this would result in a triumphant photo atop Mt. Katahdin with my weighing UNDER 200 lbs for the first time in about 25 years.

Minutes later, the training has commenced.

The Idiot has waddled out of his closet.

Gray New Balance Running Shoes
White “bootie” socks
Blue Running Shorts
Bright Red “CANADA” pullover
Bright Yellow “Oregon Ducks” Baseball Cap
Green Ipod

The Idiot in Training looks like something out of a Simpsons Cartoon.

And with that, the Idiot clicked on his Ipod, Katy Perry and “California Gurls” started blaring, the front door slammed shut, and the Idiot headed out onto the streets of his tiny town.

Note to self: Cold, Misty, Foggy weather with temps in the 40’s, with a wind chill in the 30’s, is GLOVES weather!! Get gloves ya idiot!!!

After two short miles of walking, with frozen hand still clutching the Ipod, which is now playing “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor, the idiot returns home. The first two miles of walking have been logged. (Baby steps Idiot…Baby Steps)’

Before long, I will be a lean, mean, walking machine………..

I’ll try to do weekly updates on my training each Monday. I figure making everything public, including my current weight, will pressure me into staying on course. If I start to slack off on the exercise, or start to GAIN weight, please feel free to let me have it in the comments. I’m like a little puppy. Whack me upside the head with a rolled up newspaper a few times, and I’ll learn not to pee on the carpet. Not that I pee on the carpet or anything, just so we are clear on that….. no carpet peeing here. I don’t know about Steve, but MY carpets are safe.

The Seed of the Dream

The Idiot in the mountains of New Mexico.

So, where did this crazy idea come from?

Since you asked…….

This past Christmas, I got a Kindle Fire for myself with Christmas money that I had accumulated from various relatives. My wife will tell you that I am VERY anti-modern technology and that she never thought she would see the day when I would voluntarily buy myself any kind of useful electronic device. (I still only have a cell phone that I only use for actual phone calls)

I got this Kindle so that I could start reading. In 2012, I am ashamed to admit that I read all of ONE book (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) the entire year, and even that took me about 6 months.

One of my 2013 New Year’s Resolutions was to READ, hopefully at least TWO books, thereby shattering last years record.

I started searching the Kindle for E-Books that I might like.

The Kindle, with no prompting from me, started reccomending various books on all kinds of subjects, ranging from Romance, to Spy Thrillers, to Sports Autobiographies, to books on Piercing and Tattooing your self in the privacy of your home, to Pets, Dr. Seuss Children’s books, to books on Home Taxidermy of those prized family pets. There was one book that kept popping up repeatedly.

AWOL ON THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL

I heeded the subliminal suggestions of the Kindle Gods and purchased the E-Book.

This book was written by a man who up and quit his job, left his family at home, and headed out to hike the Appalachian Trail in a quest to fill that “hole” in his life that he desperately needed to fill. Like most of us, he realized that something was missing in his life and he went out onto the trail in search of inner fulfillment. He did complete the trail, using the trail-name “AWOL”, and he says his life was forever changed by the experience. (Great book! I highly recommend!!)

Reading this book led me to buying, and quickly reading, 4 other Appalachian Trail-related books. By the time a month had passed, I had read five books on the trail.

The seed was planted.

Why not? Why could I not have such a dream?

All these books were filled with tales of the OTHER hikers that the authors encountered on the trail. There were people from all over the world, from every walk of life, from every economic class, of every race, ranging in age from kids about 12 years old, all the way up to seniors in their 70’s and 80’s. Everyone was out on the trail, not for the exercise, or the love of hiking and the outdoors, but were instead hiking along in search of that single “life changing experience” that completing the trail would afford them.

Every author completed the trail.

Each author agreed that their lives were changed forever, for the positive, for the experience they endured on the trail.

Why not me?

But, as you know by now, I have some physical issues to deal with. My mind was constantly telling me that I was crazy. There is no way a disabled man could do that trail. I could picture myself getting 20 miles into the hike and then coming to my first obstacle in the trail that I felt I could not handle. Maybe it was a hill I deemed to steep to safely go up or down, maybe it was a stream that needed to be forded, maybe it was a poorly-marked crossroads in the woods where I was not sure on which way to turn. I could picture myself quitting.

Quitting and hating myself for the rest of my life.

I began to think that this was an adventure best tackled with a hiking partner. Someone that could lend emotional support to keep me moving, despite all the obstacles. Someone that could physically kick me in the rear with their hiking boot if I started whining about wanting to quit. Someone that could tell the Emergency Responders on where to find my crumpled body when I slipped off that steep cliff back there….

There was never a doubt on who to ask.

Steve Kramer.

I’ve never met Steve in person, which is logical given that we live half a country apart from each other, with me in Texas and Steve up in Massachusetts. I haven’t met him in person, but through the wonderful world of blogging, we have become blogging brothers. Our views on life and the world in general are very much alike. We are virtually the same age. We both have had physical issues to deal with. We both have warped senses of humor. And like me, his daily schedule is pretty wide open. Steve was the only one to possibly ask to undertake such a crazy adventure with me.

I was chatting with him one day online and brought up the crazy idea of hiking the Appalachian Trail. There was no hesitation or delay whatsoever. “Let’s do it!!”

Why 2016?

That was my doing.

Obviously, this year is done. Anyone wanting to hike the trail this year is already on the trail or is leaving within the next few weeks.

I figured that 2014 would be too soon because both of us are admittedly terribly out of shape and overweight. Losing the weight and getting in shape would probably take us a good year or so, and then we still have the issue of actually needing to buy equipment and supplies.

I could not do 2015 since my youngest child is graduating High School that year and there is no way I could miss that. (The wife and kid would kill me)

That leaves 2016. We both should be slim and trim, should have our walking legs under us, should have accumulated all the needed equipment, and if we haven’t chickened out and ran for the hills by then, we will both be itching like mad to get out on the trail.

So, that’s how the crazy idea came to be.

The clock is ticking. April 1, 2016 will be here before we know it.

And the Adventure will begin.

Thanks for all the wonderful support and encouragement that ya’ll have given to Steve and I. Anyone out there wanting to chase the dream with us is more than welcome to jump on our crazy train. A parade of crazed bloggers stumbling through the woods of Appalachia in the summer of 2016 would be a heck of a sight to behold, and would make for GREAT blog posts!

Happy Hiking!