We have dates!

I have been working with my local venture scout group at church and they are definitely going to accompany me on my first leg of the journey. I am very excited about this. While it puts a few constraints on the timing of my leaving, I am thrilled to have others with whom to share my love of hiking and this trail. We have firmed up the dates of prep hikes and the hike itself.

• March 14, today, First of several prep hikes. 6 miles, full gear.




• April 11, A 15 mile hike. Probably Florida Trail full gear




• Some time in May TBD an overnighter with a 20 mile 2 day split, full gear.



• At least 1 or 2 other impromptu hikes that will be thrown in to add testing to the gear (I need to determine how much fuel to take.




• June 8-14 First piece of the Appalachian Trail.

Caroline and I started running this week. We did about 9 miles in 2 separate runs. We have under 3 months to get our feet hardened and ready for heavy abuse. We also have a limited time in which to buy gear and plan our days out.

Lunch on the Florida Trail today

Sterling and I went to see Mr Al today at a field trip in Niceville at Northwest Florida State. We were on our way back and I asked him where he wanted to do lunch. He said of course, "McDonald's!" I then reminded him that we had packed his lunch. He said, "Oh, yeah." I needed to get gas anyway so I grabbed a coke and a pistrami on rye. I know, gross right? One of those sandwiches that they put in the gas station fridge. Actually it was great. And only 600 or so calories. Ooops. Glad I didn't get chips. My coke was diet. . . does that count? So our first option was Turkey Creek nature preserve in Niceville. We quickly realized that they are closed on Mondays. We then decided to jump on the Florida trail south of Crestview. We gazed at the map and then headed out and ventured in far enough to get away from the sound of SR 85. We only had to walk about a half a mile to 3/4 of mile. The woods is surprisingly thick and dampens the road noise well. The trail head was vacant probably due to the overcast weather.

While parked on a rotting log and chomping on lunch I looked down and asked him what he had there and he said, "Peanut butter and honey." I said, "Oh better eat that up quick, bears love honey." Instantly his eyes started looking around. Maybe this wasn't all that fair of me but I couldn't resist. His ears perked up too. He said, "Do you hear that? Was that a bear?"

I reminded him that I had a knife and he said, "Yea but it's only this long (roughly 2 inches)" I reminded him that the bears didn't know how long my knife was nor did they know whether I had a gun or not.

I finally calmed his fears. What struck me here was that he seemed so comfortable here. Despite my teasing you could see he got it. He understood I was teasing and that the woods isn't a scary aweful place. My work was done here. We made it quick and got back to the car in a flash.

I have to say, the Florida trail is beautiful. I look forward to spending more time out there.