Thursday, November 20, 2003
It’s the day after the 2003 volleyball banquet, and that means this thru-hike is really starting to draw near. My brother Dave and I first talked about thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail around 1997 and have been planning it for the past two years. My lovely fiancée Heather and I are planning our wedding for the summer of ’05 since D & I are planning on walking from March to August. I’ve picked up almost all my gear and tested a good bit of it – but only now does the hike seem right around the corner.
For the past five years, I’ve had the pleasure of sharing my fall with the Westborough High School girls volleyball team, first as an assistant coach and then as the JV coach the past 2 seasons. I’ve kept my thru-hike plans from the team this season so they could focus on volleyball. Last night, my college buddy and head coach of the team let the cat out of the bag, telling the girls and their parents about my hike plans and presenting me with a couple books: ‘The 2oz Backpacker’ and ‘Up Sh*t Creek’. The second book truly looks delightful, subtitled ‘A collection of horrifyingly true wilderness toilet misadventures.’ I’ll let you know if it’s a book worthy of your attentionSo the season’s over, the team knows of my plans and I’ve entered the next phase of my planning: getting in shape and shelving my software development business.
March 12th is still a long way away. Plenty of time to answer the obvious questions such as “Are you nuts?”, “What’s Heather going to do without you around to annoy her?”, and “Can I keep your dog, Tally, while you’re gone?”
Keep reading. I’ll do my best to keep you informed and amused.
