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Drawn like a fly to a lightbulb, I ventured inside to find a wide array of hiking and camping gadgets which clearly were inspired by both James Bond and McGuiver. I didn't know what any of this stuff was for, of course, but it was intriguing none the less. I knew that those who could climb more than 50 steps on the Appalachian Trail would probably know what this stuff was for. But worldly as I was, it was mostly foreign to me. As we still had an hour or two of daylight left, I decided to play with some of the objects to the dismay of one of the female employees there who knew without even asking that I was way out of my element. But this was cool stuff, and so I decided right then and there that it was time to make a life change and do something really challenging that I have never done before. While walking even 10 miles would have fit the bill, I decided that I would walk the entire Appalachian Trail. Now... How far is this trail, anyway? "About two thousand one hundred miles or so," said the woman. "Er...come again?" I managed to choke out. Surely I had misunderstood. She really meant to say just 'one hundred miles' and not the two thousand part. But she calmly echoed again, "about two thousand miles or so." Fortunately, I had not told the world yet of my decision to become a mountain man and could easily retract my declaration to be one. But I pondered this as I tried on a woman's winter jacket not knowing why at first, the buttons were on the wrong side. I quietly removed the jacket, all the while under the watchful eye of "Wilderness Wilma" who no doubt chuckled at my faux pas. On the way home the next day, I thought about the prospect of hiking this trail despite knowing nothing about it and decided as we pulled into our driveway that yes... I would indeed hike the Appalachian Trail and I would do it alone as proof of my vitality, masculinity (read: stupidity) and guile. After going to sleep that night having dreams of being mauled by packs of wild grizzlies who somehow managed to forge the Mississippi and come east to find me, I woke the next morning filled with hope and purpose. I grabbed my 'Page-A-Day" calendar and turned the page... This is the actual page that I saw. I saved it for posterity: Well, that pretty much settled it and was a confirmation of my decision. I picked 2006 as my starting date, for a couple of reasons. One, it would be far enough ahead that I could make whatever preparations I would need to, to make this trip happen. Two, I figured it would be enough time for anyone I told about my folly to forget about it so when the date came and went, no one would remember. But as the time passed, I never lost sight of this goal and so I spent the next few years learning about the Appalachian Trail, and hiking and camping, and things like alcohol stoves, trekking poles, ultra-light tents and backpacks and now as I pen this just one month away from my first day on the trail, I can confidently say I now know how to shit in the woods. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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