< 30 Days - Dad, Food and Final Preps

Yesterday, we fell below 30 days in our wait time until we hit the trail.  Things have progressed along and I have gone from feeling like the hike is a very long way away to getting nervous that it is fast approaching and I still have things to do.

Korean Vet

My Father, who has had a few conversations with St. Peter at the Pearly Gates (who kept sending him back) is once again reunited with my Mother in happiness.  He was 87 years old and his body had finally reached the point where it was ready to release his spirit.  He passed peacefully between breakfast and lunch on St. Patrick's day.  My sadness at knowing that I will never have a two way conversation with him again in this lifetime is tempered by a happiness that I know he is now with my Mother again, who my Father has missed every day since December of 2011, when she passed.  He's with his Honey Babe now.

circa 1960s

circa 1980s

When I go back through my memories, I constantly see him as that tall, strong being.  Always there for us, even when he was on a job far away from home, building man's structures.  He was definitely the steady rock of our family.

My Father is also the one most responsible for my love of the outdoors and spending time hiking and camping.  I remember as a pretty young child he would rent an old Scotty 6 sleeper and we would hitch it up to the Buick Stationwagon and head out for a traveling vacation.  We would work our way to the beach and then the mountains.  It was a great introduction to the woods and spending time there.  In the 70s we had a camp up by Moraine State Park.  We spent most of the summer up there and Dad would come up each night or on the weekends.  He really liked to rake the leaves that filled the ground in our campsite.  From there it was some time in the Boy Scouts and then going out on our own.  Hiking and backpacking.  He planted the seed which has grown to this Quest of a long distance hike on the Appalachian Trail.  

He had a long life and he taught me many things.  He had one wife, five children, nine grand children and two great-grandchildren.  I like to think that he also had a good life.  He was certainly a large part in me saying I'm having a great life.  

Shauni and her Pap

I will miss him and his ready smile and easy laugh.  I hope I can find a fitting tribute to him as I use his strength to reinforce me during this upcoming hike.

Dad's last visit to the cabin

Our gear sits in the basement in the "Gear" area and we constantly pitter with it.  Adding this, deleting that.  I have decided on my first four days of food and have started to fill my "operational" food bag with what I already have on hand as I check the shopping list that will complete the contents.  We also started filling our only pre-planned food drop that we will be sending to Fontana Dam in North Carolina.  Sort of a supplement to what we expect to find at the store in the village.  

I have been collecting a lot of condiments in my last several years of doing sections and overnights, so we sorted through that and figured out what we are taking and what has been sitting at the bottom of my shopping bag sized food bag a little too long and needs to hit the trash.

Food bags and resupply

This upcoming Friday, we plan on heading up to my old stomping grounds in PA near the Museum to do a final overnight to once again become more familiar with our new hammocks and quilts.  I also need to get some dirt time.  Just some easy time outdoors for a while.  Before we head to Toms Run Shelter, we will erect the portable Halfway Sign at its location for the 2017 hiking season.  It is once again at Dead Woman's Hollow Rd, so we will put it there and hope to hike back to it, arriving some time in July if all bodes well.

My Before I HIke ToDo List is still pretty full, but I hope to start checking off some of them every day for a while.  Things are scheduled.  Things need to wait a bit still, but I'm confident it will all come together when it needs to and not a second before.  Just like a traveling wizard always arrives precisely when he means to.  

Georgia will be here before we know it and we will step out, with our backs heavy, but our hearts light to take on the challenge that is the Appalachian Trail and our Quest of Pamola.

Peace,
EarthTone and LoGear

Earl F. Harold Jr.  1929 - 2017
and me  :)

Friday Blog

I haven't posted in a while. I am going to try to put something up here each Friday. The topics will vary. It will be whatever is going on currently.

Lets see, well we buried my Mother just before Christmas, so that holiday was a somber affair. I really do think she is better off now. She had a long life. Much longer than her parents, but she was the first to go (aside from her brother and sister who died in childhood and infancy) in her family. No matter what a person believes, I know she isn't feeling any arthritic pain, isn't forgetful or confused and she isn't shitting out of her abdomen. This I am completely sure of.

I got to do something that I always wanted to do, but never had the opportunity. Jeremy, Kristan's boyfriend (now fiance) is a talented musician. On the day of my Mother's funeral, we all came back from the wake to the house and Jeremy had a couple guitars and a small drum set. We sat around and played a bunch of songs, just like a group. He is very good and his instruction is great. After he saw my skill level (which isn't high), he gave me some pointers and chords and I tried to keep up. It was fun. We did it again on New Year's Eve with a full drum set and I had brought my electric guitar. It was a blast, but my skill level goes way down after quite a few beers. Even Shauni's boyfriend, Alex got to play for a while. He is real good too.

My obsession with the AT and backpacking continues. I really want to get on the trail, even if it is just an overnighter. It is winter though, so I will probably have to wait for the spring. Turk wants to do something with us and we had tentatively scheduled a short trip in March, but after thinking about it for a while, we figured it would still be too cold in PA and the area. I still want to do something, maybe a few days during Shauni and Alex's spring break around March 21st.

I found a couple more Trail Journals to read. Two young girls that completed it this last summer. They started out together as a coincidence, but soon parted due to different hiking speeds. But they both made it to the end. Interesting. The more I read the more I think that long hikes are nice as long as they are about a month or so. These thru-hikers seem to be so beaten down by the time they hit Maine. Most just finish to finish. There are some that are so into it that they hate to be done, but others just want to be done.

The weather has been back and forth these last couple of weeks. A little snow here, then 60 degree temps. Today is a bit cold, but the sky is pretty clear and the sun is bright.

The semi-annual weight reduction is in full swing again. I really gained a lot of weight this holiday season. I think I was the heaviest I have been in quite a while, if not forever. I am diligently tracking my food intake and have increased my workouts, just like always. We are even having a 90 day fitness challenge at work to help keep me on track.

The new season of Wallyball started last Friday. Tonight are the first league games. Lisa won't be playing on the team this time. We have picked up Dee to replace her. The thing in her chin is a glandular odon-something cyst. It's benign, but they have to remove it and fix up her jaw bone. She will most likely lose from 4 to 8 teeth and they will be taking some bone from her leg to put in her jaw to help it heal. She goes in Feb 1st.

Well, that's it for now. I hope to be back here next Friday at the latest...