Happy Trails!

Nervous excitement... kinda like the first day at a new school... but at this school the bed keeps moving each night.

Currently... Dahlonega, GA . Being able to phonetically pronounce this town's name correctly is the first challenge of an AT hiker heading North... and then prepare to butcher a number of other National Parks, State Parks, hill-folk bumble towns and such.. amongst other obvious initial challenges.

So far emotions have been subtle and directly associated with what was happening at the time. What is happening at this time? Last day on the road, last night in a bed... first day on the trail, first night in the tent.

Now this is what it's all about... today we start walking and we're pretty much gonna keep walking until we're in Maine, which by most calculations will take the next 5 months. Hanging food in trees, meeting folks doing the same thing, seeing the sunrise and sunset in the same day and not have a hangover!(well in most cases)!

I had to dump a lot of stuff from the pack. Skimmed down the first-aid kit, lost the extra ramen, pop tarts, corn tortillas, crackers, hoodie, gloves. Lexi is carrying about 2 days of food, I am carrying the other 2 days for her. Those of you good at math will have a good idea of how many days we've packed for. This will take us to Neels Gap where we can re-supply and reevaluate.

Thank you to Mom and Dad for helping us get down here, this was the toughest angle to plan and you have really helped this go smoothly.

I will have contact with a computer again in 78 miles or so... till then... happy trails!

G and Lex