Backpacking Is The Art of Knowing What Not To Take ~ We are still working on the mastery of that skill.

First I need to give a big thank you to Kristi for her patience in letting me make this time lapse video of our move and preparation for our hike. You have to understand the making of this video included taking over 2,000 pictures and there is nothing quite as challenging as being asked, wait don’t move that yet the camera isn’t ready.  She made it through it like a trooper though and never hit me hard enough to leave a bruise.  This video shows from day one of packing through this morning when we left with only our packs and smiles. 

In these last few days many lessons have been learned here in Austin, TX. I will try to run through a few of them and make sure that the names are changed as needed to protect the innocent.  Never mind, maybe I will mention a few names, but I won’t add any pictures.  Kristi’s brother Jon and girlfriend Sarah came in to town this weekend for a little impromptu goodbye party for us.  Well I can’t lie, the real reason that they came into town was see an Eddie Vedder concert, but that ended up being cancelled so we had to find other things to fill our time.  This is how I learned my first lesson which was that midwestern boys can be a bad influence on the likes of an innocent well mannered Southern boy.  I won’t go into any details, you will just have to trust me on that one.  

The second nugget of information that I  learned was that if you walk around downtown Austin for long enough, you never know who you will run into.  We were able to meet up with the likes of Boba Fett and Jimmy Sunshine, but those stories will not be chronicled here in order to protect all parties involved.  We made it through all of it and many of those events were probably way more dangerous than anything that we will encounter on the trail.  In all honesty, we are truly grateful that Jon and Sarah were both able to make it down, because Kristi and I were able to leave the obsessive planning world for a little while and go enjoy Austin and its 1 lb. donuts, which would not have been possible without their presence.

Kristi and I were also able to learn that you can in fact pack up an entire apartment in a 5 day period and pack for a 5 month journey in a 12 hour period.  While it can be and was accomplished, we first realized this was a challenge when neither of us could keep our eyes open any longer on Sunday night no matter how much Cell Food or Red Bull was ingested and we still had a lot of work to do.  This led to a good nights nap where we awoke promptly at 4 am.  I realized quickly that the mind does not function as well this early when I found myself locked out of our apartment complex at 4:30am 5 short hours before our flight.  Believe it or not, there is not a lot of traffic around an apartment building at that time even in Austin.   Luckily right before I resorted to a well thought out plan of throwing rocks at our 4th story window, I was able to convince a very nice police officer into helping me inside despite my grungy pre hiker look.  We were able to push through everything that we needed to be done in order pack the apartment, pack for our trip, and store Kristi’s car and we are now comfortably riding on our flight from Dallas to San Diego.  


I don’t think that either one of us have had a moment to think about everything that has happened in the last few weeks or the adventure that is awaiting, but I believe that this journey that we are about to embark on will give us the luxury of plenty of time to do just that, think.  Maybe I will be able to figure out Boba Fett was doing on 6th street.  If I do, I’ll let you know.

Saying goodbye to engines...hello to hiking boots.

Speak NOW or forever hold your peace...

Here is a video that should answer a few questions that we have been getting regarding resupply and it explains what a bounce bucket is.  If there was only some way to fit an air conditioner and hot water tank... if anyone can figure how to do it, MacGruber can.

Packing the contents of our first food supply box. That's what you call a good Wednesday night. 5 days of food for 2 people = 25lbs. 13 days to go...

This is what 10,000 calories per day for 5 days looks like. My favorite addition to my campfire cooking repertoire, a tub of cream cheese frosting. No doubt that will taste good on everything.

15 days and counting.  May 1st will stand in sharp contrast to waking this morning from my pillow top bed to go take a hot shower and then drink some fresh coffee.  Some might think it is a little deranged, and that is possibly true, but I cannot wait.

Friday the 13th April 2012

Disclaimer: I know that this writing does not portray Houston or the Houston airport in the best light and I hope that any Texans reading this can detect my sarcasm. Also I know I will never be a Texan, especially since I currently live in Austin, but I do appreciate the state.  In order to show my loyalty, I promise while I am away hiking my Nalgene bottles will be filled will Lone Star and our camp stove will only be fired with mesquite.

Obviously our blog is about the PCT and hopefully our journey from the beginning in Campo, CA to the end in Manning Park, Canada.  Even though this is the first entry, it has nothing to do with the trail, but focuses more on what you do before you attempt it and that is see the people and places that mean the most to you.  Today is Friday the 13th and that is one of those days where you are looking for something unlucky to occur or for Murphy's law engulf you and whatever your current goal is. Today I was on my way home to Mississippi to see my parental units (my coworkers term for parents) and of course my second flight of the day was delayed due to mechanical difficulties with the plane.

As everyone knows this is never the information that you are looking to receive when waiting to board any aircraft, but it is absolutely the last thing that you want to hear when you are possibly boarding what looks like a 1942 crop duster with dual propellers that has recently been resurrected from some mid-western field.  Upon hearing this information, what do you do?  If you don't know me well, travel is what I do, and after spending close to 1/3 of last year's nights in a hotel room or corporate housing as a business traveler, this was not my first delayed flight.  Normally I'd sit back watch a movie on my iPad and hope to notice once boarding had commenced, but when you are preparing for a 2665+ mile hike when you have a spare moment, you walk. Then you when you finish walking, you walk some more, and then you eat so that you get enough calories to walk some more the next day.

So today instead of walking around Lady Bird Lake my feet lead me around the Houston airport in terminal A.  Now if you have yet to experience Terminal A at the Houston airport, don't rush over there just yet.  Believe it or not there is not that much to see in Terminal A.  It appears to be pretty similar to what you would see if you ventured outside of the airport into the city of Houston.  There is concrete, followed by more concrete, and a lot of windows.  Nonetheless this is where I am so this is where I walk.  I am now passing gate 1...3...7...23 and then I walk back and do it all over again.

My mind wanders as Joe Purdy wails in my headphones.  Ten minutes pass and then thirty, there goes Starbucks, restrooms, more concrete and then I pass this green iron tree sculpture for probably the third time and it finally catches my eye. This may be the only tree that can "survive" in this concrete paradise and I am struck with a realization that I have had many times before which was to open my eyes and be

grateful for what surrounds you, that which right in front of you.  Don't miss the moment.  Even in this white marble desert there is something worth seeing, you just have to come out of the trance that your daily life puts you in and notice it.  I learned that lesson a long time ago when I got into photography and by got into photography I mean bought a DSLR camera.  Holding that camera taught me that lesson and somewhere along the way, that was lost, but once again it is learned and now the trick will be holding on to it.

I am sure that may sound cliche and like something that a flake or a tree hugger might say, but who cares at this point?  I just left my job of almost 7 years so that I can go hike for 6 months.  Me making a comment is the last thing that I need to worry about making me look like a hippie.  What will probably give me away will be the long hair and the "natural aroma" from long stretches of showerless days in the California sunshine.

I'm now on the way back to gate A1 and I am hoping that possibly by now they have replaced the rubber bands and duct tape that hold together this plastic rocket that I am wanting to board.  All I can think is that there is no way Friday the 13th can take me down now. I am so close to seeing the parental units, my 800 year old dog, and then I am off to the Sierras with a beautiful woman who is crazy enough to walk by my side.  Miraculously, just as I am walking up to the gate they call for zone 1 to board.  As I am taking my seat, the Joe Purdy song I was listening to before keeps playing in my head, "I can see blue in the sky when it's raining..." now that lyric completely makes sense and I knew it would not be long before I would see my family and eat a little bit of fried everything.