The time has come. It is hard to believe that I will be stepping onto the AT for an extended hike 5 years after my thru hike. It is a totally unplanned hike, unplanned in the sense that it was never on my radar until a couple of weeks ago. I have been looking at my A.T Guide (kindly provided by David Miller, aka AWOL) and seeing what I will be walking over again brings back memories so thick I just have to pause. Every shelter, every town, every brushy hill, deep gap, low gap will bring back the memories.

“Dreams aren’t perfect, they can come true, but they aren’t free“. I started my 2005 Trailjournal off with that line and that year the dream came true. Since then there have dreams that have come true yet there are those that I still pursue. How that first one changed my life is something I will never, ever, be able to express in words. Many of you that know me know how I feel and what I feel. The people I have met on the initial hike and since then are closer to me than all those people I met while working in the corporate world. Unfortunately, I am not independently wealthy and I do have to return to the corporate world in order to fund my next hike. However, there is a huge difference now, I can walk away when I want to. They no longer own me and I know I can survive without the “stuff”.

As I type this I have the TV tuned to a movie called “The Astronaut Farmer”. I have not seen it before and again, those of you that know me know I am a big movie freak. This one is about a rancher that builds his own rocket to go into space with. The name of the rocket, “The Dreamer” .. How appropriate! If we decide not to follow our dreams what are we? I am not talking about the monster dreams, follow small one and build to the big ones. There are still a couple in my head that may or may not ever happen, like flying in a fighter (and yes, civilians can do that) but I do know that if I had followed the same treadmill I was on 5 years ago things would be so much more different now.

The weather looks good for the first 5 days of the hike which means that a lot of the snow and ice will melt off. The weather this year has been horrible and I feel for the Southbound (SOBO) thru hikers. Again, for my non hiking friends these are folk that started at Mt. Katahdin, in Maine and hike to Springer. After my season in the Whites was over last year I hiked SOBO with GG for about 3 weeks. We went through Vermont and into Mass. together and the weather was none to nice. As a matter of fact it was darn cold, wet and snowy. I do expect a little more of this kind of weather as I head north from Springer. I will be hiking with Jim, “The Backcountry Bartender” for the first few days. I also found out that Moonpie will be in Franklin, NC on the 12th, about the time I will be in that area. It will be good to see her again. We hiked many miles together on the PCT in ‘08. Sheltowee already sent me a message saying he would pick me up when I get close!

I am in that last minute panic mode making sure I have everything wrapped up before I leave which today will be a hectic one. I've been adding little things to my list of "to get dones" before leaving town. My next post will come from Atlanta if I have time.