Recovery mode

Late post today, as I was in recovery mode after a night spent in the woods. Camping was a ton of fun, pretty relaxing. It felt good to sit around a fire and then to crawl into my sleeping bag. There's something so different to me about sleeping outside. The world seems so much closer when all that separates you from it is a thin nylon wall. It was a crisp night but I was comfortable in my bag. The sleeping pad I bought performed admirably and I have it was probably one of the best nights I've spent on the ground aside from those where a inflatable air mattress was involved.

The whole night, my trip was in the back of my head. I marveled at how different my camping experience would be next summer. No car to throw everything into the next morning. No bringing way more stuff than you need or not caring how much it weighs. A different experience awaits me and I'm eager for it.

Campbound!

Today after work, I'm jumping in the car and joining some friends on a brief camping excursion. Really it's an overnight and we'll be driving to our destination, but I will be sleeping in a tent, in a sleeping bag, on the ground. I'm pretty excited. Tomorrow after we break camp, the plan is to do some hiking in the White Mountains, which will also be a good way to spend a Sunday.

I haven't been camping in a number of years, I used to do it a few times a year when I was in my twenties. But then I got divorced and left all my gear behind and so ended my camping days. I went to LL Bean last night and picked up my first official piece of trail gear, a sleeping bag pad. The damn thing weighs about a pound and packs up into a sack that is about the size of one of those nalgene water bottles. Pretty damn crazy. I've decided to try to do a good portion of my shopping at Bean's because I know that if I try something out and it doesn't work out then I can return it with no hassle. They also offer some free seminars on ultra-light hiking, which I'm eager to check out.

Mentally, I feel like positive things are beginning to happen. I've found myself much more engaged since making the decision to do the long walk. Who could ask for anything more than a chance at an adventure like this?

PS For those that are keeping track...60 flights of stairs today. Ugh.

PPS All these stairs must be working. I just got into a pair of jeans I haven't been able to wear since last summer. Positive reinforcement!

It's official

Through my research, I came across a website that is perfect for raising money for Extra Life during my trip next summer. It's a website called hikefor.com and it allowed me to create a page specifically for what I'm doing. I'll be taking pledges per mile walked, so please consider donating. All of the proceeds will be going to Extra Life and The Barbara Bush Children's Hospital. I know it's a long ways off but I'll certainly be haranguing people to donate right up until the day I leave (okay, probably even after I leave too). Why not get in early and show me a little love?

I'll also be utilizing the trip as a way to raise awareness for Extra Life. There's a lot of people out there unaware of the charity, and I hope to change that. I'll be wearing a bunch of Extra Life gear and I'm thinking of getting an Extra Life flag made up that I can use for good photo ops. I'll be looking into gear sponsorships and anything else that can help me make this a success on the trail, so if you have any info, or you think you might be able to help me out with this, please reach out.

If you'd like to donate, click on the logo above or the embedded link.

Why?

Today is the two week mark since I announced my decision to leave the ordered and sane world of civilization, put all kinds of stuff in a backpack and walk for 1,100 miles. It's a decision that I made in a split second but not one that I made lightly. A lot of people have asked me why I'd want to do something like that.

My biggest reason is that I feel like I need to do something extraordinary with my time here. I'm a geek, and love fantasy novels. The idea of a grand adventure has appealed to my soul for almost as long as I can remember. Spending three months hiking the oldest mountain range in the world would qualify in my book. Granted I'm not carrying the One Ring to Mordor but hey, I plan on carrying my replica for good luck.

Another reason is that this adventure is a catalyst for change for me. I have lived a sedentary unhealthy lifestyle for quite a few years now, and preparing for this trip has already made positive changes in me physically. I'm exercising regularly and eating better. The changes aren't just physical either, I'm writing every day, which is a huge thing for me. I love to write and blogging about my experience is a great motivator. I feel a sense of hope for the future rather than just an interminable number of years working looming before me.

I'm sure there will be more reasons as the days pass, but I think I've made a good start. Life is too short to put your dreams and wants on hold. Take a chance at them while you can.

Charity

Let's talk about charity for a moment. Charity hasn't been an important part or even consideration in my life up until a few years ago. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't anti-charity or anything like that, I just didn't make an effort to be especially charitable, at least in the traditional donate to a cause sense. I've always tried to help my friends out when they need it, without concern for payback, which I suppose is charitable as well.

That changed like I said a few years ago. I was living alone in New Hampshire and my life was pretty empty. Go to work, come home, watch TV or play video games, go to sleep. Wash, rinse, repeat. I watched a web series about the creators of web comic called Penny Arcade. It's a very popular comic, and even spawned it's own convention called Penny Arcade Expo or PAX. Well, the creators of this comic started a charity called Child's Play, which donates money to children's hospitals to provide toys and games that help children going through awful experiences like chemo to help them focus on something other than the pain and misery they're going through. This spoke to me on a level I can't even begin to communicate.

I don't have children of my own, but I can't imagine having to go through that. I wanted to take part in this process, and I was watching Wil Wheaton's Tabletop series at the time, so I decided I'd like to hold a 24 hour board game marathon and raise money for Child's Play. It was a ton of work to put it together, but it was successful. The first year we raised over $1700. In the process, I made a ton of new friends and also some contacts at our local children's hospital, The Barbara Bush Children's Hospital.

This year, I wanted to do it again. While I had great success working with Child's Play, there's another charity that is much more accessible (Child's Play is based in Seattle), called Extra Life, who performs essentially the same function. I had a number of supporters and with their help, we held another event this past April and this time, it was an even bigger success, raising over $5,600. Additionally, I found out later that the contact I had helped facilitate between Child's Play and BBCH the year before resulted in them being added to the donor hospital list. They received an $11,500 pay out from Child's Play and will continue to receive donations going forward.

The feelings I get being able to help contribute to this worthy cause makes the day to day slog through work and life so much easier to bear. I hope to turn this long walk into something that will contribute further. After all, it's for the kids.

Anticipation

Next May seems impossibly far away to me right now. I know that it's less than a year before we head for Harper's Ferry and begin the 1,100+ mile trek to Mt. Katahdin, but the anticipation fills me with the desire for it to be time to go NOW.

Don't get me wrong, I know that I'm far from ready to attempt it. I don't have the money saved, the gear bought, or the physical ability to handle it yet. There's a whole lot of pieces that need to fall into place before next May, and this ball has barely begun to roll. Yet it's all I can think about. Every minute, every second is one closer to what I think will be a life-changing experience for me. I want to share it all with my loved ones and friends. I want them to experience my triumphs and root for me when I falter, as I'm sure I will.

Making sure that I post every day or as often as I can is an important step in that. Sometimes I don't know what to say, so describing the feelings and how I see the world I have will have to be enough. The world already seems to be a bit brighter than it was a few weeks ago. I hope you'll come along for a walk with me.

Can't stop the rain

I just finished 45 sets of stairs. I'm going up in increments of five, which is better than expected. It's pouring rain outside, and I could hear it over the podcast I was listening to (A Trouble with Words, you should give it a listen), while I did my stairs. I've always found the sound of rain soothing, but today it makes me wonder. Will I find it as soothing if I can't escape it? If there's a rainy stretch on the trail, how will I feel about it?

Don't get me wrong, I've been caught in the rain and miserable before, but there's usually an end in sight. A respite at the end of the day, where you can get warm and change into dry clothes. On the trail, if everything's wet, there's no dryer to throw them into, no car to climb in and go home. And then there's thunderstorms. Who hasn't been rattled by a sudden boomer before and crawled into a safe nook inside to escape the fury?

I had an experience in my teens, when I was working for the Appalachian Mountain Club. After my tenure there, a friend of mine and I secured a spot in one of the huts on top of Mt. Washington. We hiked up with our gear, dropped it off in the hut and then went back down and then up a different route (I was in much better shape, way back then). It was a gorgeous day. The next morning, we packed our stuff and decided to head back above treeline, and down the backside of the mountain. While we were in that alien landscape of stunted trees and exposed rock, a sudden storm came up and thunder crashed. It was as terrifying a feeling as I have ever experienced. We were easily the tallest things up there, and both of us had metal frame packs on. Hastily, with pounding hearts and many glances up to the blackened sky, we headed down to relative safety and cover.

Twenty-two years later, I can still close my eyes and remember that scene and how it felt. Nothing makes you feel as small as the sound and fury of Mother Nature.