Leaving Nashville

I am heading to Alabama today. Rhiannon will drive me to the start of the trail this weekend. I am looking forward to the trip. A lot of people have asked about how I'm feeling to start. I am mostly just curious. I really haven't put any pressure on myself to finish in a certain amount of time, or finish at all for that matter. If it gets boring, which I think it might, I am not going to hike for 5 months just to say I did it. I've pushed myself like that before (police academy as one example) with only the goal in mind. This time the journey is the goal, and I will find another adventure if this one proves to be monotonous. The nervousness or apprehension seems to be absent. I'm hoping it stays that way.

As I leave, I want to thank all my friends who have been there through my resignation and the preparations for this trip. McDugle is at the top of this list. He always has a positive outlook, even through rocky times for us both, and has been a great friend throughout. I really appreciate him allowing me to stay with him for the months between leaving my apartment and this trip. I also want to thank Drake for joining me for a few warm-up trips before the real thing, and generally always being up for an adventure. I really hope you all can join me for a portion of the trip. While I don't know anyone who has the opportunity to complete the entire trail with me (I'm the only unemployed person I know), I do want to share some fun times along the way. I expect that to be the main things that breaks up the routine of 2200 miles of hiking and makes it more enjoyable.

Finally, I will attempt to use this forum to update everyone along the way. Unfortunately, I have not done any test runs to make sure this is possible through my phone. My goal is to update every few days along with pictures and maybe the occasional video. Whether this is realistic will depend on cell service, internet availability, and phone capabilities. We will see.