Hiking

I’m contemplating my next adventure in life, hiking the Appalachian Trail. This is something that I’ve thought about doing since I was in my 20’s and now, with the time and the physical strength to do it I’m think that next summer might be a good year to pull off the hike. I’ve started to get the backpacking gear that I will need for this adventure and will be bringing it back to the boat for this upcoming fall/winter when I’ll be practicing carrying the pack down the beaches of the Bahamas in preparation for the hike. The Appalachian Trail stretches from Georgia to Maine, 14 states and over 2170 miles. I’ll let you know more about this upcoming trip as the fall and winter go by and the step off day approaches (roughly, March 15th, 2012). We plan to leave the Goose in Deatons Marina in NC so that anna will have a place to live while I'm gone.

Life in Michigan

It’s cold!!! The nights are in the 50’s something that we haven’t had to endure for the last month. I might even have to put on long pants for the first time since I was here last time. The drive up to Michigan was over 1300 miles long but we broke it up with a stop in KY to see the kids. We have returned to Michigan to pick up three grand kids who will become crew for the next month as we bring the boat up from North Carolina to Washington DC. Other than that, one of my granddaughters and I are going hiking this weekend then back to the boat!

Cars

In preparation of going back to Michigan, we had to retrieve our car (the Blue Max) from Virginia where it’s been stored all winter. Deaton’s Marine offered to let us use their loaner car for the 350 mile drive up there. It was an event filled trip starting with a lake forming under Anna’s feet on the passenger side of the car (the A/C drain backed up) and ending with replacing the rear tire. On the trip back, Anna (who was now driving) complained of the car shaking so bad that she couldn’t drive it over 55. I checked it and the rear tire had begun to rip itself apart!

So, I changed the tire and we limped down the road to the nearest WalMart and 15 minutes before they were to close we bought a new tire.


Of course this turned our 6 hour drive into a 9+ hour return trip and we didn’t get back to the boat until well after midnight. Cars, you just have to hate them.