And then there was a plan

It took me a good 2 to 3 weeks to work up the nerve to tell my wife that I needed to hiked the John Muir Trial (JMT) next summer, and ask for her blessing to go. Let me say right off the bat that my wife is a wonderful and supporting person. But asking her to let me leave home, and our 4 year old son for 3 weeks, was asking a lot of anyone. It is hard enough to keep the house and family going with 2 of us, but to put all the responsibility on her, well that might be too much. Without even a flinch she quickly gave her blessing (I hope it was not too easy a decision for her, to be without me for 3 weeks).

“Need” to hike the JMT? Yes! All of us build up an image of ourselves and what we hope we are or can be. But until we test that image we never know if it is truly what or who we are. I have an image of myself as a hiker. While I have done numerous backpacking trips over the years, I do not feel that I have ever truly pushed myself to see if I have the right hiker stuff. For years hiking the Appalachian Trail has been on my bucket list (and still is). One of the best pieces of advice I got was to set a date for my hike, even if it was 10 years in the future and work towards that goal. Several years ago I set 2015 as the year I would hike the AT. However, as the day/year has drawn nearer the reality has also become clearer. There is no practical way I can escape the real world for the 6 months that it will take me to hike the AT. But 3 weeks, now that is doable.

I teach, so I have the summers off, while still getting paid. So if I can manage to save up a little money beforehand there will not be a major financial cost to our family. During part of the time I am gone I think I can talk grandma and grandpa into coming for a visit to help my wife with our little one. This may also provide chance for my wife and son to fly out to visit her parents in Texas. Her parents are great so I do not mind visiting, but Texas in the middle of summer… I’ll happily pass on that trip.

Now that the seed has been laid, it’s time to tend to them and let them grow and flourish. My hope it that I do not ramble too much here, but what can I say I am a Trial Journal junkie. I hope to be able to feed the dreams of others of on here, as many other journals have feed mine and kept my dreams alive and going.


Hike On!!