So close...

The movers came today and the road is open.  Yeah!
But the truck was huge!

We told them bring the smallest truck you have.  Instead they brought the smallest truck that would hold a entire shipping container.  They did not unpack the container, just loaded it onto a big truck.

We located a U-haul they could use to shuttle our boxes up to the house (rent for $40+ dollars) but I think the driver was still afraid of our driveway.

New plan is for next Monday, with the right trucks and new driver.

So we wait...

Delivery of Sea shipment

There is still a lot of snow but the driveway is much better. However, the moving company does not want to come tomorrow morning so we will wait some more.

Still waiting for gear

Still waiting for our shipment to arrive from Hong Kong. It was supposed to be delivered tomorrow but there is too much snow for the movers to get here.

Location Note from #Compass 166-1698 Top Ridge Rd
Stanardsville, VA 22973
USA Altitude: 1261 ft
Latitude: 38°18'49.3" N
Longitude: 78°27'8.1" W

Test from Droid using email.

I plan to use my Android phone on the hike. It will give me voice, email, text msg, maps, and GPS in one package. I have a battery powered recharger (2 AA) to use on the trail if necessary. I plan to keep it powered down and in a Pelican case.

This post originally came from the Droid using email. I sent it from home, so I know it works in the mountains. It definitely seems to be the best way to update from a smart phone! Pictures can just be attached to the email and they are included in the post.

Full disclosure: I edited this after the fact on the PC. Still getting used to the keyboard on the Droid.

Finally, time to go home...

Here is a picture of our hotel room as we are getting ready to leave for home (temporarily).

Just heard from Ralph that the road is plowed. We can get in with 4WD. When the snow melts enough for the moving truck, we will get our shipment from Hong Kong. Much of our hiking gear is in the shipment.

Waiting for our gear...

The benefit of being at our home for two weeks will be that we can receive our shipment from Hong Kong. It would be nice to do this while Ralph and Mary are away but the immediate benefit is that much of our hiking gear is in the shipment. The problem is the snow.

It has snowed again since this picture was taken from our hotel window. Right now, the road to the house is not passable. Hopefully, it will get open in time for us to get in (and Ralph and Mary to get out).

Location Note from #Compass 1059-1131 Millmont St
Charlottesville, VA 22903
USA Altitude: 590 ft
Latitude: 38°3'10.9" N
Longitude: 78°30'9.0" W

Our 2010 AT Hike (background)

In 2007, my wife Wendy and I spent 3 weeks on the AT, hiking from Rockfish Gap (near Waynesboro / Charlottesville VA) to Harpers Ferry WV. It was our first hike and we liked it enough to set a goal of completing the AT in Virginia (550 miles). We completed two more hikes that took us south to Troutville VA (near Roanoke).

Our goal was interrupted by an opportunity to go to Hong Kong for 2 years. I spent most of 2009 in Hong Kong and loved it. However that trip was interrupted by a cost cutting program in my company that gave me an early retirement package that I "could not refuse". That, in turn, gave us an opportunity to hike the entire Appalachian Trail.

Before returning to the US, we made some wonderful trips including Tibet (see picture from Mt. Everest), Thailand, Beijing, and hiking the Great Wall of China. (I will add links later.) We returned to the US in the second week of January. I put together a plan for the three months before we start our hike (our limbo/homeless period).

We will spend about 5 weeks in a hotel in Charlottesville. The hotel is OK but it is nice to be in a city. After living in Hong Kong, it would have been quite a culture shock to return home to our isolated mountain top.

We will then go "house-sit" in our own house for about two weeks. As it happens, the caretakers in our house (Ralph and Mary) are exploring an opportunity for another caretaker job in Puerto Rico during the last half of February. Probably the only people in the world who would want to live up on the mountain in a snow storm to take care of their animals would be us. The road is currently impassable due to 3-4 foot show drifts. Hopefully it will get plowed so that we can get in and Ralph and Mary can leave for Puerto Rico. We planned to hike the road each day so this would also impact our training.

Next we will go to the Outer Banks for most of March and stay at our friend Beth's house. We will hike on the beach and in Nagshead Woods, as well as, climb/hike on Jocky's Ridge to build leg strength.

We expect to start our hike the end of March.