Operation successful

Shana is doing well!  The first day was rough but each day since is better.  Even better, she can do things now that were too painful or impossible before.  Eight weeks of wearing the neck brace and hopefully this will all be worthwhile.

If she continues to improve, our plan is to leave Friday morning.  We will have a 7 mile hike to Ed Garvey Shelter.

Leaving Greg's today

We are leaving Greg's house shortly to go near Frederick, MD to my daughter Shana's house.  She has surgery tomorrow and we will spend a few days there while she recuperates.  When she has recovered, we will go to nearby Harper's Ferry which is where we start the hike.

Cross Training

Several days ago we rented bicycles (new beach bikes with fat tires, belt drive, and no gears).  We have been hiking on the trails, hiking on the beach, bicycling, and climbing dunes to get ready for the hike.

I have also been using the GPS in my Android phone with Google Tracks and Google Latitude to track these hikes in anticipation of using one or the other for our AT hike.  Today we biked to Nags Heads Woods Nature Center and hiked all the trails, then  biked to Nags Head Town Park and hiked that trail, then biked to Jockey's Ridge and hiked that trail (including some minor dune climbing) .  Then we biked back to Beth's Cottage.  In total, we hiked 7 mi. and biked 12 mi. this afternoon.  

Here is a map  I made using Google Tracks.  Note that the battery ran down so it ends on the way to Jockey's Ridge.  This is one of the reasons that Google Tracks is not useful for a 6-7 month hike.  However, it could be very useful for documenting a day hike.

Google Tracks also generates data and puts it in Google Docs.  Here is a spreadsheet from today.  These are both useful but Google Latitude is what I will be using for the AT hike.  It is not meant for this purpose either, but I have determined that I can turn on Latitude, get a location sent (when I have a connection), and then turn it off.  If I do this every day or so, it will generate a map of our progress on the trail.

Finally, it is getting warm - I know because the snakes are coming out.  We have been here for over 2 weeks and had not seen any.  Today we saw 2.  Here is a picture of one.

Homeless - phase 3.

We are now at the beach in Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina.  We are staying at our friend Beth's - she has a classic old Nags Head beach cottage that her grandfather built in the late 1940s.   It is a great place to relax and to prepare.

We arrived here on the 5th of March and will leave on the 25th.  We have been preparing our gear as well as hiking.  We go to Nags Head Woods - much of it is under water because all the snow we got  in Virginia was rain here in eastern Carolina.

However, we have found some trails that are high enough to be dry and we can hike all the way out to Albemarle Sound.  There are also side trails to be explored, and a road following the Sound to keep us from getting bored.

We are also hiking at Jockeys Ridge State Park.   It is where I learned to hand glide many years ago.  This trail also goes to the Sound and on the way back you can climb the dunes to build leg strength.

Some days we also hike the beach.  This works some different muscles.  We also plan to do some bicycling to mix it up.  Yesterday we hiked about 10 miles:  In the morning, we hiked from the house to Nags Head Woods, then about 3 mi. in the woods and then back to the house for a total of 7 mi.
In the evening, we hiked Pea Island Bird Sanctuary and then a brief trip out the jetty at Oregon Inlet for about 3 more miles, 10 mi. total.  On the AT, that will be very short day.  And of course, it was all flat and  we did not have packs.

Food and gear is coming along.  We have the food ordered and it should arrive any day.  We have ordered a mixture of freeze dried dinners from Mountain House and Mary Jane's Farm, plus additional fruits and veggies from justtomatoes.com.  We have to repackage it for the trail.  Also have ordered nutrition bars for snacks but we still need to buy more instant oatmeal for breakfast.  We have plenty of gear ready to go but we are not very organized yet.

If all goes well, we should be on the trail 3 weeks from today, at the latest!

Finally...

We got our shipment yesterday.   

Tomorrow we pickup Ralph and Mary at IAD.  Thursday we go to the beach for March.

Today we got light snow.  But it should not impact airlines or travel so "all systems go".