09 Sep - Georgia

We left Greg's this morning and drove to Hiawassee, Georgia. Tomorrow we go 68 miles south to Springer Mt. and hike back here (5 days). Then we repeat and drive north 68 miles to NC and hike back.

That is as far as I have planned. Can't believe how little I have prepared. Hope it is not false confidence. Pictures tomorrow.

Weight loss

Below is the record of my weight loss while hiking:

258 lbs - 2009 Mar Before leaving for Hong Kong (all time high)
228 lbs - 2009 Dec Return from Hong Kong
235 lbs - 2010 Mar

233 lbs - Apr 02 First day of hike
218 lbs - Apr 16 Duncannon, PA, Doyle Hotel
213 lbs - May 04 Palmerton/Slatington, PA, Stemple house
208 lbs - May 13 Unionville, NY (Esther's scale)
197 lbs - Jun 17 Manchester Center, VT, Sutton's Place
189 lbs - Jun 23 Killington, Vermont, Inn at Long Trail
187 lbs - Jul 02 Glencliff, NH, Hikers Welcome Hostel
192 lbs - Jul 04 Franconia Notch, NH, Chet's (One Step AT a Time)
188 lbs - Jul 21 Andover, ME, Pine Ellis Lodge
186 lbs - Aug 17 Millinocket, ME, Katahdin Inn (Esther's scale)

192 lbs - Sep 06 Greg's house (after 3 weeks off trail)

For the record, Wendy lost 10 lbs in weight but more than 10 lbs in inches.

I lost 25 lbs while in Hong Kong then gained some back. Then I lost 45-50 lbs while hiking. It is starting to come back so it must be time to start hiking again.

Back to the trail soon.

On Saturday, we dropped off the rental car and took Andi to the airport. Her plane has made it to Paris and she should have connected to Madagascar. She may have gone to a hotel depending upon the time. She has to be back at the airport at 4:30 AM which was only about 6 hours later if the plane was on time. We do not expect to hear from her until she arrives in Maroantsetra which will not be until overnight tonight. The earliest will be when we get up tomorrow.

My plan was to leave for Georgia on Tuesday but we need to take care of car issues and banking issues so maybe Wednesday. We will use Andi's car and get shuttles. I still need to make those plans. We will see how well this type of hiking works. It will be nice to periodically have access to a car but keeping it available up the trail via shuttle could be more trouble than it is worth. We will see....

I will update again before we leave.