Hi All --
Today marks the one year anniversary of when Jeff and I saw the weather report and decided to wait an extra day to start hiking the Appalachian Trail! It has definitely been an amazing year and we wanted to say thank you once again to everyone who supported us on our journey.Its exciting to remember how it felt this time last year. We caught a couple of ridiculously cheap flights to Atlanta and jumped through a series of hoops to make it to the starting line in Amicalola Falls, GA. Starting the hike was exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. I personally had never hiked more than a few miles; never with a pack and never with the intention of camping overnight. Heading out I was comforted by these two facts: 1) I'm stubborn & 2) I'm not a quitter. I was pretty sure those two traits would get me to the end, and with the help of a good hiking partner, excellent planning on Jeff's part, and a lot of kindness from friends & strangers, it did.
Since the hike we have returned to what most people consider a 'normal' life. With the help of great friends and former colleagues we were both able to quickly get jobs working for Unilever again, this time on the corporate side in Trumbull, CT. Today Jeff is a Senior Quality Leader, ensuring marketplace quality and reconciling customer complaints for various product lines. I'm a Logistics Operations Specialist and spend my working day coordinating the shipment of Ice Cream from factories to distributions centers all across the US. Mmmmmm.... Ice Cream...
Lately the adventure of a lifetime we started just one year ago seems like a far and distant dream. Coming back to 'real life' somehow minimized the experience to the point where it really does seem just like a blip on the radar of life, but at the same time there are reminders everywhere. When a song from one of our hiking playlists comes on the radio, one of us never fails to say "Ooooh! This is a hike song!" and then dance around remembering the trip. Other times as we are glazing over on the commute to work one of us will randomly say "remember that time we just left and went hiking?" Its easy to romanticize something so tough when its over, but there is no denying the freedom you feel when you just give up everything and do something awesome.
On a recent snowboard trip to Okemo, Jeff discovered another trail - the "American Discovery Trail." This one goes across America from somewhere near Washington DC and ends over in the San Francisco, CA area. When he mentioned it to me I was immediatly annoyed at the idea of hiking an even farther distance... straight through "scenic" middle America and over to CA. Or was I? This trail brought something new to the table... something different and exciting at the same time... something with two wheels and some handlebars.
So now the only question is... why not bicycle?
~Styx & Bones
