Before the trail · April 13, 2012

T-Minus 12 hours before departure

This is the last night before hitting the trail, and both Tim and I are bristling with anticipation. Yesterday was a good deal of driving and a quiet night at a hotel in North Carolina, today was a little less driving and a trip to an Irish pub to enjoy a final off-trail dinner in Georgia.

Not much else to report on just yet, Tim got a couple of items he was missing, and I replaced my gloves at a shop here with something a little bit nicer. We met another thru-hiker there who was prepping for his departure tomorrow as well. His name was Troy, no trail name yet either. He seemed like a nice guy, and the lady at the gear shop said that all the thru-hikers she talked to this year seemed very friendly. It all bodes very well.

Dinner involved eating in a cellar with a unisex bathroom and dollar bills with messages stapled all over the walls. So this had to join the ranks.

If that doesn't embody our perspective for this adventure I don't know what does.

Well tomorrow is day 1 of our great Appalachian adventure (thank you Chris McCandless for that phrasing) and we couldn't be more excited. Tim says he may make a few guest posts on the site as well, but we'll see what happens. Ok, Silence of the Lambs is on, so I know what I'm doing for the rest of my evening. I'll talk to you all from the trail!