How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time.  It’s all in the details …

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step."

- Lao-tzu

Or 2190 miles, but then who’s counting!

A BIG part of planning for a six month thru-hike has NOTHING to do with hiking.  It has to do with my life before the adventure begins and how I plan to put everything in my life on hold, the details on how I accomplish this, and the logistics of which are a bit staggering.

So, I’ll start with a checklist, identifying everything that needs to be accomplished, and then one-by-one, work towards that last bite before the adventure begins.  I sure hope I have the stomach for it.  I’m sure after being on the trail for a month or so, eating an elephant will be no problem!

Downsizing - eliminating the unnecessary, unneeded things from my life. I recently started taking pictures of items that will not be a part of my life: furniture, kitchen gadgets, books, etc.  I’ve posted many of these for sale on Craigslist. If come December they have not sold, I will be donating them to a local charity.  My goal here is to become mobile again - fitting everything I own into or onto my Honda Civic.  I did this once before when I left Florida in 2010, but things tend to breed and multiple - not sure how that happens?

 
Storage - Finding a place to store the stuff I do decide to keep.  And then finding a place to park my car where it will be safe and hopefully have it with someone who can drive it once in awhile.

A car sitting for six months cannot be good, right?  I do need it to start up when I get off the trail.


Managing Debt - paying monthly credit card bills, a cell phone bill, auto insurance, vehicle registration, etc. Where will I have my mail forwarded to?  Without an apartment or residence, does that then make me homeless?  

Most of the details here can be handled by just being well organized and having a way to complete tasks whilst on the trail … which leads to ...

Staying connected -  I currently own only a prepaid ‘dumb’ cell phone.  I’ve never gotten connected or even wanted to be tethered to the end of a cell phone, but now, having a way to call family and friends and connect to the internet for maps, reservations, ordering replacement gear, blogging, paying bills, etc. will be critical to my mental and physical wellbeing.  Also a little music and taking photographs could be incorporated here.  Researching cell phone models, brands, and service plans does not sound like fun, but will be another necessary item on my to-do list.

Travel - The logistics of getting to the trail-head start in Georgia and from its terminus in Maine back to wherever I stash my vehicle and belongings.  Not sure how I will handle this one.  Worst case - take a train or bus to the town nearest Amicalola Falls State Park and then either hitch or hire a shuttle service to get me to the trail.  Best case - have a family member or good friend available to get me from wherever to the trail-head and see me on my way.

Support & Resupply - I can imagine that hanging out in the woods will at some point get old … and lonely.  Hearing from family and friends will be important.  Planning when and where I can get mail will be like shooting at a moving target.  Hopefully like shooting an actual weapon, I will get better at this as time passes.  I can guess where I may be at any point in the near future, but weather, fatigue, miscalculation in mileage or other unforeseen factors may change the reality of my current location.  To help with getting mail, and mail-drops for food and equipment, and to add a little piece of mind for those that do care to know what is going on with me at any point,

I have recently purchased at SPOT Gen 3 satellite tracking/messaging/SOS beacon.  I’ll setup and activate an annual subscription in mid-October and begin testing it this fall.  It should update my location at a specified timed interval, allow me to send out an ‘I’m okay’ message, and give me the ability to send an SOS monitored signal for help in the event of an emergency.  I will make my current location via this beacon available on my blog under, “Where’s Kurt“.  I will also list here my planned USPS locations where I will be stopping to check for and receive mail and packages.

Eating an elephant is a BIG task.  The details are important.  

If you can think of anything I’ve forgotten, or have helpful ideas or input, I would very much like to hear from you.  Want to help out?  Let me know how you’d like to be involved, or just check-in or drop a note in the mail, or a comment on this blog whilst I’m on the trail.  It will take a village to get this middle-aged, adventure crazed man all the way from Georgia to Maine!

"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

- Tolkien, Lord of the Rings

- The Other One