my time in chucktown is winding down...

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dear springer mountain, 

i will see you friday, april 15th. 

your secret admirer, 

angie (who, i suppose, is not so secret anymore)

this is so surreal. i've got less than forty-eight hours left in charleston, sc. i'm going to pack up my things and haul them back to mississippi and then one of my friends will drive me to georgia and drop me off at the foot of a mountain and then i'll walk to maine. i'll walk to maine? that doesn't even seem halfway realistic to me. which is why it's so awesome. :) 

i bought my stove yesterday... it basically looks like the coleman equivalent to the msr pocket rocket, except that it may be a bit larger and it doesn't come with its own cool plastic carrying case. i also bought an emergency blanket and hand warmers. just in case. and because they were on clearance. i figured it was smarter to buy a pack of hand warmers, which came with 3 sets, for $1.50 than it was to buy just a single pair of foot warmers for the same price. i figured if my feet really get all that cold, i can substitute out hand warmers for feet warmers. tomayto, tomahto. i still have to buy a poop shovel. 

what else have i bought recently? oh! i swung by the military surplus store and bought a fleece. he cut me a deal on it. $25 instead of $40. it doesn't have pit zips, but i've worn kelly's and it's super comfy. if anything, i can use it at a pillow if it gets too warm to wear in camp at night. i also bought antibacterial hand junk and a sponge for the condensation for the tent. 

i've gone out the last two nights in a row with really awesome people each time. when my friends have introduced me to people these past couple of days, i've been "the person who is going to hike the appalachian trail," like i'm some sort of awesome or something? my friend josh said he's been telling people that his friend is going to hike the AT and when they ask, "the whole thing?", he replied, "yeah, you think i'd be friends with somebody who'd just hike half of it?" i know this sounds so mushy and crap, but it makes me and my heart so happy to know that all of these people have so much faith in me and my abilities. it's so amazing that i have so many people who are so dad-gum so supportive. :)

i will definitely miss everybody here. i sort of feel like i've just started really turning over new leaves in charleston as of recently. i think i can honestly say i will miss chucktown. the people more than the place, but it's the thought that counts, right? too bad i can't afford to live here. otherwise, i just might come back. maybe. 

tomorrow (today) is my last day at work. i've gotta be at work in three hours, forty-five minutes. then i'll work until 3:30 and then kelly and i will go pick up the van and load my stuff into it. i really just need her help for the washer & dryer since it's so God-awful heavy. i can load the rest of the stuff by myself. it just might take a while. i can't believe i'll be heading home to mississippi in just over twenty-four hours. 

i will miss everybody.

p.s. swayze loves her backpack. 

p.s.s. swayze loves powdered donuts more. 

i feel like the mama of a kindergardener...

i worked on packing some of swayze's meals today. it's kind of frustrating because a 7# bag of dog food at target is $12 and change and the 15.5# bag of dog food is right at $18. but if i were to try and buy in bulk and ship it, it'd work out being about the same if i just bought the smaller bag elsewhere. boo that. she wore her backpack a little bit more around the house tonight, though. it was filled this time, and it took her some getting used to... she wasn't used to being so wide and walked into the wall and scared herself. ;D i feel like i need to take some pictures of the fit and ask some people on whiteblaze if they think it fits her ok and what i can do to adjust it better... she's just shaped so weird! i should go to bed... work in the morning. blahhh. oh yeah! powerball tonight! i'll be a millionaire in the morning!

productivity rocks!

there's no other word to describe today other than amazing. i called an eye doctor yesterday and scheduled an appointment for today, so i started the day off with a doctor's appointment. he fussed at me for wearing my contacts at night. oops. i've been wanting a pair of glasses for a few years now, but i'm not the kind of person who can look at a pair and say, "hey, these look good on me." maybe my face is shaped weird. and i don't like the idea of taking my contacts out at night 'cause if a boogie man broke in or the house caught on fire... well... i don't want to have to put my eyeballs in to see things before i can react. shrug.

so after i went to the eye doc, i came home and fed swayze and took her out. then i decided to go to the military surplus store and get my bear bagging rope. i bought 100' of 550 paracord for a little over $8. i'm not sure what i'll do with the other half, since you only need about 50' for bear bagging. then i went to dick's and bought a magnesium fire starter and a carabiner for the rope. then i dropped by starbucks to get my tips and to get breakfast 'cause by then i was starvin' marvin.

and thennnnn blake sent me a text to see what i was doing today, so i called him to see if he wanted to go to west ashley to get swayze fitted for her backpack! except that i forgot that the stove people were coming to fix the oven and that kelly had asked me to be at the house for their appointment so that if the guys came in twos, they wouldn't be all scary 'n' junk. 'cause it'd be a two on two kinda thing. so blake came over to the house while the guy was there fixin' the oven, and then joshua called! he's already in erwin! that gives me hope that i might be able to make it to damascus for trail days. i hope, i hope, i hope.

but then blake and i took swayze to half moon outfitters to see about getting her fitted for her ruffwear approach pack. they only had a small and a large, and she needed a medium. i'd seen a medium at the bike shop over in mt. pleasant a few weeks ago, and it turns out that they're getting out of the whole hiking thing, so the guy told me he'd give me 30% off the dog stuff!! so i got a $75 pack and a $20 leash for $79! deal of the day!!! oh, and i bought my sleeping pad at half moon today, so that's one more thing i can cross of my list. bear bagging, backpacks, and sleeping pads, oh my!

then, since blake works somewhere that sells crocs, we dropped by the store and i figured out which size i will need, and he's going to use his discount to get them for me on friday. :) then we came back to the house and french pressed some casi ceilo. after blake left, kelly fixed supper and i finished adjusting swayze's pack on her. then i semi-demonstrated how to bear bag in the living room using the stair rail as a tree branch.

my mama seems to like the whole "spot" idea. apparently, it offers $100k worth of an insurance policy, should they have to air lift you out of a crevice 'cause you fell down and broke your toe. but blake told me about an app called "everytrail" today, and i think it might be an alright substitute. granted, it won't come with an insurance policy, but it's a gps tracking device and if i keep my phone turned on... who knows. we'll see what happens.

i am so excited!!!!!!!

i quit (next week)!

i turned in my notice today! it's only a one-week notice, but we'll see how things go. i'm so excited. i practiced learning how to tie knots the other night. i looked at my mail-drop schedule last night. i haven't gotten it figured out just yet, but if anybody is reading this and would like to send me mail while i'm out (ie cookies, cornbread, etc.), i'll post my tentative mail drop schedule so y'all can do just that. ;) this is so crazy. i'm going to hike the appalachian trail. with my dog. pray to God i hope i finish. 

jitterbug...

my pre-trail jitters are kicking in. i think my last day of work will be next sunday. i keep thinking, "am i really prepared for this? do i really know enough?" but then i think to myself, "hell, grandma gatewood hiked the trail with a rucksack and pair of keds... quit overanalyzing everything!"

on one hand, i think that it's just really simple to get out and hike and that we've overcomplicated things with technology and everything. then on the other hand, i think that people used to ride around without seatbelts and thought they were fine. maybe that's apples to oranges, though.

i'm extremely excited, though, because i learned how to tie the knot to secure securely tie out my rainfly last night. :) i think i might go make a drysack purchase today and go practice bear bagging in the backyard.

big sigh. still in shock. :)