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!

i'm so easily amused...

kelly and i went to the gas station last night and bought powerball tickets for the $125M lottery. she said if she won, she'd buy my truck and let me keep it and then send me hikin'. i said if i won, i'd buy her house and let her keep it and then go hikin'. needless to say, today we're just $3 poorer than we were yesterday.

i discovered this morning that the $25 rain jacket that i bought years ago at wal-mart is packable. it stuffs into itself! that's freakin' amazing! no wonder it was $25, haha. regardless... i think that'll wind up being the one i take on the trail with me. we'll see...

i stuffed my sleeping bag into its stuff sack and packed it this morning. i'm gonna pack the tent in later and just kinda fiddle with it. i'm so ready to get out of chucktown.

the guy who test drove the truck last week just came and picked it up to take it out on the highway for a second drive. "dear God, please! thank ya! love ya! bye!"

also, as something to get my mind off the crappy weather here in charleston today, here's a littie video i ran across a few weeks ago.

Green Tunnel from Kevin Gallagher on Vimeo.

something new every day...

so i bought a new book today. =) backpacker magazine's "everyday wisdom." i bought it because i don't have any trail common sense - yet. when i first looked into hiking the AT, it never dawned on me that you might want to bear bag & cable your stuff. i would have been eaten the first night, had i not done any research. i'd never thought about taking hiking poles. i was pretty naive.

anyways... so i bought this new book and it should wisen me up. i also bought a backpacking magazine, but i bought it mainly for the ads in the back so i can go online and get a few more catalogs sent to me. :)

i still don't know about taking the dogs with me. a lot of people on the wb forums seem against taking a dog on a thru-hike. most of them are concerned about the health of the dog, while the rest of them seem to just be anti-dog.

i don't know what i would do with them for six months if i didn't take them with me. i hate to say this, but the thought actually crossed my mind of just taking swayze and leaving jolie behind. i don't like to think that's playing favorites... but swayze *is* my firstborn. o.O plus, jolie is a boxer and would overheat really quickly. who knows?

i did start a discussion on a whiteblaze forum today regarding dogs and water supply etiquette. i don't want people on the trail to hate me, so i asked everybody else what they thought of letting your dog(s) swim and play in rivers/streams as long as they were downstream from the main collection site. i just don't understand why some people would get upset about that! bears and raccoons and all the other wildlife POOP AND PEE in the same rivers and streams that we're getting our water from! that's what water purification systems are for, people. i don't know... i just don't understand some people's logic. if they can see the animal playing in the water, they have a conniption fit, but if a bear craps upstream around the bend, it's outta sight, outta mind.

i'm still on the fence about whether to go or not. i'd really, really like to and it's the only thing i've been able to think about lately. i just don't know what i would do with all of my bills and whatnot.

if i could keep my truck until february and then just sell it off, that would be awesome. daddy did mention buying my truck, and that would be the perfect scenario, but i don't want him to feel obligated to buy *my* truck just because he's looking for another truck of his own.

so i wouldn't have rent or electric or cable to pay. i wouldn't have insurance or gas to pay on my truck (maybe just the actual note). i would have to buy my food. i would call the student loan people and get another six-month deferment. i would still have a cell phone bill. i would still have a minimum monthly payment due on the credit card, should i start using it again.

maybe i just need to buy another lottery ticket tomorrow. =)