Sunday's Turn of Events (and a little background info)

Plumbing hassle

A big hike. 
      
For those who may not know of our planned hike of the Pacific Crest Trail, this blog (or journal) is all about it.  We'll fill you in.

We have canceled today's training hike due to some kitchen plumbing issues.  Mike is removing his garbage disposal--in fact, he's throwing it away as it was a nuisance and has caused problems, like right now being in the way while he's dealing with a plugged sink drain pipe (the obstruction is back inside the wall). He has made three trips to Morgan's already, but says it usually takes five such forays so the job may not be done for awhile.  We've been learning some new words this morning (Mike explained that it was"plumber's talk").

Pacific Crest Trail

We are on a countdown--less than six weeks to go before we get on Amtrak and travel to San Diego and catch a bus to Campo, California where we will take the first of our six million steps (totaling 2,700 miles) to Manning Park, British Columbia.  We're going south by rail because neither of us enjoy flying these days (it used to be fun, pre Bush Administration).  

Life right now is a bit chaotic.  We have two food dehydrators going day and night, preparing stuff for our 450-plus meals.  In between resistance training at the gym and 12-15 mile hikes on alternate days with weighted backpacks, we've been packaging food in "breakfast", "lunch" and "dinner" packets with a vacuum pack Food Saver.  This might not sound like much ado, but don't forget: we're retired folk.

Here's pretty much what Mike's condo looks like these days.  Messy!   Boxes and bags of stuff all over the place.

Mike's kitchen

Last night, we tried test-filling a resupply box.  Jan's daughter, Michele, will be mailing these to us along the way, and we could not do this hike without her help.  (When this odyssey is over, we will owe her "big time".)  We figure that she will have to mail at least two boxes to each resupply point in order to provide us with all the sustenance we'll need--altogether around 60 such boxes.  We could likely find some food at stores that are proximate to various trail heads that we will pass by but we--and especially Jan--are kinda particular about our diets.  These 60 boxes will contain only food and we haven't yet even considered all the other necessities such as new shoes (most PCT hikers go through 5 pair during the hike), various clothes for differing topographic and seasonal conditions, section maps and portions of guide books that we will cut up and have sent to us at appropriate times and places. It is a challenge to foresee where and when to send items so that we will  receive food, crampons, ice axes, warm or cooler clothes, replacement shoes, etc. as we need them and not before.  We'd prefer increasing the number of resupply points rather than carrying extra supplies in our packs, because of the weight factor.  And speaking of "weight", we are both anxious about losing body weight on this trip.  Because of the expected energy expenditure in hiking an average of 20 miles a day for several months, Jan has calculated that Mike will probably need a daily intake of between 5 & 6,000 calories and that Jan will likely require at least 2,500 just to stay even.  For Mike, this means he will try to eat at least 2 Snickers bars, three Pro Bars, and 2 Nature Valley Oats and Honey bars each day in addition to three full meals of more healthy stuff--d'you know that there are 280 calories (and some protein) in a 2 oz. Snickers bar (yum!)?  Right now, we are both trying to gain a bit of weight in anticipation of losing some on the trail.
Lotsa things to think about!

We're gonna do this blog (or journal) together.  At times Mike will write it, at other times it will be Jan and sometimes we'll collaborate.  We'll identify the author each time:  For Mike, we'll write "(Mike)", for Jan, we'll write "(Jan)", and a joint issue will start with "(Us)"--clever, huh?  This chapter is an "Us" version.

Each and every one of you, having met and surpassed certain rigorous qualifying standards, have been selected by our Screening Board to be involuntarily subscribed to this journal.  Nothing will be required of you--you don't even have to read it, nor need you comment on it.  You may block it, delete it, or print it and hang it on your office wall.  No questions asked, no tests.  We don't care, as we're writing it as much for our own enjoyment as for that of others.  We won't even ask you if you liked it, so don't fear being found out after having deleted it unread. We plan to take a few photos and jot down a few things as we prepare for our trip, and then after we begin the BIG WALK we'll try to keep a few notes from each leg of the hike, bringing things up to date with a journal entry including some photos once a week or so or whenever we reach a place where we can find some electricity and wireless service.  We have an iPhone (no separate camera), so the photos may not be of top quality, but they'll at least lend a general impression of what we're seeing and doing.

We are indebted to Mike's long-time (50 years long) friend, John Hand, for his help in selecting the iPhone and setting it up for use.  John has for years pressured Mike to visit an Apple Store (Mike finally did, and has now pretty much gotten over his earlier addiction to PCs).  IPhones are incredible!  Now we've gotta learn how to make it work.

Another big help was our friend, Charlie Hyde, of Tacoma, whom we met on a trail last year as Charlie was nearing completion of his 2010 through-hike of the PCT.  Charlie gave us lots of helpful tips.

Our next few posts (prior to our leaving home) will probably include some general information about the Pacific Crest Trail (anyway, what we have heard and read about it), our equipment, how we plan to do the trip, things like that.  Maybe we'll even talk about why we're doing this hike (if we can figure out why--now, there's a really good question...).  Whatever we feel like writing.  Oh yeah, we take questions too ('don't know if we'll answer them, but please ask).

As we said in the beginning, we've got only a little over five weeks before we leave, and lots of things to organize and accomplish in that short time.  We're becoming a bit anxious.  Mike is beginning to exhibit the early signs of a stressy freakout, so we've gotta get busy.

We'll see how it goes....