Teacher & Snacktime

Breaking News!

Uncle Bob has agreed to accompany Ed and Grandma on the AT hike! Hereon, he will be known by his new trail name, Strife.

Aside from being great company for us both, Strife promises to employ his Marine Corps training toward the safety and protection of his mom and nephew....so watch out all you Trail Bears and Shelter Mice!

When the studies were done we got down to some of our AT prep work:

First we had to finish some Trail Magic Bags for the AT hikers we hope to encounter.

Our first batch is finished....overstuffed and ready to go! Tomorrow we start on the green ones!

Then it was time for our daily training hike. Our goal for March is to hike/walk 3+ miles daily for 6 days out of each week.....with packs. The initial training weight of Snacktime's pack is 7.8 lbs. Next week ...

March 2 marked the official training push for Snacktime and myself. We've committed to a minimum of 3 miles of hiking daily, with increasing pack weights, to prepare ourselves for our first section hike.

There are mountains of gear and food (certainly too much) piled up on the kitchen table awaiting organization. The itineraries and maps need to be printed and waterproofed. The tent and gear need to be sealed and in some cases treated against ticks, and the final water purification ...

Hi People, it's Snacktime (Eddie). Teacher (Grandma) and I made a calendar of our school activities for

March. There are going to be lots of hikes! March 1 begins our training for our AT hike in April. It's going to be a lot of hard work, but also a lot of fun.

What seems to be a common affliction to those anticipating their hikes is the crippling inability to make the calendar move faster. There's only so much repacking the pack, reweighing the weight and replanning the plan that can be done before the big event. After a while, these repetitions just compound the problem; second-guessing becomes rampant and insecurities and doubts dance like holiday sugarplums through our eager, sleep-deprived minds.

How does one cope? One way ...