NYC Interlude

Please forgive me for not posting for a while; I’m afraid that I thought it too dull and boring to report that my leave of absence from work has been quite lovely (no surprises there), that traveling around New England like a madwoman trying to get JUST ONE MORE visit in was exhausting, that my family continues to be wonderful and supportive (as always, unless I’m talking about shaving my head), and that getting the stomach flu was tremendously unpleasant both for me and for the unfortunate family members whose couch I commandeered for a period of 24 hours until I was able to act like less of a expellant slug.  Like I said… nothing particularly surprising to report.

My pack is packed (minus lunch for 5 days, a block of cheese, and 40 ft of thin cord) and weighs in at a respectable 36 lbs.  I’m happy with it, although I know that I could shave off even more weight in some areas (for example, I don’t need to be carrying an entire liter of fuel, or even two small tin can stoves, but so far I am).  I’ve got 2,000 miles to perfect my pack load, and am looking forward to hitting the Trail on Tuesday. 

My plan for the next few days is as follows: Friday and Saturday in NYC seeing a fantastic play called Sleep No More (yes, I’m seeing it twice in one weekend.  Trust me- it’s gonna be worth it.).  For those of you who didn’t listen when I was gushing about it in February 2010, it’s an interesting take on Macbeth that involves running around following characters as they act out the play in 100 rooms of an old hotel.  So  I’ll be doing double duty with seeing the play, as I’ll be continuing to break in my new hiking boots as I run around after people tonight.  Ivy, Seth, and Mary will be joining me in NYC later tonight, and hopefully we will have a fun filled weekend.  I’m heading to Delaware to visit friends for Sunday night, then on for an afternoon in DC on Monday, followed by the overnight train to Georgia, arriving early on Tuesday morning.  I haven’t figured out all the details for getting to the trail head on Tuesday, but I keep telling myself that my mantra for the trip is ‘prepared, not planned.’  In short- I’m gonna wing it, and hopefully that won’t come back to bite me in the ass too hard later on.

My sister is maintaining a list of post offices that I promise to stop by while I’m hiking- if you’re interested in sending along a letter, please contact her.  If you do go that route, and you want a response from me that is not a simple post card, I recommend you include an extra piece of paper and an envelope.  J  I’m not sure how much I’ll be checking email, or how much free library time I’ll have to respond, so don’t be alarmed if you don’t get a fast response from me.  I’ll be keeping in touch mainly by this blog (and by my terribly neglected twitter account).

More later.