Only 299 more days!
First of all, a hearty welcome to the newest idiot member of our little hiking cult, Shelbygrl, a fine Canadian gal from the frozen tundra of Ontario, who is apparently of sufficient mental instability that she somehow thought that spending 6 months hiking mountains with two sweaty idiots was actually a COOL idea.
Like Steve, Shelbygrl is a longtime online friend that I have never met in person. Whereas Steve and I became acquainted via my humor blog, Shelbygrl and I met via various online Cauda Equina Syndrome support groups. As she indicated in her post, after many months of no contact with each other, she sent me a Facebook message this week after hearing of tornadoes in our area. She asked if the family and I were all OK and also asked what I had been up to in recent months, because in all honesty, I have not mentioned one word about this crazy hiking adventure to ANYONE on the CES support pages. I told her we were all fine and then spelled out Steve and I’s plans for hiking the Appalachian Trail next spring. I told her how I was tired of being a reclusive prisoner of both my house and my disability, how I was tired of people and Doctors telling me all the things I could NOT DO, and how I was ready to undertake a major adventure that would completely overshadow all my health issues.
Apparently, she had been dealing with the same Demons and was also looking for an adventure that would allow her to at least temporarily escape her own Cauda Equina Syndrome nightmare. Steve and I’s plan instantly stuck a chord with her and she decided to join us without hesitation. So, as a result, Steve will now be saddled with TWO sufferers of a rare Neurological disorder that no one on the planet has ever heard of, with both being former Nurses to boot! I can foresee many instances where we will be high atop some mountain, struggling mightily to reach the summit, when one or both of us disabled people will call out to Steve yelling “Steve!…..in my/our medical opinion………..I think you’re going to have to carry me/us the rest of the way up this mountain!…….. Pleeeeeeaaaaassssssssssssseeeeeeeee”.
Poor Steve really has no idea what he has gotten himself into……….
Steve and Shelbygrl have already hit it off as instant friends online, which I knew they would. It’s kind of mind boggling that come next spring, I would have two online friends that I have known ONLINE for years, that I met through two entirely different forums, that I will actually be meeting in-person for the first time when we actually gather in Georgia to start our hike.
Who knows….. Maybe our little hiking cult will continue to grow……….creating a whole little herd of idiot hikers that first met as online friends………meeting in-person for the first time at the start of the trail. The more the merrier! Safety in numbers! Less chance of getting lost with more idiot brains to read the maps. More food choices for the bears! More targets for the trillions of bugs!
What an adventure it will be!
Summer is virtually upon us. A few hot months lay ahead. Before you know, Fall will arrive, followed by the Holidays and the New Year. A cold, dismal winter will quickly turn towards Spring. A guy from Texas, a guy from Massachusetts, and a gal from Canada will all head south to Georgia…….. will meet for the first time………… the Texan and Canadian will climb atop Steve’s back………..and then all three will start trudging northward.
And it all starts in only 299 days!
[ujicountdown id=”IDIOTS AWAY!” expire=”2014/03/20 07:00″ hide = “true”]
Pretty soon I am going to start my training phase of carrying strangers on my back for long distances. Hopefully I will get well used to it before I get arrested.
This is true……….. Maybe you should carry Mannequins to practice………… Imagine carrying an actual dude on your back and then falling down in the local city park……….. it might look pretty odd to passing parkgoers to see a dude seemingly laying on another dude in the park………. ha ha ha 🙂
I gotta see if they allow ATVs on the trail. I would LOVE to film this whole total disaster … um … great adventure for everyone to enjoy! (And to carry an emergency supply of oxygen, Skittles, and a rescue sled. You know, to carry supplies and such….. 😉 )
That’s what we need! The death defying camera man! Nobody ever wonders who got that shot of the crazy man doing THAT haha 🙂
You know, there is NO way my wife would allow me to walk that trail. BUT – if I were the official expedition photographer, then I could ride, AND I could carry a laptop for live-from-the-trail posts. And there’d be room enough for my meds, plus first aid for y’all, and I’m sure I could gather together enough British web gear to get four sets with canteens …. and we’d have a source of electricity from the ATV’s engine as well as enough cargo capacity for a REALLY nice tent – I mean, TWO tents (somehow, I don’t see Mark’s wife being exactly cool wit “co-ed accomadations” – though mine probably would be, she knows I’m too dang old to get into any trouble that way 😉 ). And…….
You know what? I’m gonna shut up, before I talk myself into something we’ll ALL regret! 😀
I can already see your first chapter in the book! Who would you like to play you in the movie? 😀
Oh, that’s easy, Tom Cruise, ’cause he’s from another planet too! (Just one that we don’t like to associate with.) Let’s see, how about ….. Michael Chiklis, playing me, playing Curly? That should work! 😀