Back home!

"Good grief...who is this old Idiot?"
“Good grief…who is this old Idiot?”

The Idiot is finally back home after a whirlwind 4-day, 2,000 mile road-trip from Texas to Indiana in order to meet our first grandchild, Landon Alexander Pakulak (5 weeks old), for the very first time.

(Landon’s Dad, Mom, and Grandpa all have red hair….. the kid never had a chance)

I won’t be posting a fitness update this week due to the fact that I am too chicken to step on the scale because of 32 hours of the past 4 days being spent sitting in a car, and because every meal of the past 4 days has been from restaurants, notably fast food restaurants, which does not bode well for continued weight loss in my preparation for the trail.

There were some notable trail-related activities that I managed to squeeze in during our brief visit to Indiana…..

IMG_8128

First, I had the opportunity to scale a Fire Tower that had 108 steps leading up to a small viewing platform easily over 100 ft in the air. Remarkably, the climb was not an issue at all and my only difficulty was trying to squeeze through the small trap-door at the top of the tower. I have read that there a few fire towers along the AT so I am ready to climb every one! (My son Tyler discovered that he is afraid of heights about halfway up the climb of this particular tower, causing him to reverse course and very slowly back his way down)

249113_4859551766974_47535056_n

Second, I had the opportunity to undertake my first Appalachian Trail “training hike”, a rigorous half-mile trek around a scenic pond in southern Indiana. This “hike” contained elevation gains upwards of 5-7 feet, featured treacherous 3-degree down-slopes, 2 exposed tree roots, a swarm of rabid butterflies, and a rickety wood foot-bridge with only ONE handrail! The trail was of such physical challenges that Tyler managed to walk the whole trail with his hands in his pants pockets. Out of the four of us MEN that undertook the hike, I finished fourth behind the 26 yr old, the 16 yr old, and the 3 yr old. But, the first training hike is now in the books! No problem! Bring on the AT!

IMG_8156

Today, I am taking the day off to recuperate and do laundry, then tomorrow it will be back into full training mode and dieting. It’s supposed to be pushing 90 degrees here this week, so sweating off the fast-food pounds should be pretty easy. I’ll just wear three hoodies while hiking around town in the heat.

Sunday was my 48th Birthday. At this time next year, Steve and I will be out on the trail, hopefully somewhere in Virginia. My grandson will turn 1 year old shortly after Steve and I embark on our journey. I cannot wait for the time years from now when I can sit my grandson down on my lap and tell him of the great adventure that I had back when he was still just a toddler. Hopefully, in Landon’s eyes, he won’t grow up thinking of me as just the “goofy disabled grandpa”, but rather the “goofy hiking grandpa that walked over 2,000 miles”.

IMG_8080

[ujicountdown id=”IDIOTS AWAY!” expire=”2014/03/20 07:00″ hide = “true”]