After extensive internal debate, I’ve decided to offer up an invite to EFI, my little orange octopus of a mascot, to join me on this year’s northbound Appalachian Trail thru-hike.

The observant reader might recall seeing EFI on the first draft of this site’s About page, or as the original lead picture for my Bus Question post. I kept trying to drop him in here, there, anywhere, because he’s hugely important to me.

In 2008, after graduating from college, I cycled coast-to-coast, from North Carolina to California, with 29 other young adults. We rode with Bike & Build, a nonprofit benefiting affordable housing. The 3,600 mile journey took 9 weeks.

Early on in the trip, a few riders and I pulled into a flea market in North Carolina. It was at this flea market that I bought EFI for a few dollars. Before riding out of the parking lot, I zip-tied the little stuffed animal to my top tube, where he stayed for the remainder of the summer.

Today, I would pay many times EFI’s original cost in order to hold on to him. Simple, seemingly worthless objects can take on tremendous meaning in our lives. I don’t fully understand why or how, so I won’t go into details, but Radiolab did a great podcast on the subject. It's definitely worth a listen.

Why name him EFI? It stands for “Every F’n Inch”, which is the mantra I used on that summer’s harder rides. This mantra, as well as any other type of reminder we give ourselves on a daily basis, can (I think) have a dramatic impact on how effective we are at achieving our goals, and also how happy we are in our day-to-day lives.

One of my favorite authors, and a local Boston guy to boot, put it best:

“As a single footstep will not make a path on the earth, so a single thought will not make a pathway in the mind. To make a deep physical path, we walk again and again. To make a deep mental path, we must think over and over the kind of thoughts we wish to dominate our lives.” - Thoreau

Anyways, I’m taking EFI along because the trade off is worth it. He’ll add an ounce and a half to my pack weight, but if and when I get lonely on the trail or stray from my ultimate goal of reaching Katahdin, then a quick look at his goofy grin and the reminder of another seemingly impossible goal already achieved (with the help of those 29 other folks) might get me back on track.

Also, he’s super photogenic.

Happy Hiking!

Bus Question

And now for a quick break in the radio silence.

Ten weeks from today, I'll be hanging out at a campsite along the Appalachian Trail. Nine weeks from yesterday will be my last day at work. It doesn't seem real.

Hike PrepA few folks have asked how planning for the hike has been going. I have to quickly think about it before answering because, though I do feel busy, I don't feel like I've been thinking about actual AT prep all that much. Things are in a pretty good place on that front. I've written up what I think will be my final list for gear. There are a few items that I still need to sort through, and those are marked with an asterisk. (This might change if you read this post after I leave, at which point the gear list should be completely finalized.) Many of the items with asterisks just need to be weighed for total pack weight.

Something to keep in mind is that thru-hiking the AT can be viewed as stringing together a lot of 3-6 day backpacking trips. Every few days, I'll have access to a town where I can restock on food and pick up packages. I don't plan on doing mail drops, but if there's a piece of gear or clothing that I realize I should have gotten, then it's an easy enough thing to have Amazon ship it out to where I'll be. I feel a lot more comfortable not having everything "perfect" before I head south after stumbling a bit on last November's 5 day shakedown hike in Virginia.

Other Prep, etc.There are other things that have been happening over the last few weeks, though, that have kept me busy. Here's a quick sampling.

• Sublet my room - This has a lease ending August 31st. Rent would have been a big expense to carry through the trip and I am very glad to have it sorted out.
• Hanging out with old and new friends - I'll be continuing to carve out big chunks of time for this through departure date. I'd rather do that and not have my gear dialed in than vice versa. I'll miss them!
• Salsa dance lessons - In the past several years, my fallbacks have been the lawnmower dance and the macarena. Yeah, really. It's high time to kick it up a notch, especially if I happen on any trailside dance parties.
• Selling, donating, and throwing out possessions - Mentioned it before but bears repeating: I hope to be professionally and geographically agile on my return, and that will be easier without loads of things weighing me down.
• Being snowed in - I live in Boston. It's been crazy!
• Procrastinating on health insurance - It seems like so much paperwork...
• Learning rice and beans - A neighbor has graciously taught me how to make some good, cheap meals at home. Food is one of the biggest areas where I could easily spend less money. As I lower my budget, I'll have greater flexibility with respect to travel and work options. Erika Wiggins at The Active Explorer has been nice enough to coach me a bit through this life transition, and one of her biggest pieces of advice was this: "In a nutshell, cut every expense you can live without...right now." Rice and beans is me trying.
• Hiking Forward and 1st gear sponsorship - I've been accepted on as part of a 6-person team of 2015 AT thru-hikers, organized by Scott at Hiking Forward. As a result, I am officially a gear sponsored hiker! Check out this blog post at Potable Aqua for more detail.

That's about it. Things are busy. Living in Boston right now with all this snow is hard, which has me thinking a lot about where I might want to live after doing the hike. Even if it's temporarily. More than anything else, though, I can't wait to just set my foot on the trail and start! I'm like a little kid and it's 60 some odd nights before Christmas.

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