March 12, 2000 Sunday March 12, 2000Pre-Hike Excitement Well, we are a go for our March 15 start of our Appalachian Friend Adventure. We are in a last minute panic. We just arrived home from a last minute flight to Tampa to celebrate Gary, JR’s 36th birthday and to see Gary III play center field for the Astros, his first ball team. We just couldn't miss these events and the quick trip of flying down on Friday and back on Sunday was well worth it. We had a nice dinner at our favorite Japanese restaurant, and the Astros won 11-10, scoring 5 in the bottom of the 6th. Gary III looked real good at bat and in the field. He had one hit and a good fielding effort on the one ball hit his way. We are proud of him.Millie is worried about her house and her yard. Last weekend she decided we needed to remodel the sprinkler system that I installed in 1976. So I dug up the yard and converted over to a timer system with electric valves. The job took 3 days of about 24 hours work, and when finished one of the valves was faulty with a bad "O" ring that I was able to replace without tearing up the whole manifold. None of the pipes leaked and the timer works perfectly. I'm proud of the work, and Millie is elated that her yard will be watered on time.I just put up the new Sierra Designs clip 3 tent that will save us 2.5 pounds over our former tent. While I put up the tent, she planted flowers. She wants to be sure her yard looks good while she is gone.Our friends Brenda Long and Sunny Gates will be doing our mail drops. They spent the evening here and we cooked rice and dried vegetables and generally tasted everything. All approved of our diet. We will mail our food to about 25 post offices and hostels and will buy food at about 20 places. We hope to only ever carry about 5 days worth at a time.Hiker Sandy Downs (Navigator) came to visit us for 3 days this week. She is an author who is writing a series of books for high schools and is currently working on the history of Florida in the Civil War. She visited the Civil War Museum, Forts Pickens and Barrancas, and met with the historical society to research her work. In her spare time she helped us considerably, and helped Millie throw out a lot of bulk and weight from her pack. We appreciate her expertise.Our friend David Horton will meet us at my sister’s house in Alpharetta, just north of Atlanta, and take us to the trail early on March 15. When David ran the trail and set a record (52 days, or 38 miles per day) we were his first crew and took him to the Springer Mountain start. He will now return the favor. David will be with us two or three days and will run ahead and check out the water situation for Millie who is deathly afraid she may run out of fluids.Sister Rita Lukehart and her husband Dean will host David and us the night before the start. They have a big house only 50 miles from Dahlonega and two hours from the Springer Mountain terminus of the Appalachian Trail. We will leave Millie’s car with them for a week or two then Brenda and Sunny will bring it home.

 

Bear Bag and Sweet Pea The Trail Boss