The Voluntary Homeless........

I found a blog about a guy named Dion who is attempting to hike from Alabama to Quebec. I really enjoyed some of his writings as he puts so much feeling into them. The November archives on his blog are especially noteworthy. These deal with the start of his journey from Mt. Flagg near Montgomery Al. to Mt. Cheaha (the highest mountain in Alabama) on the Pinhoti trail. I love the stories of his interaction with the locals.

He is currently on the Appalachian Trial north of Springer mountain Georgia after taking a month off for the holidays.

I can understand his motives. The thing that amazes me the most is that his wife encourages him and allows him to be gone so long. If he never took any breaks it would take over 8 months for this journey. My wife would have never supported or allowed me to do that. I couldn't even go to the store with out her tagging along. She would just go crazy if I stayed up past eleven PM. Now she will not even see me or talk to me. Life's weird.

I am going to start some training and conditioning today. I am already homeless and living much of the time outside in the elements so why not put it too a positive use like Dion? I need some goal or direction in my life and maybe the therapy of hiking long distance could help me.

I am going to pack up my backpack and start at 5 miles today and then slowly move up the mileage every few days. The only thing that bothers me about this is that as I hike more and more the more calories I will burn and thus the more food I will need to consume and buy. I will just have to be frugal and not spend too much on food. (On the AT is pretty common knowledge that you will burn over 4000 calories a day with a heavy pack and good mileage!)

I have set a short term goal for an expedition I want to take and this will help motivate me in my efforts. There is a local abandoned railway line nearby that runs about 25 miles to Lafayette Al.(pronounced Lafette locally) and I want to take 2 or 3 days and hike it. I want see what interesting relics or structures remain along the right away. It probably hasn't been used in over 20 years.

If you want to check out Dion's trail journals then click on the link below.....

Dion hikes from Alabama to Quebec