My ultimate expedition has come to fruition…….

I have talked about this many, many weeks ago. It may have been months. My memory can be lax. My chance to hike the abandoned railway line from Cusseta Alabama to Lafayette Alabama has now come to fruition. I am finally going to be able to do it. My ex-wife thwarted my previous attempt.

I will have twenty six miles of hiking to do through the woods and with no outside contact. I will have to rely on my wits and my cunning to survive. It is a completely rural area with no human contact for many miles. It runs through the woods to an almost dead town in the southern USA.

I have been hastily getting together all my gear. I organized all my freeze dried meals and cleaned out my water bottles. I also cleaned the ceramic filter on my Sweetwater water filter. I put all my bottles and the filter in the dishwasher and pushed the sanitize button. I am waiting for them to finish.

I took all my gear out of my big kelty backpack and have been organizing it. I want to take enough to be prepared but not so much as to be burdened. I have it all lying about on the floor deciding what I need. It is a hard decision as I want to take it all in case I need it.

I am making a pile to keep and a pile to stay at home. I pulled out my snake bite and bug bite kit and put it into the pile to pack. I also put in my neat compact first aid kit. I put in an emergency rain suit and my backpack rain cover. Hey, here in the south you never know. I organized all my fishing gear into a little tackle box and my retractable rod and reel.

I sat on the floor and organized my meals. I ordered boxes of freeze dried meals years ago and I have enough left for three days. I packed them in my pack. They save a ton of weight compared to conventional foods. I have been saving them just for this.

I pulled my expensive Kelty tent out of the closet and set it up outside. I wanted to make sure everything was okay. I spent an hour seam sealing it. Making sure all the seams do not leak if it rains. I then left it for the seams to dry. After awhile, I sprayed a garden hose onto it and checked for leaks. I do not want to wake up to a wet sleeping bag if it rains.

I also pulled out my summer sleeping bag and hung it out for the afternoon to air out. I then rolled it up and put it in its stuff bag so it would be ready to go.

I think I am ready. I am ready to go. I have been wanting to do this for over a year. We are going to drive my grandmother’s car to Lafayette and leave it and then my father will drop me off at the starting point.

Wish me luck. I will not be blogging for several days. This is a dream of mine for quite a long time and I cannot wait to get started. I hope I can sleep well tonight. Tomorrow is the big day. I will write of my experiences when I get back. Be well and hike on!!!!!