Why are we hiking the AT?

There's a lot of different reasons why Mike and I decided to hike the AT. Let me try and explain (somewhat disjointedly):

*Living in Seattle for the past few years we've had the opportunity to be able to hike a lot of amazing trails that have built our experience and deepened our thirst for backpacking.

*Both of us were interested in the idea(/challenge/excitement/adventure) of a long hike.

*The AT appeals to us because it goes through all of our "home" states including within a couple of miles of Mike's parent's place (the house he grew up in).

*Recently, realizing that it was either time to uproot from the Northwest or settle in for a long stretch we decided to move back to the East Coast after being out here for nearly 5 and a half years. (Sooo excited to see our family!)

All this plus more went into our decision to do the hike. Another main factor was the simple fact that... well, that we could. Many people dream about doing something like this their entire lives but don't get the opportunity. And Mike and I already happen to be at a crossroads in our lives where we're already making a big shift (moving, marriage) and it is incredibly convenient that we wont have things like cars or rent or utility bills to worry about.

We feel really lucky to be able to do this and we're more excited than I can explain.

67 days until we start the trail.

Hard work.

Wow. So much to do, so little time.

Mike and I have been so busy for the past few months that the time has just been slipping away. To be able to finance everything we're doing we've both taken a second job on the side and this has left little time for anything else. Our everyday routine (that's right! No weekends!) for the past 4 months has been this:
Wake up. Go to work. Work a lot. Come home and dream/plan about our AT hike. Sleep.
This has left little time for things like cleaning and showering and eating. (I joke, we've been eating)... but in all seriousness, it looks like Mike and I will each be quitting one of our jobs and lessening our responsibilities earlier than we had initially planned so that we don't go CRAZY in our last few weeks trying to get everything accomplished.

But first we have to live through the next 2 weeks of the dual-job situation and as for me, I insanely accepted a project from my art gallery job to produce a video piece for their upcoming yearly Gala. Due in 2 weeks. I'll get it all done if I don't die trying. The good news is that in 2 weeks I'll only have to worry about 1 job until I leave. The bad is that until then I practically have 3.

(D'oh!)

Here goes.

41 days until we leave Seattle.
68 days until our wedding.
75 days until we start hiking.

Hey everyone! Glad you found your way to our blog. We'll be chronicling our two week drive home from Seattle to the East Coast, a little bit of our wedding, and a lot of our upcoming Appalachian Trail thru-hike here.

As you can see, we've begun the countdown. In fact, we've had the countdown going for a good 2+ months now and at this point we are beginning to get the I-can't-believe-this-is-actually-all-about-to-start-happening jitters. Our lives are about to be completely shaken up and rearranged and we're really excited to see what things are going to happen this year and where things lead us next.

So try to check back... and we'll try to write something.

L&M