Hello again,
It's been an interesting few weeks since the last post....and we are nearing 40 miles past the Great Smoky Mountains Nat'l Park...which, though a significant milestone, was a bit of a bust due to the frequency of rain. We, being pretty much fair weather hikers, have done our best to sit out as much wet weather as possible, but it has still been necessary to attempt to make progress regardless of the weather, resulting in some very wet days of slogging through trails either often soft with mud or actually running with enough water to call them streams in their own right.
As we near the 300 mile mark on our trip, the 'adjustment pains' in my feet have totally subsided, I've avoided blisters entirely (a rarity on the trail), and though there are other pains that come and go, so far everything that hurts seems to be of the temporary variety. I no longer feel any need to count steps uphill to measure a set distance before I allow myself a breather as we can both adjust our paces to hike almost non-stop up most hills and have learned to enjoy just a diminishing steepness of the grade rather than praying for a flat spot or a downhill.
Our mileage has not increased greatly as we still find anything over about 8 miles to be a bit of a challenge, but we are covering those miles now at closer to a 2 mph rate than a 1 mph, and finished almost 6 miles by noon a couple days ago, and did 13 by 3:30 PM as we came into Hot Springs, NC.
We are now in Damascus, VA for Trail Days until Sunday, May 17 and will be relaxing until then, when we catch a ride back to Hot Springs and resume the trail.
Not getting any younger, but certainly feeling that way....and I've lost 17 lbs so far.
Later,
Plowboy

We've notched the first 100 miles and are now settled in a motel in Franklin, NC.

Highs and lows have been pretty extreme as cold, rain, snow, even hail have made some days a battle against, not only the elements, but our own knowledge of how comfy it is to sit around a wood stove with a good book. Several days of sunshine, wonderful companions, new friends, and our improving physical conditioning have made for some pretty good highs to offset the 'bad' times. We headed for a night in town after the snow, were sitting in a shelter when it hailed, and usually can fight the cold with moving along. Last night we tucked the bottom of one 40 degree sleeping bag inside the other and more or less shared to combat the below 40 temp....seemed to work...and we've had some 'cool' nights. We strongly recommend a 20 degree bag or better....for now anyway.

We've climbed around 6-8 mountains so far....mostly in the 3-4,000 foot range, but yesterday we did Albert Mountain which was over 5,000 and a pretty serious climb with packs....even the kids were complaining as the last part was much very steep stair-stepping and rock climbing.

As far as finding the 'fountain'....it's working pretty well so far, but is a moving target. Mornings it seems we've gained a bit on the aging process, but by mid-afternoon a nagging doubt has set in, and by evening it's pretty sure we're not there yet.

Better go for now, thanks for reading.
Plowboy

Time is growing short and we've still found little time for serious training...so be it, it was, more or less, expected.

We've spent a bit of time at 'congregate meals', senior centers, and such during the last few weeks of visiting our parents and their haunts. We've become known as the 'kids' who are taking the 'big walk'. When I commented to one of Dad's frineds that I didn't know if this hike would make me feel younger or older, Joe offered to tell me which it would be.

Spending all that time with the previous generation, seeing their ailments and how they cope, and seeing the still lively sense of humor most have has been an interesting combination of sobering and comforting. It's defnintely increased my appreciation of the opportunity to hike the AT and my desire to succeed. I do still think it will be an unplanned physical failure that will be the killer if there is one.

Happy trails to you.....

Poli has asked that I mention that 'poli, poli' means 'slowly, slowly' in Swahili....something we learned while hiking to the top of Mt. Kilimanjaro, done a few years ago. Repeating this phrase many times enabled us to accept our limitations regarding speed and to make it to the 19,000'+ peak in spite of being one of the last that morning to do so.

We have almost finished visiting friends and family as we travel across country and have not managed to do much training as we Amtrak and drive to different destinations. Still, we are excited to begin what promises to be a life-changing experience...should we give it the full opportunity by sticking with our plans.

Just for some minor boring statistics, I'm currently fluctuating around 225-230 lbs where, in my distant college years I was 165 during the winter and bulked up to 185 while hauling hay. Those numbers stayed fairly consistent until I passed 40 years and slowly crept up to my current size....adding 8-10" to my waist. This, along with my own non-objective feelings about stamina will be the only measure I expect will indicate whether the elusive 'fountain' is anywhere to be found. Hopefully any small smount of wisdom I've accumulated through the years will not be lost along the way as well. Poli has declined to provide any numbers for your perusal.

Thanks for joining us.

Even as a child hearing about Ponce de Leon's search for the Fountain of Youth, I thought the whole idea seemed a bit silly, and I wondered how a grown man could expect to find something so contrary to 'common sense'. Yet here I am holding some small expectation of rekindling some of the fire of youth with our latest endeavor, that is, attempting a through-hike of the Appalachian Trail.

My wife and I, hereafter Plowboy and Poli-Poli (our trail names...a tradition of the AT), are neither exceptional athletes nor avid hikers. While Poli has not seriously abused her body in her 50 years of opportunity, neither has she pushed it to develop particular abilities or strengths. I once attained, thanks to lifting baled hay in the early 1970s, some modicum of physical fitness I would not otherwise have attained. I also did some 5-15 day bicycle trips that developed a type of fitness beyond 'brute' strength. On the other hand, in the intervening years, cigarettes, chocolate, and a host of other vices have reared their ugly heads and the joy and confidence experienced in feeling physically fit have gradually been replaced by a certain wheezing, shortness of breath, and some serious extra poundage.

So why are we doing something so drastic? Poli has been a lifelong traveller, beginning with her parents attempting (and succeeding) to take their children to every national park in the lower 48 states. That drive, apparently genetic, has taken her to as many destinations as she has been able to accomplish during her summers free from teaching and other occasional breaks. For myself, though I've been less continental, I was the only kid in our small town that I remember riding his bike out to visit friends in the country, often the first to befriend the new kids in town, first among my limited peerage to buy a motorcycle for serious travelling, and first to hitchhike any great distance. In short, I was, apparently, also born with a taste for change and travel.

I could probably rattle on for several paragraphs on any of these details, but I wish to keep this readable. There will be few updates as we will only do so when we can find the opportunity.
Our start date is April 1, 2009.

Y'all come back now....hear?