Well, it looks like I’m missing some great weather this week out on the trail for February, but at least I’ve had my surgery now and over that hurdle thanks to Dr. Monica Rizzo, MD who stayed late yesterday evening at Emory University Hospital here in Atlanta and squeezed me into her surgery schedule so I could get on the road to recovery with the least amount of delay on my trek north to Maine. Thank you!

My after surgery follow-up appointment is already on the calendar for next Thursday, March 1st so hopefully from there I will be healed up enough to head out on the A.T. somewhere between mid to late March. Right now, the closest thing I’m doing to prepare for the trail is not being able to take a shower for the next 48 hours so I’m practicing those camp baths for now.

During my slack time I’ve read Zach Davis’ (The Good Badger) new book that came out several weeks ago, Appalachian Trials. The book is different from most of the books out there about how to hike the Appalachian Trail. It mainly focuses on the psychological and emotional roller coaster that most thru-hikers experience while on the trail. It’s a great read with lots of interesting points of view that people should be able to use not only on long distance hikes and the Appalachian trail, but also could be translated into everyday normal life. At my age, it’s just great to know that we have young people out there pursuing and accomplishing their goals. Congratulations Zach, great job, keep moving forward!