I Don't Believe in April Fools

After giving is some careful consideration the other night over a few beers, I decided that it would be in my best interest if I stayed in town for the Braves season opener next week. This was not an easy choice for me as I had to carefully weigh all the options. If I embarked on the trail on the 1st like I originally intended after Vegas, I would have two extra weeks to make it to Maine. At my speed that easily translates into 200 miles. On the other hand, If I had left on April 1st people might get the wrong impression and think this whole thing is a joke.

I've been getting a lot of people who have given me kudos for this second iteration of the blog. My followers and fans have been growing at an exponential rate. Just the other day I got a message from one of my college friends wishing me luck on the trail and that she was sending me her prayers. I called her up and thanked her for the support, but told her that it was not needed. She should save her prayers for the weak. All of this factored into my decision to stay grounded until April 15th. I figure you guys can check back once done with your taxes for another year.

The other day my dad called me while I was at Dave & Buster’s. He asked me to come back to work. Work? Here I am, about to embark on one of the most perilous journeys conceivable, and all he can think about is his bottom line. I told him that I was still on vacation because I was preparing for the trail and to not call me until August. Some people need to think before they open their mouths.

Doing the Math

I got my humidity monitor in the mail on time to conduct some weekend testing. The storm was huge as predicted. Good thing I was in my garage and not out on the trail because the tent was leaking big time. When I checked it out in the morning, there was no standing water, but the humidity readings jumped as high as 98% throughout the night. I read that pneumonia causes as many as 10% of trail fatalities.

Right now I am very confident in my decision to do further preparation. It is too easy to just get out there on the trail. I have heard of rookies who try to start as early as mid February, but none of those guys go the distance. All the mileage can be made up during good weather, and the whole point is to reach the end in August. If I had started last week I would have run the risk of getting to Maine while the water was still too cold for swimming.

For cardio and conditioning, I made a trip to the local Dave & Buster’s. It is about ten miles away from home, so I got dropped off at the REI, which is about two miles from D&B. I picked up some gloves for the trail and then hiked the whole way to the arcade. Testing out the gloves in an intense environment was crucial if I planned on taking them out to the trail.

I put $50 on my power card. I get a 20% bonus as a platinum member, so my play is basically comped. That is how it was in Vegas after I hit the Buccaneers O’ Barbury quarter slot machine for $400. With $60 on the card I knew I was good for hours.

I owned Cruis’n World. On a single credit, $2.70, I advanced through six stages, besting all of my competition. I saw this one dude taking pictures of the ass kicking so I asked if he would email them to me on my iPhone. If you look at my screen on the right, I hold a tighter line which allowed me to beat the guy to my left every time. Now I know what it feels to be in the shoes of my favorite qb of all time: Peyton Manning. Just like him, I was able to watch the tape and learn from others' mistakes in the field. This is exactly why I went to Dave & Buster’s. I discovered stuff that translates to the trail in a real way. If I hold a tight edge throughout the entire trail I can be about 15-20% more efficient than everyone else, possibly getting to Maine in late July.

This trail preparation reminds me that only focusing on hiking risks missing the forest for the trees. It has also made me realize that I could benefit from seeing the best of other elements of sports. The Braves are opening on the road, but the home series against the Phillies is next weekend. I am starting to think between the Braves live and the Masters on my iPhone, I could gain a lot more than the 40-50 miles would get me in the long run.

I saw a documentary on Bruce Jenner the other night. Apparently, before his bronze in ’72, he focused 100% of his energy on the decathlon. After the crushing defeat, he took up table tennis and started drinking. In ’76, he took the gold in the decathlon. The movie hit pretty close to home. It is obvious that in ’09 that my focus was all about the trail. That was the whole problem. This time I think I am doing it right. If you want to finish this thing, you have to know more than hiking. You have to know yourself.

For the first time in a long time, I can say that.

Final Preparations

So Vegas was awesome. I got to see lots of good friends and could really feel their support for me and my upcoming hiking trip. I played some poker, but it wasn’t very cool. I realized that the smart money plays the slot machines.

I had planned to set out on my trip this Saturday, but there are supposed to be thunder storms this weekend in Morganton. I have thought it over and think I will start next week instead. I think it was the great explorer David Livingstone who said “I will go anywhere, weather permitting.”

During the extra week of preparation I am going to make sure I am ready to go. I am going to put up the tent with the rain sleeve on Saturday. I think it may have sustained damage from the weather last time I camped out. I want to see how it weathers the storm.

While I was on the plane, I ordered a humidity meter with a wireless probe from SkyMall. It sends data to the main unit from up to 250 feet away. I got the express shipping so it should arrive tomorrow. I am going to put it inside of the tent and then monitor the humidity throughout the whole night. If there are any spikes in the reading it probably means the tent is leaking and I will have to buy a new one.

While in Vegas I meet a cool guy who had hiked the trail back in the '90s. He said he did it without a GPS or PS3 setup. I asked if he had brought an SNES or Genesis with him and he said no. I really don't know if I believe him, because it seems impossible. He did offer me a good piece of advice, bulk up before launch. I am going to head to GNC tomorrow to see about putting some weight on in this extra week of preparation.

Vegas Baby

So I’m on the plane heading to Vegas right now. I tried to order a Dew and got shot down. The stewardess said they had mellow yellow and it was the same thing. Same thing? Was Sega CD and 32x the same thing? Was Dr. Wily in Megaman the same as Dr. Wily in Megaman II? I don't think so.

This Gogo inflight WiFi internet access is pretty cool. I went ahead and purchased the one year unlimited use plan. It is a way better deal than the one time rate. Plus, I have a feeling I will be needing it a lot upon my completion of the trail.

I am so keyed up for the hike, but I need to calm down so that I don’t lose my focus at the poker tables. I had originally planned to watch some of the basketball games at the sports book, but now I am thinking it is poker only for me. I have always preferred to focus on my strengths – video games, flag football, computer programming, hiking, and poker. I got some extra prep in yesterday by watching The Gambler, The Sting, The Sting II, Rounders, and Cincinnati Kid on Netflix. The only one who will be able to beat me this weekend is me.

Last weekend my brother and I went to Dick’s Sporting Goods because he wanted to climb the wall. I agreed to show him how to do it. I also figured I might encounter some sheer cliffs on the trail, so brushing up on my free climbing skills was a plus. I laughed to myself when I saw all the novices with belayers and hookups to leads. Those guys wouldn’t last a week on the trail.

I'll be landing any minute now so I need to go ahead and post before my connection is lost.

I am going to get lucky

You guys have likely noticed that I haven't posted anything since Sunday. Well if you've been keeping up with the blog you would realize that I am going to Vegas next week. I've adopted my attitude toward preparation for the trail to my prep for Las Vegas. There should be no problem preparing for both at once. Both involve marathon sessions of human exertion.

I've been watching 6 hours of ESPN's world poker tournament a day and have more or less mastered what it takes to win several thousand dollars next week. Master the probabilities, and you master the game. That is always the case in life. That is why this time on the hike, I am all in.

To make sure I can hold my own at the table, I went out and spent $200 on some dark sunglasses so that my opponents aren't able to read my eyes. I decided against using my trail glasses because I don’t want them on the flight. The changes in pressure can weaken the tensile strength of the carbon fibers. That is the last thing I need to go wrong on the trail. I figure it really won't cost me anything assuming I win a few grand.

As far as phsyical training for the trail, I decided that it was best to take it easy for a few days. It would be foolish to exhaust myself this close to launch. Last time I made this mistake by hiking the paved 2 mile trail at Stone Mountain. It really wore me out and I know that if I had just stayed at home I would have made it to at least Virginia last time.

It is so tough to put the ’09 hike out of my mind. It had a bigger impact on me than almost anything in my life. I had another bad dream about that hike two nights ago, but I don’t want to talk about it. I keep telling myself I have to look forward, not backward. I am like a shark, and I can only move in one direction.

So I may do some camping next week, but probably no more hiking until I am actually on the trail. I also need to test my gear to figure out if anything needs to be replaced. Looks like I have a pretty busy weekend ahead of me!

Training Day

It’s been a cold and wet weekend. Perfect time to condition my body to the cold and rainy nights ahead on the trail. From my research, I’ve gathered that the southern Appalachians receive the second most rainfall of any area in the lower 48 outside of the Pacific Northwest.

My plan was to test my equipment out in the rainy and cold night. I drove to work to tell dad I was going to use the backyard again as my testing ground. He told me that he didn’t buy into the trip. I told him he had spent thousands of dollars on the electronics, so he was invested.

I setup the Lunar Solo tent I purchased at REI, great light-weight that keeps mostly warm and dry. I had the same type of tent back in ’09, but it was worn badly from the heavy use. Setup was easy; my only concern will be keeping my power sources dry out there. I was looking online and found solar panels that you charge during the day. They roll up pretty small. It will only give me 3-4 hours of gameplay each night, but it is a sacrifice I have to make.

I played a solid 3 hours of Call of Duty: Black Ops on the PS3 slim. I love killing Nazi zombies for hours on end. It helps to inspire me in the hard times, especially on nights like this when it is so cold and rainy that I could barely hear the gunshots of my game for the first 30 minutes of play.

Around 3 a.m. I was ready to get some well deserved shut eye. I had been to hell and back today. My eyes were feeling a little strained from the gaming. I climbed into the sleeping bag and tried to sleep. It was cold, so cold my bad wrist was aching. Then I thought to myself, what are you doing Brent? There’s no need to get sick this close to launch date. So I packed up the electronics and took them to the warm, comfy confines of my bedroom.

This was my setup, shown after the weather had cleared up.

Thank you for being a friend

Speaking with Matt last night really threw me off. Everyone I love most in the world was rooting for me to fail. I feel like Wyatt Earp walking into the OK Corral without Doc Holliday in his corner. There was only one other person I could trust, and if he didn't put his faith in me, no one would.

I told Scott I wanted to meet up for a beer, that I need to get something off my chest. I went silent, I couldn't get the words out. Then he said: it's not your fault. I said I know. He said again: It’s not your fault. I said don’t fuck with me, not you Scott. Just as I was about to speak again, he simply replied, I know.

I froze up. How was this possible? My mind raced as I tried to recall some of the paranormal science research I had done back in college. All I could think of was that scene where Bill Murray keeps shocking the dude who is trying to guess the symbols so that he can hit on the chick. That didn’t solve this mystery.

Scott told me he found my blog online. I knew what was coming, Scott was going to throw in the towel for me just like everyone else. Never in a million years would I have predicted what happened next. He told me he was going to Vegas on the weekend of the 18th. I couldn't believe it, that was one week before I left for the trail. He said he had already bought a ticket for me, that this was going to be a celebration. Everyone knew I would make it this time, and this was their way of showing support. As I held back the tears, all I could say was, thanks dude. After he finished his beer, he looked over and said 'by the way, Tim is not invited'. I couldn't hold back the tears any longer.

Today was the best day of my life.

Memories From the Trail

I had to leave the trail early. The yellow dot is about where I ended up.

This stretch of the trail was loaded with snakes. One night, a rattler got in my tent and I was almost a goner.

Running low on supplies, I tracked an elusive Moose. He gave me the slip on the second day.

Not Backing Down

There are a lot of people rooting for me to fail. What they don’t understand is that I have blocked out all of the bad influences in my life. That is why you guys don’t see me hanging out with JM or Tim anymore. While they are doing stupid stuff like working at their jobs or socializing at bars, I am training for the trail. If you give others the chance to bring you down, they will. Tonight, free of encumbrances, I beat Goldeneye in 5.5 hours on agent level with no codes.

Trying to break my focus, my brother Matt stopped by my apartment. I asked him what he wanted. He said that dad was sick of my antics, that it was time to come back to work. I asked him what antics. He said that dad thought I had gone totally insane, that playing video games on the Appalachian Trail was crazy. Was it crazy? When was the last time either of them hiked the trail? Last time I checked, I know more about the trail than just about anyone.

Matt said that I would have to hike 20 miles a day, and that video games would just weigh me down. I told him that if he wanted to apologize, he could do so late July in Maine.

I knew dad or grandpa would send him. I asked him if he was jealous. He said he was worried. I told him he was neither, that he was an errand boy, sent by grocery clerks, to collect a bill.

Into the Wild

As I was leaving work yesterday to prepare for the trek ahead, one of my coworkers told me that I should read the book Into the Wild. After checking it out on the internet, I took his advice and headed over to Blockbuster.

The movie is about an Emory grad who gives up all his worldly possessions and heads off to Alaska to live in the wilderness. He runs out of supplies and is trapped by the water from melting glaciers. He keeps a journal about his final days, in which he ends up starving because he is unable to provide for himself.

Last time before the trail I read a book that really got me pumped up. All this movie did was make me angry. It would have been more accurately titled if it was called Amateur Hour: One man's tale of being a douche. First of all, why would somebody give up all of their stuff? He gave away his savings account of $24,000. If he was smart, he would have used some of that money to buy a tracking device for the followers on his blog. Not only that, but how did he expect to survive out there without any navigational equipment or state of the art electronics?

If anything, Into the Wild made me realize just how prepared I am this time. I survived the first go round with only a shattered foot and bruised ego. But I lived. This time there is no telling how far I'll make it. I have been thinking about hiking back from Maine to Georgia if I can get the vacation time approved.

Two Week Notice

The daily grind is killing me. I felt energized this past weekend because I was that much closer to where I belong – the trail. I think my reflection on the last trip has been helpful. The more I think about it, the more I realize I would have made it but for acts of god. If that white squall had not hit on day three and ruined my electronics I would have gone all the way.

I gave notice at work that I won’t be working for the next five months as of lunch today. They gave me a hard time because they don’t live on the edge like me. Short notice? I just made a life changing decision a week ago. How is that for short notice? Most of the gear I picked up is still in the original packaging. I am hiking the better part of North America two weeks from now. How many people can say that? They don't get it like I do.

They work in the shop every day, but don’t have the drive like I do. They could never hike the trail like I have. Some people just don’t set their sights as high as me. It has been tough in the past with friends and relationships. Most people mean well enough, but cannot keep up with what I do because they are on a different trajectory.

I will keep you guys posted as I count down the days to my departure.