Nothing to Fear

I issued an ultimatum the other day on my April 17th post: "join the haters or join my supporters. The former will be sitting in their parent’s basement wasting their lives. The latter will be celebrating with me, drinking bud light and eating lobster in August". One of you chose to become a hater. I am looking right at you, Tommy. You and I will both be enjoying early bird specials 4 months from now. The only difference is, mine will be with hot chicks and lobsters. Yours will be at the Country Kitchen Buffet with mom and dad. You've made your choice.

I recently saw a news story about bears in the northeast portion of the trail, almost exactly where my ‘09 run in occurred! I remember sending a text message to the game warden back in March, alerting him to the bear problem, but apparently he didn't listen. I was supposed to leave again today, to head back out onto the trail. I made up an excuse, said I wasn't feeling good and that I needed another day. An overwhelming panic struck, and I headed into the bathroom to rinse my face with cold water. As I regained my composure, I looked at my reflection and asked myself what was really going on. Deep down, I knew the answer. I'm afraid! All right! You want to hear me say it! You want to break me down? All right, I'm afraid. For the first time in my life, I'm afraid. Then I thought to myself, is there really anything wrong with being afraid?

There is. For me, there is.

I was feeling really down, wondering if I had what it takes to get back out there. So far, I have hiked about the same total distance as I did in ’09. I could easily call off the rest of the hike. There would be no shame in it. Less than two percent of the world's population has hiked even one mile of the Appalachian Trail. That puts me in the 98th percentile already. I just needed to gather a bit of steam, so I went back to a place that inspired me a few weeks ago: Dave & Buster’s.

I rocked Cruis’n World for about an hour and then moved to Time Crisis IV. The adrenaline hit and I felt like I had just gotten a B12 injection. After about four hours of play, I was reborn. The weakness I showed earlier today was not real. That was not me. I am ready to go back on the trail. Due to the closure, I am going to have to start a little further ahead. I am checking out my interactive maps today and will let you guys know where I get dropped off tomorrow.

Tommy, you are welcome to rejoin my blog as a follower. Know this: once I cross the Virginia border, that offer comes off the table.

One of the chicks in the crowd captured the action.

Reflection

Today marks a huge milestone for version 2.0 of the blog! I was actually able to hit the 1,000 views mark this morning for the month of April! The original blog didn't get 1,000 hits until late 2010, and for some reason, most of those came from Colorado and Illinois. Must be some great hiking out there! I am very happy that the readers of this blog hail from all over the country and the world. I stepped up my game this time, and you guys have come with me.

The blog also gained its 20th follower this week! To commemorate these milestones, I've decided to post a quick "best of" post for those new readers out there. If you haven't been reading the blog from the start, I'd suggest going back to the first post. Enjoy!

Looking Back

The weather had gotten cold and Andrew and his friend had left me. I was on my own. I had to react quickly. Because of the rain, I had needed to rush making a camp. I couldn’t get a fire started, so I set up my tent and tried to get some rest after a marathon session of hiking. It turned out I had set up camp just a few hundred feet away from a pack of grizzlies.

I had some thinking and decision making to do. I asked myself if, realistically, even if there wasn't something wrong with my foot, did I really think I could do this day in day out for 5 months? I thought, and truthfully, the answer was no. BUT, I did also want to hike(even though it was hard as hell at times, I loved the experience, and enjoyed the hiking), and stay out there as long as I felt content out there... not worry about mileage(which if I did go to Maine, eventually I would have to worry about making enough mileage a day), and enjoy the trip

Tough Choices

I no longer recognized the man staring back at me. Could I keep up this up forever? I realized there was only one thing that could be done. I have to face the facts and take control of my life. I have to return. I have to go back to where it all began...

Playing it Safe

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.

Keeping Perspective

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.

Staying Strong

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.

Can’t Bring Me Down

Matt stopped by my apartment. He said that dad was sick of my antics, that it was time to come back to work. 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.

Unconditional Friendship

Scott told me he found my blog online. 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. 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.

An Enduring Promise

I will buy lobster for anyone who subscribes to my blog when I reach Maine.

Over the Hills and through the Woods

As some of you may remember, I owed $3,600 in back taxes to the IRS. Well, since I had already spent that money on camping gear, I needed to improvise. Luckily, my parents were willing to help me out one last time as not to place more of a burden on me. They agreed to pay my $3,600 if I put the hike off for another week so that I could attend Grandpa's 80th birthday party. This was unacceptable, but we reached a compromise. I said Matt could pick me up today from the trail and I would pay tribute to the old man.

We got to the party around 5:00 PM, down in Lilburn. Matt broke the piñata, but only because I was able to soften it up for him first. I said “you’re welcome.” I had enough of that kid stuff and moved on to get a new beer and some pigs in blankets. Breaking my core trail diet of Power Bars and Dew would be only minimally harmful.

Grandpa silenced the room at about 8:00 for a toast. He told everyone that if he would have known he would be here one day, standing before this group of people, that he would have gotten a vasectomy 50 years ago. I think I was the only one who got the joke because no one else laughed. He thanked me specifically for taking the time to come to the party. He finally realizes the importance of my hiking trip.

Overall it was a very long day full of pleasantries and idol chatter. I tried not to talk too much so I could maintain my focus on the trail. Everyone kept asking me about this blog. I promised I would try to keep it up to date, but it is a tough life out there on the trail.

Now I know what a president feels like when he visits a small town. I can't wait to get away from it all again, back out onto the trail. I am getting dropped off where I was picked up.

There can be only one

Sunday was one of the toughest days I've had in a long time, but it's behind me now. I packed up my bags this morning and departed North again. I've had a lot of time to think on the trail, especially about some interesting facts that I read about before my departure.

Only 20% of the people that try to hike the Appalachian Trail actually finish. Of those 20%, only 5% write a blog about it. Of those 5%, only one is any good. I realize that I can't stop now because my fans out there need some inspiration in their lives. What if one day typical people wake up and decide, you know what, I don't want to pay the mortgage anymore! Or what if some lady quits her job today because it's "tough" and she doesn't want do it anymore? That's why I keep pushing myself to the limit. I realize that a lot of people out there just need a reason to keep on living sometimes. A little bit of hope. I am thinking of you guys with each mile I put behind me.

I stopped after about 6.4 miles today and am setting up camp now. No need to get crazy this early on. I'll be posting about my adventures when I stop tomorrow!

And on Sunday, He didn't Rest

I am in so much pain right now. I covered almost ten miles today. The Garmin says 9.1, but I would swear it was twice that. I don’t have much energy to post, but due to the outpouring of support and new advertisers, I am going to tough it out.

In 2009, I couldn’t catch a break. Last time, I had to hound them to get ads, this time, I clicked a button on Wednesday or Thursday, and they all flocked to the site by the weekend. This is really encouraging. It seems like everything is going my way, at least big picture anyway. The hiking is still really tough, no matter how many people have your back.

I really got my ass handed to me today. Hiking is serious business. I felt like a 30 year old visiting his old college town, trying to pick up chicks. You might survive the trail, but you can never conquer it.

“Brent Jonson”, (I doubt that is your real name) why don't you become one of my followers? You are obviously already a fan. Based upon your username, I assume it is a tribute to me. Either way, you have two options: join the haters or join my supporters. The former will be sitting in their parent’s basement wasting their lives. The latter will be celebrating with me, drinking bud light and eating lobster in August.

Day One

Wow! Day one is over and man, am I exhausted. My friend Bryan reneged on his offer to drop me off because of the comments I made on his stupid car. Instead, I had to take a Taxi to Neel's Gap. That is where I left off back in 2009. I started about six miles north of the gap. No need to retrace my footsteps.

I hiked a pretty respectable 6.3 miles today according to my Garmin. Since this was my first day I decided not to push myself too hard. Plus, unlike most people in life, I realize the importance of stopping to smell the roses. I had a picnic today, a few Power Bars and a Mountain Dew. I took the time to reflect on how truly fortunate and blessed I really am.

It's getting late now so I am going to start setting up camp. I am hoping I can get to level 50 tonight on Call of Duty so that I can prestige again! Hopefully my ps3 and Garmin will stay charged long enough to reach my goal!

Anticipation!

Tomorrow is the big day! My friend Bryan agreed to drop me off at the trail to make up for being such a jerk during Wrestlemania. He tried to sell me his old BMW over the phone for $12,400, but I knew that it wasn't worth $5,000 from all the breakdowns he's reported on Facebook over the past year. He means well but I think his celebrity has gotten to his head.

I went ahead and packed up my bag today. I am as prepared as anyone else who has ever tackled the trail, and succeeded. My pack weighed about 65 lbs at first, so I had to carefully shed about 10 lbs. I obviously couldn't get rid of my Garmin, cell phone, or ps3 slim, so I ditched my hot plate, water purifier, compass and maps. They were just weighing me down.

The next thing I did was call my friends and family and say goodbye. I wouldn't be gone forever, but to them it may seem that way. My brother Matt said godspeed but knew better than to wish me luck. My best friend Scott told me that he believed in me and knew I would do it this time. My friend JM told me that he didn't care and to stop calling him. Dad didn't answer. All in all it was a pretty tearful day for my friends and family. I can only imagine what it would feel like to hear that the sun would be vanishing for the next few months.

I do have some bad, non trail related news though. Apparently I owe the government about $3,500 in Federal taxes. For the sake of independence, I do not use the company CPA to do my taxes. All I need is for him to share my personal information with Dad or Grandpa. It is none of their business. My accountant at H&R Block told me that I shouldn't have claimed six of my deductions. Apparently kids have to be yours to claim them as a dependent, and roommates don't count either. I talked with my family and I think it is taken care of, but we’ll see.

Things really have changed since Obama took office!

Going International

I was pretty excited when I checked out the blog earlier, as I have already exceeded the number of followers I had on my first iteration: "Brent's Appalachian Trail Blog". I had a chance to reread it and I realized how far I have come. It looked kind of shoddy and it was not particularly well written. If I get enough interest in re-posting my ’09 adventure, I might look into putting it back up on Blogspot.

After reading my old posts, I had a nightmare last night. It was back in ’09, day one of the hike and my body wasn't ready for that type of abuse. I begged for Andrew to slow down, to let me catch my breath, but he forged ahead, showing no mercy. I passed out at some point and when I woke up it was pitch dark. Andrew was nowhere to be found. I was too tired to set up camp, so I got in the sleeping bag, took care of business, and then went to sleep.

Now I laugh as I remember that trip. I did not get very far, and it was totally overwhelming. This afternoon I was thinking about how many times an incompetent first attempt has led to huge triumph. Castro went down in flames at the Moncada Barracks in ’53. Then he ran the country for fifty years. The Beer Hall Putsch was a disaster, and the rest is history. It even took Colonel Sanders visiting over 600 places trying to sell his chicken recipe before he found a buyer interested in his 11 herbs and spices.

Like those guys, I was not up to the challenge the first time. I had some pretty unrealistic expectations about the trail. I feel like this time I am so much more prepared, and it shows to all the readers. I think more of you are following me this time because you know that I am going all the way. This is so reassuring because recently the slightest bit of doubt had started to creep in.

So I was looking at the blog stats and thought it was pretty cool to see so many international visitors to the site. The largest contingent came from Spain. I heard the Sierra Morena is a pretty tough hike. They were probably trying to get some tips from me. For my readers abroad: I have not hiked much internationally, but I can definitely help you guys out with the fundamentals.

Only two days now before I head off into the Jungle. I'm really excited and anxious so I need to make sure not to drink too much Dew tonight, or I might not be able to sleep.

Mail Bag

I want to go ahead and quickly address this comment from my last post:

When do you leave for the trail? What gear are you taking? How much training have you been doing? The AT being 2,180-ish miles is a shit load of hiking. Don't think I am criticizing you, but if I was about to hike for several months, I wouldn't be downing kegs of beer at Braves games and wrestling events. I understand the need to keep things in perspective and not focus entirely on the trip, but not going into the trail with the right mindset will lead to the most common injury, human error. Good Luck Bud.

First of all, I already stated that I'm leaving for the trail this weekend. Have you even be reading my blog? I'm taking state of the art camping gear purchased from REI. If you want some tips I can send you a list to your personal email. As far as training, I'm pretty sure I've done my fair share. I've been waking up at 10:30 AM every morning to get my body used to the hardships on the trail. I've been walking 3 miles through the neighborhood every day, sometimes with my backpack on.

I haven't been downing that much beer either. I only drank about 15 beers at Wrestlemania and about 20 at the Braves game. Anybody that's hiked the trail knows that you need a decent amount of fat reserves to make it the whole way through. This was just a convenient to do that. As far as keeping perspective, see my notes on Bruce Jenner in the March 28th post.

How many times have you hiked the trail, Tommy? I appreciate your comment, but wonder about your credentials. If you think you can handle it, feel free to join me at the starting line this weekend.

Also, you guys, it is always good to hear from my readers, so I encourage you to comment on my posts.

Home of the Braves!

After 365 days of waiting baseball has returned to Atlanta! As most of you know I postponed my trip into the wild for two more weeks to make it out to the Braves season opener! My friends Jimmy, Blackwell and I packed up my SUV and headed off to Turner Field, recognized as one of the most historic parks in sports.

I had to swing by the office quickly to submit my expense report for my new iPhone 4. As many of you know, I recently broke my 2nd iPhone the other night by dropping it into the toilet at a Waffle House. I really wasn't too worried about it because it was a company phone. When I walked into the office dad told me that he was happy that I finally decided to quit chasing my white whale and that he was proud of me for focusing on reality. I didn't know what whales had to do with anything. I handed him my expense report and told him when he sees me in August I will be chasing lobsters, not whales.

Then Grandpa walked in. Grandpa was old school – tough like Jack Palance in City Slickers. Back in 2010 I was approved for a 10% salary raise by my immediate manager only to be overturned by Grandpa. He is always saying to me, "When I was seventeen, I walked into the jungle. And by twenty-one, I walked out. And by God, I was rich!" I tell him I walked into the jungle back in 1990 without even using up up, down down, left right, left right, b a and walked out with the highest score of all time. I hope that one day he will realize what the word accomplishment means.

I was not able to make it into the game, but my beer pong play was top notch. Apparently the game was not any good, so I didn’t miss anything.

Can You Smell What the Blog is Cooking?

The roar of the crowd. The smell of victory - and defeat. This is what Wrestlemania is and has always been about. I was really excited this weekend to have a chance to see my second favorite action hero of all time, the Rock (Van Damme is still the best), up close and in person. For years I have wanted them to remake the movie Double Team with the Rock playing Rodman’s character. The only other person I knew that was going was my old college friend Bryan. Sadly he is a pretty big deal now because he is in Atlanta's premier comedy troupe, and he wouldn't return my calls. No matter. I'll be alone for months on the trail so it really wasn't a big deal.

Stone Cold took the stage first. He tore through the arena on a four wheeler and it was one of the most exciting things I have ever witnessed. I yelled at him in the ring, challenging him to a chugging contest. I'm pretty sure he heard me because the next thing he did was chug and crush a bud over his head. It wasn't really that impressive and I know I could have downed at least two by the time he was done. Next up was the Undertaker, intimidating as ever. To be honest, he was the reason I got into wrestling in middle school, although I ended up quitting because it lacked the excitement of the pro ranks.

The night ended with the most charismatic and electryfing man in Hollywood, and maybe the world, taking center ring - Dwayne Johnson. He dropped his awesome catchphrase, can you smell what the Rock is cooking, on the audience like a ton of bricks. His speech was peppered with classics like jabroni and candy ass. It really took me back to the late 90s, the golden age of wrestling.

When the night was all said and done, I was tired and exhausted, in a good way. Maybe next summer instead of going back onto the trail again I'll try to get into the WWE. Not as a wrestler, more like a manager or director of operations. My friend Bryan is really close to landing a big job with the WWE, so he can probably get me in the door.

I'm really excited and pumped up about getting back into training tomorrow. I only have one week to get into drinking shape for the Braves home opener, so I'll probably start training with a 30 rack of Keystone Light at 10 AM.

A photo during the Rock's speech taken by my friend Bryan from the nosebleeds