Getting AT Ready

First things first when getting ready to spend hours upon hours in the truck and hours and hours camping and on the trails, you can never paint enough rocks.  So I am getting ready a little bit at a time.

One night I couldn't sleep so I just started paint stick figures of animals.  They were fun.  Two house later I looked up and it was 4AM!  Yikes!  And I might have gotten a little rock dropping happy...some might already be out there.

A jeep was easier to draw and paint than a truck jammed with people and stuff.

Can't pass up a broken rock.

We have hiked in11 of the 14 states that make up the Appalachian Trail from Georgia to Maine and have yet to see a bear.  Last three states...keep your fingers crossed that we see at least one this summer.

Sometimes if the tail is steep I go at a snail's pace while Slip-Slider and GoatBoy jump from rock to rock.

Camping for a few weeks is just what I need about now.

This will be us really soon.

And we will be having one of these about every night weather and permits permitting.

We are starting a new tradition.  We will be reading one of my all-time favorite books around the campfire every night.  I can hardly wait to see Mark, Ellis and Alaire's reactions.  Hope I can read it without crying.