One by one, the “big deals” of preparing for the AT are getting done. But compared to our hikes of the PCT and CDT, we are being really slackers! For both of those, our garage at this point would be lined with numbered boxes, and we’d be starting to load them up with supplies.

All we have right now is an “AT corner” in our living room!

But the following “big deals” are now DONE deals:

1. Book airplane tickets. A look at “when is the best time to book for the best price?” made us realize that the time was NOW! Yikes! So we are flying out from San Francisco to Atlanta, nonstop, on Thursday, April 23. A good friend of ours even volunteered to take us to the airport. (Our original plan was to HIKE around 3 miles to the “Airporter” bus stop).
2. Set up a “Survivor Dave” shuttle run to Amicalola State Park. We have heard so many good things about “Survivor Dave” that we figured we HAD to ride with him. He was a lot of fun to talk to on the phone, and was also VERY patient when our newly refurbished computer was giving us grief in trying to pay him. When we were all done, he said, “OK, any questions? Comments?” and I said, “So, do we have to sign one of those I-am-not-responsible-if-something-bad-happens-to-you papers? For the CDT shuttle, we had to sign that if we got caught in the crossfire between Border Patrol and the drug runners, too bad so sad, the CDTA was not responsible.” Dave just laughed and said, “Well, the only drugs around here are mostly meth and no Border Patrol.”
3. Book a place to stay near Atlanta. Survivor Dave has a special deal with a hotel north of Atlanta. We will take the MARTA train, go to the hotel, and Dave picks us up from there. So I had the fun of calling up the hotel and asking for the “Survivor Dave Hiker Rate.” It even includes breakfast, and Dave said, “I’ll pick you up at 7:00, April 24, but I’ll come early and have some coffee with you!” Sounds great!
4. Freezedries. Unlike the PCT and CDT, where our resupply boxes included almost all the food we would need, on the AT we are only sending ourselves freezedried dinners (which we doctor up by adding things to, like dehydrated veges from our garden, etc.) So that means a BIG freezedry order from our absolute favorite supplier, LDPCampingFoods.com. They have great discounts. I don’t know how they do it!
5. Shoes. We both wear La Sportiva Ultra Raptors, and plan to go through 3 pairs of them in the course of the hike. So the “shoe delivery” has arrived, and we are currently using the brand new shoes for day hikes, to make sure they feel good. I’ve only once had a pair of trail runners that DIDN’T feel good, but that was enough to make me a bit wary. So now I test every new pair before putting them into a resupply box!

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