Preparations 2022

HOBOS GOING SOBO IN THEIR OBOZ … are on the GOES again! (Haha, our sorry attempt at another rhyme! We’ll take any suggestions you may have for a better one.) 

Our hike this year starts on Sunday, April 24th in Duncannon, PA, we will travel south (SOBO) to Groseclose, VA (where we started our hike last year.)  This is a 600-mile trek and once completed we will have hiked just over half of the Appalachian Trail. 

Preparations for our three-month journey have been underway for months:

• Food has been ironed.  Yes, you read that correctly.  We ordered a supply of dehydrated food but was not aware that the portion sizes per pouch were more than we would be able to eat at one time.  Therefore, we had to purchase mylar bags, oxygen absorbers and separate the contents into smaller portions, add the oxygen absorbers and seal the mylar bags by ironing the end shut.  

• Took our full backpacks for a test drive (or rather, walk) around the cemetery near our condo several times to check out weight and comfort.  It was peaceful and quiet there and no "body” bothered us or asked what we were doing.  (If you remember from our last hike, we passed many gravesites and a cemetery, so it seemed only appropriate to walk there to test our equipment out.)

• Our OBOZ (hiking boots) have been cleaned and new inserts added to try to cut down on the smell from last year’s hike.  Didn’t work, they still smell.

• Resupply boxes boxed up and labeled.   Seven boxes will be sent to places along the trail (post offices or hostels) filled with food we will need for each upcoming week.  Last year Brad did a really good job (except for one place! It's in the book!)  I wonder how he will do this year? We will soon find out.  Thanks to Beth Thorp for volunteering to send our boxes as we need them.

• Our bounce box has been filled with items we will need when we stop that does not include food.  Our clean clothes, detergent pods, quarters for laundry, shampoo, soap, more toilet paper, toothpaste, hand sanitizer, etc.  This box will follow us and go from post office to post office (hence, the term “bounce”) along the way.

• As you know, our book HOBOS GOING SOBO IN THEIR OBOZ is in the editing phase at the publisher’s and will be returned to us for revisions when we will still be on the trail.  We have boxed up our computer and will have it shipped to us on the trail so that we can take the necessary time off to make the changes so not to delay the book’s release.

• We will be carrying a GPS satellite device (Garmin In-reach Mini) so that our family can track us daily and worst-case scenario if there is an emergency and we need to use the SOS.  Many thanks to John Page for helping us figure out how to use the complicated contraption!  Now if we can just remember when we get out there how to use it!

• We have made contact with three different people that we will see again while on the trail.  Ken (Sugarfoot) we met while backpacking the Northville Placid Trail will be traveling NOBO and Felicia (Patches) that we met while hiking on the Appalachian Trail last year will be traveling NOBO so we will pass them at different times.  We are so excited to be seeing them once again.  The other familiar face we will see is Cathy Harris (previously from Spencer, NY) who so graciously offered to be a “trail angel” and help us out when we are close by her home.  It will be so good to see her again!

• Thank you to Sandy and Art Lacombe for volunteering to rearrange their schedule and be on-call to pick us up at the end of our hike in Groseclose, VA.  Hopefully we can take a shower or two before you pick us up! 

• Thank you to Fred and Pat Sturges for making our load a lot lighter as we traveled back to New York.   What a blessing to have been able to store things in your storage unit. 

• I was a basket case.  Driving from Texas to New York, I’m pretty sure I wore out the brakes on the passenger side of the car.  I’m just a plain ‘ole country gal who loves backroads and not freeways!  I know Brad was relieved whenever I pulled my headrest down and fell asleep! (Thanks, Bethie, for that gift that really was for both of us!)

• It’s COLD in New York!  I am so glad that I have my long johns, hat/gloves and blanket liner packed and I will NOT be sending those back early!

• We weighed ourselves. Let me just tell you, it wasn’t pretty, we both gained additional weight, not intentionally this year like last year, it just happened naturally.  UGH!  Past experience says one of us will lose it and one of us, not so much.  Grrr!  I fault all the delicious Texas BBQ’s they have around there!

• Backpack start weight is: Faith, 17 pounds (I’m thinking that’s not too bad so maybe I can add more clothes??!!) and FROG, 28 pounds. 

• Thanks to Bev Roman for our haircuts and making us look presentable at least for the start of the hike.

• Thank you to Beth Thorp and Ann Beyer for volunteering to take us to the trailhead (yay, no bus ride this year!!) and hiking the first two miles with us. 

• And, finally, thank you to Beth and Paul Thorp for letting us stay in your guest room prior to the hike, and for letting us keep our car and belongings at your home while we hike. 

• WOW! So much planning and preparations, but now that the necessary (not so exciting!) stuff is done … 

LET THE ADVENTURE BEGIN … STAY TUNED!!