Our A.T. Journey

A few ago a kid I worked with said that he and his wife were preparing to hike the Appalachian Trail. I had never heard of it. After personally doing some of my own research I began to think how cool it would be to hike it myself. Keith was a contractor at our building and per the companies' policy he could only work here for a designated time and his time was up. I lost track of him and heard thru the grape vine that he did in fact thru hike the trail.
As an OFG (old fat guy) at 55 years old my dream of hiking the trail seemed unreachable. 34 years of swing shift and concrete floors had taken their toll. I didn't believe I had enough left in the tank to prepare for something of this magnitude.
After looking at our finances and really looking at what we needed to live on it seemed I would be able to retire in 2013. So, with many decisions made I struck a plan to follow thru and I tossed a dart in the calendar. With that date came a freedom. I could now see the checked flag and it was liberating. Even though I was some 24 months away I knew that no matter what I had to drop some weight. I was over 300 pounds and thru all my research I had yet found anybody that weighed that much.
Over the last year I had lost 40 pounds and kept off 25. This is something I haven't ever been able to do. My goal is to loose an additional 50 before we hit the trail.
My wife is a avid walker and I hate walking. Hiking is another subject. I love traversing thru the forest primeval. As an avid hunter I spend many miles during scouting season and many more once season begins. But even now I am beginning to pound out the miles on paved trails and roads.