[at-l] We’re back – and almost gone….

[Jim and/or Ginny Owen]

First, it seems some of y’all didn’t get the message that the journals for our 2007 hikes/wanderings are on the website – so for those who didn’t 
know, they’re  at: http://spiriteaglehome.com/2007_journal.html
and http://spiriteaglehome.com/gdt%20journal%201.html  We hope you enjoy them. We did. Now – for 2008 --- We enjoyed another quiet winter here in Maryland. We’ve both been in “hermit” mode with little or no interest in communicating with the world.  That’s not getting better. But we’re just about ready to head out again. Hopefully we’ll get it together 
so we can take off this next weekend.  Once again, Jim is getting his last “shot 
in the knee” this week – and we hope it works as well this time as it did last year.   In some ways this summer will be a repeat of last year - a mixture of dayhiking, 
long distance backpacking and car camping/travel. Our plans are subject to 
change at a moment's notice, but at least we finally have some vague idea of what we hope to do this year. First we’ll do a leisurely trip southward. We may do some hiking on the way to 
Florida, if the weather cooperates. We'd like to visit friends and maybe do some
 hiking in Florida. Then we'll head to Houston to visit family for a few days. From 
there we'll try to visit a couple of archeological sites in Texas (most of them are on 
private land – and not open to the public) – and maybe visit family in Austin.  We
 may also stop at some arch sites in New Mexico and southern Arizona before 
heading up to Phoenix. We should be in Houston around Feb 28th, and Phoenix 
around March 13th. On March 18th , we’ll start another section hike on the Grand Enchantment Trail (www.grandenchantmenttrail.org) that winds through the desert from Phoenix to Albuquerque. If all goes well, we'll hike the GET for two or three weeks, then 
pick up the truck and head north to the Grand Canyon and more exploration of the canyons and archaeological sites of  Utah. 
After that - who knows? We’re planning to hike in Colorado, Wyoming, Nevada, 
Idaho and Montana for a while, then go back to Canada and hike north from 
Jasper, AB. Hopefully before the snow flies. 
 
We will attend the fall long distance hiker Gathering in West Virginia in October.  Of course, this is a tentative plan. If Jim's knees become too  painful, we'll probably 
do less backpacking and more dayhiking. If fires are a problem, as they have been 
for the last few years, we may go elsewhere. Most of you got this because you were on our “update” list last year. For 2008, we’ll probably do the same kind of updates.  There are also a few new 
names on the list.   For those who want to continue with us – we make no promises about how exciting or interesting our updates will be – or how often they’ll occur – or how long (or short) they’ll be – or anything else. All we’ll promise is that we’ll update the website with a new journal or two after it’s all over. We also understand that some of you may not want to continue with us. If at any time you’d like to be taken off the update list, please let us know. If you 
want out, just reply with a simple “no, thank you”. You won’t hurt our feelings. 
We understand the pressures of life and that sometimes one doesn’t have the 
time or energy to deal with what others are doing. In any case, we’re glad some of you took the ride with us last year, and for those who go with us this year – welcome aboard. Walk softly,Ginny and Jim http://www.spiriteaglehome.com/
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