[cdt-l] (no subject)

[Jim and/or Ginny Owen]

To: ALDHA at yahoogroups.com, atrailhiker at adelphia.net, bernardvogel at gmail.com, bjowen at hughes.net, bob.trobaugh at itt.com, brett at simblissity.net, brick at fastpack.com, bryan at cdtrail.org, doug.ramsay at itt.com, drounli at earthlink.net, dsaufley at sprynet.com, earl.bartlett at itt.com, edfaubert at yahoo.com, ehamill at pattonboggs.com, EnBhikers at aol.com, Findsimp at aol.com, fox at ebmud.com, frost-min at msn.com, geriguo at yahoo.com, gottago at lindajeffers.com, Happynap at sccoast.net, humblesteps at hotmail.com, imfhaiti at aol.com, jack.miller at itt.com, jackfrost130 at cox.net, jan_seward at hotmail.com, jennyandrick at verizon.net, jenzhou at hotmail.com, jfrost10 at cox.net, jgaudet at televar.com, jnlhealey at aol.com, John.A.Hughes at gsfc.nasa.gov, John.Miller at erols.com, jrkity2002 at yahoo.com, jurbine at west-chester.com, k_luce at comcast.net, kelliher at bluebird.goucher.edu, kittyfrost at cox.net, kmixon at pattonboggs.com, lclem at falconsresidents.org, lpasztor1 at earthlink.net, lpatton at mailer.fsu.edu, lpotteiger at atconf.org, m_factor at hotmail.com, m_owen7 at msn.com, mail at cdtsociety.org, mail2beau at adelphia.net, mark at flaglerfilms.com, mchowser at whistlingswanmotel.com, MS1JoJoe at yahoo.com, mvhudson at gmail.com, ncorrell at pattonboggs.com, owenr at stvinc.com, owldave at hotmail.com, pastumbler at aol.com, pchaskell at hotmail.com, pjorgensen at pattonboggs.com, marge at prothman.org, ptpalmer at centurytel.net, rdean at frontier.net, redbaron7 at juno.com, rellinwood at worldnet.att.net, scottnleslie at verizon.net, sfriendfla at aol.com, simplyngrizzly at pocketmail.com, slyatpct at aol.com, stevekral at hotmail.com, stibora-a at worldnet.att.net, tbeachy at intercom.net, tom87020 at mac.com, TrailR at aol.com, ttt2 at pennswoods.com, usmule at pennswoods.net, walkinjim at walkinjim.com, weathercarrot at hotmail.com, williswhoa at yahoo.com, wolf21000 at hotmail.com, yugrekih at yahoo.com
Bcc: 
Subject: 2007
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2007 21:46:31 -0500
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed
X-OriginalArrivalTime: 20 Feb 2007 02:46:33.0388 (UTC) FILETIME=[54DD7EC0:01C75499]

Gotta take care of a loose end here – and then start a new “adventure.”
Note to self:  remember that “adventures” are supposed to be bad things that 
happen to other people far away.

First, it seems some of y’all didn’t get the message that the journal for 
our 2006 CDT hike is up on the website – so for those who didn’t know, it’s 
at: http://spiriteaglehome.com/cdt06.html

We hope you enjoy it. We did.

Now – for 2007 ---

We enjoyed a quiet winter here in Maryland – Jim, at least, has been in 
“hermit” mode with little or no interest in communicating with the world.  
The CDT does that to him.  It’s getting better – maybe.

But we’re just about ready to head out again.  Hopefully we’ll get it 
together so we can take off this weekend.  We had planned to leave mid-week 
(THIS week), but that’s been pushed back a few days for several reasons:

1. Jim gets his last shot in the knee tomorrow and it needs to be rested and 
iced for two days before he puts stress on it.
2.  We have a funeral to attend.
3.  Ginny came back from our family week in the mountains sneezing and 
coughing, and generally feeling miserable.
4.  Most important - we just aren't ready.

We have an exciting year planned, a mixture of dayhiking, long distance 
backpacking and car camping/travel. Our plans are tentative at this point, 
subject to change at a moment's notice, but at least we finally have some 
idea of what we hope to do this year.

First we want to take a leisurely trip southward - away from the snow and 
ice that has been plaguing us for the past few weeks.  We may do some hiking 
in southern Virginia or Georgia, if the weather cooperates.  We'd like to 
visit Mammoth and the Natchez Trace. Then we'll head to Houston to visit 
family for a few days.  From there we'll head to a couple of places we've 
never visited - Big Bend and Guadalupe Mountains National Parks.  We may 
stop at Carlsbad and the Chiricahuas before heading up to Phoenix.  We 
should be in Houston around March 1, and Phoenix around the 12th.

Sometime in mid-March we will start a hike on the Grand Enchantment Trail 
(www.grandenchantmenttrail.org) that winds through the desert from Phoenix 
to Albuquerque.  The GET is a brand new trail - only previously hiked by two 
people, including Brett, who created the route. It wanders through the 
Superstitions to Superior, down to Aravaipa Canyon to Mammoth, north again 
to the Blue River/Clifton-Morenci, east to the Gila in NM, north to 
Mountainaire and the Sandia Crest east of Albuquerque. If all goes well, 
we'll finish the hike in mid-May, at which point we'll go back to Phoenix to 
pick up the truck.

>From there, we'll head north to the Grand Canyon and more exploration of the 
canyons of southern Utah.  When it gets too hot there, we'll head into 
Colorado to do some more exploring and hiking, then up to the Tetons, and 
eventually, in early July, to Glacier NP.  We'll leave our truck in East 
Glacier and head to the border, where we'll start hiking north on the 
Continental Divide in Canada.  There is a route connecting existing trails 
with some cross-country that goes north for about 750 miles. That should 
take us about two months.

After that - who knows? We may hike some in Montana and/or Wyoming, or just 
head slowly east visiting some of the National Parks along the way.  We will 
probably attend at least one of the big fall long distance hiker Gatherings 
in October.

Notice that we said we'd "start" all that stuff - whether we finish it or 
not is an entirely different conversation.  But we DID finish the CDT last 
year - in spite of the doctors' opinions to the contrary.  And this year the 
doctors (yeah - same ones) aren't saying we can't do it - or even that we're 
crazy (although I KNOW they're thinking that).  So we'll go do our thing - 
and prove the doctors right this time (that we're crazy).

Of course, this is still 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 were the last time we hiked in Canada, we may go 
elsewhere.

Now – y’all got this because you were on our “update” list last year.  For 
2007, we’ll probably do the same kind of updates.

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 
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 
like that. 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 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/

_________________________________________________________________
With tax season right around the corner, make sure to follow these few 
simple tips. 
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Taxes/PreparationTips/PreparationTips.aspx?icid=HMFebtagline