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Mar 27, 2021 : Kara and Nick
Appalachian Trail
The Beginning is Near
Hello followers! My name is Nick and I’m a 2021 NOBO thru-hiker with my fiancée Kara. The beginning is near: Less than 1 week beginning our new lives together and just over 1 week before beginning our 6 month “honeymoon”. Before I go into the standard ‘about me’ spiel I need to describe where I’m currently sitting, what I’m witnessing and what I’m feeling.
I am sitting in a (car) camping chair with a single cup holder fit for a Busch Light, that was not built with the intent of supporting a 6′-3″ 245 pound Swede. This chair, albeit uncomfortable, is the only place to sit in my fiancée’s apartment after moving 90% of it’s contents into a storage unit last night. Coffee is sitting nicely on the overturned packing box as my makeshift coffee table. Kara is rummaging through her few belongings in the bedroom and scurrying back and forth between the bathroom, occasionally stopping and giving me a crazed look as we both laugh hysterically. I’m experiencing a flurry of thoughts, most of them primarily exhibiting excitement but paired with an audible nervous laughter.
Commence the “Oh S#!!, what have we done” phase.
About me… I would say I’m enthusiastic, bright and have a loud and unmistakable laugh. I am (or was) an engineer and my enginerdiness (Phrase Patent Pending) runs deep in me. I geek out about cars, large man-made things and the science that is everything around us. The single greatest pleasure and ability I have in life is to make my partner-in-crime Kara laugh when she’s grumpy or annoyed with me.
I hope to share some of my more profound thoughts and feelings in brief as we begin to put more and more of the trail behind us. Stay tuned!
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Comments 2
Kara and Nick,
Go for it. My parents honeymooned in Letchworth State Park in upstate New York in 1948. Firstborn ish came along in 1950. I took my bride camping in the Adirondacks for our honeymoon. It certainly wasn’t for six months. Our firstborn went for his first camping trip at the tender age of eight weeks. (Division of labor was easy; Corky took care of Lanse and I did everything else.)
I’m shooting for AT NOBO next February.
You get the full version of our beginning-of-trip prayer:
The Lord keep you safe on the way and make you a blessing to each other and to those you meet on the way.
Steve / pearwood
So exciting!