The time has come, well kind of. Come this time next year we'll be a month out from our big journey hiking the AT from Georgia to Maine. My wife and I have been talking about do this for the past couple years now. We originally planned on doing this in about 10 more years when she would be eligible for early retirement from the school she teaches at. Over the last couple years, being in public education has gotten a lot more stressful in her district (I'm sure it's everywhere). About a month ago we said screw it, it's now or never. At that point I got to work on our blog, sponsors, and food drops. Sure we're more than a year away, but planning for what we intend to do goes beyond just hiking.
My wife is a high school English teacher with a strong passion for teaching her students about the outdoors. She started an outdoor education club several years ago when she started at her school. Year by year her club has grown in, and in the number of ways they get involved locally. The past two years her club has been working with the Missouri Conservation Department and helping on various projects with them. They have helped build a trail, they build a wigwam for a festival, and helped plant a new field of trees. We're going to document our journey so she can use what we're learned for an educational tool that she can provide students to come. She'll be working with another teacher at her school to develop an interactive while we're hiking. The website is going to be developed by the students for the students. She calls it a modern day Oregon Trail game.
My wife had spinal surgery when she was in 5th grade for scoliosis. This has kept her from doing a lot in her life, and really limits what she can do. Because of this condition, we're reached out to three scoliosis organizations and are hiking on their behalf to spread awareness. We'll be working with the National Scoliosis Foundation, Scoliosis Research Society, and Curvy Girls Support Groups. We're currently debating about doing a pledge hike for these foundations, or taking donations during our trip. Of course if we did this, all proceeds would go to these three wonderful organizations.
The trip starts after Christmas of 2014. My wife, our 5 year Dachshund and I will most likely finish in 5-7 months. We know that is a pretty wide window, and we aim to be done sometime in July. We have no really time frame to finish this trip since we'll have nothing to come home to. We're going to walk away from our jobs, hopefully sell our house before hand, and pretty much have nothing to come back to. That being said, we'll have nothing binding us down in St. Louis, then the next adventure begins.
Anyways, for anyone on here that would like to follow us; our blog is posted in my signature. If people would like, I could continue to update this thread as things change, and as our year progresses.
Thanks,
Mike
Boots and Backpacks
My wife is a high school English teacher with a strong passion for teaching her students about the outdoors. She started an outdoor education club several years ago when she started at her school. Year by year her club has grown in, and in the number of ways they get involved locally. The past two years her club has been working with the Missouri Conservation Department and helping on various projects with them. They have helped build a trail, they build a wigwam for a festival, and helped plant a new field of trees. We're going to document our journey so she can use what we're learned for an educational tool that she can provide students to come. She'll be working with another teacher at her school to develop an interactive while we're hiking. The website is going to be developed by the students for the students. She calls it a modern day Oregon Trail game.
My wife had spinal surgery when she was in 5th grade for scoliosis. This has kept her from doing a lot in her life, and really limits what she can do. Because of this condition, we're reached out to three scoliosis organizations and are hiking on their behalf to spread awareness. We'll be working with the National Scoliosis Foundation, Scoliosis Research Society, and Curvy Girls Support Groups. We're currently debating about doing a pledge hike for these foundations, or taking donations during our trip. Of course if we did this, all proceeds would go to these three wonderful organizations.
The trip starts after Christmas of 2014. My wife, our 5 year Dachshund and I will most likely finish in 5-7 months. We know that is a pretty wide window, and we aim to be done sometime in July. We have no really time frame to finish this trip since we'll have nothing to come home to. We're going to walk away from our jobs, hopefully sell our house before hand, and pretty much have nothing to come back to. That being said, we'll have nothing binding us down in St. Louis, then the next adventure begins.
Anyways, for anyone on here that would like to follow us; our blog is posted in my signature. If people would like, I could continue to update this thread as things change, and as our year progresses.
Thanks,
Mike
Boots and Backpacks
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