Before I delve into this first bloated blog, let me give you the TL;DR:
Lisa is amazing. Jeff tends to use too many words. As a couple, we are great. We’ve done some great things and we’re about to start an epic one. Feel free to join us by subscribing. You won’t regret it. Money back guarantee. If you want to know more about us…
Every story has a beginning, a middle and an end. This is my story and, therefore, also the story of my wife Lisa. If you are lucky enough to hear his version of this story, the first thing he will tell you is that my version contains too many words. I like to imagine myself as a word warrior, and that would make my wife the word killer. To be fair, though, his story would pack a punch in short form. We complement each other and sometimes, in this process, we go crazy. I will take you down many paths, sometimes unintentionally, but most of the time on purpose. Because? Well, the short version: I love words and I like to bring my stories to life with them. I’m much better at talking than writing. Maybe one day we can sit down and chat, but for now, this is the medium in which this story will be told.
So where did it start? I’ll let Lisa tell you that story:
«I (Lisa) hadn’t backpacked in 25 years when I told my husband, ‘I’m leaving, with or without you.'» It was the summer of 2020, and he needed to get out of the house. He didn’t need convincing. Within a week, we headed to Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, armed with new backpacks from Walmart and a play tent in the kids’ bedroom covered with a tarp. After the first night, Jeff insisted on a «real» tent, an upgrade that required a 45 minute trip off trail (which turned out to be a terrible tent).
We persevered for five days, soaking up the beauty and meeting experienced hikers along the way. Our obsession began, along with the endless search for better equipment and the next path. Sometime early, the Appalachian Trail began calling to us. We bought a giant AT map, framed it, and hung it in our room as a silent but persistent reminder. With jobs to maintain and children still in school, it still wasn’t possible.
So here we are, leaving in June. Our goal is to share our progress, the people and experiences that shape our hike, how we overcame the series of inevitable problems the trail will present, and the joy of doing it together while trying to stay married.”
Thank you, Lisa, for that brief account of our humble beginnings.
I don’t want to copy and paste a long list of where we walked and why we did it (the list is long). We have walked many kilometers and spent many nights sleeping on the ground. Here’s an extremely brief (for me) synopsis of some of the places we hiked and what we learned along the way:
A place where we learned something the hard way: the Porcupine Mountains in Michigan. The maps can be wrong. The official trail map was off by miles, and when I spoke to a park ranger, he responded, «Yes, we’ve talked about updating it.»
In the Sipsey Wilderness, Alabama, we learned that it is okay to cut a trip short due to circumstances beyond our control and that it is not a failure. Tornadoes and flooding ended up decimating the area where we had planned to camp.
Our second trip to Pictured Rocks was perfect and we learned how important networking can be. See also: z3nins. We met a wonderful young woman from Maine who will help us with some logistics at the beginning of our AT SOBO hike.
Traversing the nearly 100 miles of the West Highland Way in Scotland, we learned that it was okay to be a little stroller and have a luggage service move our «gear» as we walked through the Scottish Highlands. Sleeping in inns, eating in pubs and learning to drink whiskey was an advantage. So many trips and so little space to share.
Anyway, we love nature and feel blessed to be able to take this time away from the chaos of the world to touch grass, touch rocks, hug trees, and meet amazing people. Maybe I’ll even hug some of these people. I hope you enjoy our upcoming adventures, the trials of the road, and a marriage surviving and thriving on a 2,200+ mile SOBO journey.
This website contains affiliate links, which means The Trek may receive a percentage of any products or services you purchase using links in articles or advertisements. The buyer pays the same price they would otherwise pay, and their purchase helps support The Trek’s ongoing goal of bringing you quality backpacking information and advice. Thank you for your support!
For more information, visit the About page of this site.
