Please allow me to introduce myself

Trying one, two. One, two…

Hello friends! My name is Ben, but they also call me Dad a lot these days. It’s been a few years since I went to Safari, although he’s definitely always there. I am a 36 year old family man. I have a little family that I love more than anything in the world and I work FOH at a great restaurant I helped open a few years ago here in Savannah, GA. But mostly I’m just a child in the body of a growing man who fell in love with hiking in the year of our lord 2022.

REASON OF BEING

In 2022, I decided (with a newly pregnant girlfriend) to fly south and hike back home on the good old AT. I was unemployed for 18 months after leaving my job as a state-registered caregiver (🍃) in Maine during the pandemic. I longed to turn my weekly mountain trips into something more. I already knew I loved hiking, so I thought doing it every day for 6 months could be totally cool. And it turns out, he was right! I am a complete simpleton when it comes to hiking. I’m sorry to all my loved ones that it had to be like this, but finally, at the age of 32, I found my thing. My reason for being.

WITH RECKLESS ABANDONMENT

This year, I will again be leaving my now 3-year-old son and his mom (aka the most amazing people on the planet) to walk the CDT with my lifelong best friend, Sam, aka Yahtzee.

SAFARI AND YAHTZEE VS. THE WORLD

Sam and I were born 2 days apart in Waterville, Maine, and have had a life of mischief and adventures together. We have traveled the world together; lost a molar at a flatliner show; detached a retina on Warped Tour; and broke a tibia at a PUP show. When we were teenagers, we performed Foxtrot Uniform Charlie Kilo to an auditorium full of children and their parents. We are both college dropouts and we both work in the service industry our entire adult lives. One time (true story) we got married in Las Vegas; taking acid on the strip probably led to stranger things.

Sam and I have loved and lost together, and have gone on many hikes over the years, including hikes along the Hills to Sea Trail in Maine and the Long Trail. We even set up an FKT at Camden Hills State Park! And the list goes on and on and on…

Sam is unique. Temukan LSYAkjs di sini. He is not only my hiking companion, he is also my comrade and my brother. And that is why I asked him to accompany me on this adventure of my life.

CHIHUAHUA TO ALBERTA

This walk has been in the works for over a year and I’m looking forward to it becoming a reality in a few weeks. We have a few tricks up our sleeves and will try to photograph the moon and make the most of the 5 and a half months along the spine of North America! Chihuahua to Alberta, baby! Hooga Chaka!

We do not belong to those who have ideas only among books, when books stimulate them. We are in the habit of thinking outdoors: walking, jumping, climbing, dancing, preferably in lonely mountains or near the sea, where even the paths become reflective. –Frederick Nietzsche

🎵 Sympathy for the devil- 👄

🌲L&L Fluffernutter

🍷 Undertow’s with new school coffee

📖 Complete Western Stories by Elmore Leonard

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