The one before it starts – Day 0

I finally made it to Amicalola Falls! Or more precisely – us he did it. Julie (my wife), Joy (my youngest daughter) and I arrived and checked in at the hostel. The hostel is very nice. I would highly recommend it.

My to-do list

I finished checking off everything on my long to-do list, except for one thing. That one thing…shave. I’m planning to shave tomorrow morning before I start. I haven’t decided yet if I’ll grow a beard or not. I’ve never had a beard.

As a good engineer would do, a couple of months ago I conducted a “no shaving” experiment. The purpose of the experiment was to see, over a 6-week period, if a beard would drive me crazy. The result: There’s a good chance that not shaving won’t drive me crazy.

Breakfast

I got up very early. I usually get up early anyway, but I was awake around 4 a.m. I spent some time reading my Bible before everyone else woke up.

We started by having breakfast at the hostel. This is where I started to go off the rails from my normal diet. First, I don’t eat breakfast. Secondly, I not only had breakfast, but I also ate ENORMOUS breakfast. It included 2 cookies…

ATC registration

We went down all the stairs to finish my registration and get my hangtag. I have hangtag #1999. I asked if I could have #2000 and they were going to give it to me, but I decided to keep #1999.

My registration

Smokestack gave the orientation presentation. I learned that Georgia and North Carolina are under a burn ban due to a severe drought.

My sister Lori called and I talked to her for a while. She wished me well, it was encouraging.

meet people

I met several people who would start today or tomorrow like me. I met someone from Pennsylvania and someone from Connecticut. I wonder if I’ll see those people again. This is the part I look forward to the most. I have a strong desire to invest in people and impact them to the best of my ability.

Dinner

We climbed all the stairs to the hostel. It was surreal to do that knowing I would do it again tomorrow.

We went to the Boxcar Grill in Talking Rock, GA. It is about 30 minutes from Amicalola. I found it last year when Julie and I stayed at the Walk Inn. Their burgers are amazing! I got the Trainwreck with onion rings, it was so good!

I got the usual, no bread.

I really destroyed my diet today by having ice cream afterwards. Oh ok…

Sunset

I enjoyed a fantastic sunset from the terrace of our room at the hostel. A perfect end to a great day!

Sunset from our terrace at the Lodge

It starts tomorrow at 8 am…

Thanks for reading!

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