Life continues on without Shadow. The huskies seemed to be okay yesterday, but neither of them ate any breakfast this morning. Could be that they just are not hungry or they could be grieving. We went for two walks yesterday with Ghost and Ammy. The house seems a lot more quiet without grumpy grandpa. I think in retrospect, we realize that Shadow was very stoic and hiding a lot of his pain. He couldn’t eat without vomiting and he stayed in one place most of the day. Moaning off and on. We are at peace because we know he is at peace.
Today is our first anniversary! I know that it sounds cliche to say it, but I married my best friend. Five and a half years together and celebrating our first wedding anniversary. I love this man SO much! He cried with me and Sean when we were putting Shadow to sleep. He loves animals like I do and he loves the great outdoors. Here’s to a lifetime of adventures with my soulmate! God has truly blessed us.
We are looking forward to backpacking 50+ miles on the Appalachian Trail this week. Marty has to work this weekend (nights), so we will leave after he wakes up tomorrow and I complete my work day. We plan on getting close to Damascus for the night and hitting the trail by noon.
Originally, this was going to be a 9 day backpacking trip trying to cover 100 miles. Marty had to work one day and I had to cut my PTO short to help roll out a new client in Arizona — we both agreed to work willingly. We both love our jobs and we need money to pay for our fur babies and all of our adventures. <laughter>
We’ve gotten quite a few miles of backpacking and hiking under our belt in the past year. We started the year off on our honeymoon hiking at Acadia National Park and have continued to keep up the pace. We’ve kayaked, overhanded…..we have tent camped and camped in our off-road camper. It has been an amazing year exploring God’s creation!
This coming week’s six-day back pack adventure’s iteration was 30 pounds without water the other day. This includes food for myself and half of Ghost’s food. I will get it completely set after church today so that I’m ready to his the trail Tuesday morning. With Water, it will be close to 40 pounds starting off. Oof. I keep reminding myself that this is good exercise to increase bone density as I age. Ha ha.
I will be carrying several battery packs to charge my Apple Watch and my phone. Marty charges those two items and our Garmin Montana. Our headlamps keep a charge for a very long time. Something new this time will be that I will carry my waterproof Kindle with me. It weighs 7.5 ounces without the little pouch I store it in. Marty likes to play a game or something on his phone in the evening and I prefer to read. It is easier to read on the Kindle Paperwhite than the phone. The Kindle also keeps a charge for up to 12 weeks. Probably more like a few weeks when I actually use it.
I’m one of those readers who reads 5 books at once. I am currently reading Cold Noses at the Pearly Gates A book of Hope for Those Who Have Lost a Pet and several others. <laughter> What’s cool about the Kindle is that if you have the sam title in Audible, you can listen and read the book. The book on Owls I listened to several weeks ago, I also purchased on Kindle so that I could see all the owl pictures and see some of the spellings for the species of owls.
Back to the backpacking on the AT this week. The final plan is to backpack from Dickey Gap into Damascus. We have a shuttle set to pick us up at public parking in Damascus at 9:30am on Tuesday. We will start with our hydration bladders and Ghost’s pup flask full. The Far Out App is what we are using to find water sources and camping sites. I think we will hike 8 miles the first day.
The weather will be gorgeous– at least the forecast says so. So far, they are only forecasting rain on Sunday the 19th. The highs will be in the high 60s and the lows in the mid to low 40s with one day at 38º. I’ll be bringing my Big Agnes Fly Creek 25º bag for this trip. It is a little lighter than my North Face sleeping bag. It is definitely too cold to use my Big Agnes 50º quilt I used on the recent overlanding trip.
I will also be backpacking with my Smartwool leggings and Smartloft skirt. I see so many YouTubers who hike in leggings, I decided to give it a try. I love the 5.11 pants, but also love the comfort of Smartwool leggings. On any given day, I am wearing 100% wool. My bra, socks and underwear are wool for sure. This next week, it will be those staples with a wool t-shirt and wool leggings. The skirt is wool lined with wool fleece insulation and the loft insulation is made from recycled wool. The outer layer has a DWR finish that helps protect from the elements. FYI- this skirts can be used for any activity, including cycling. I almost always wear something to cover my bum when I wear leggings or bike shorts.
Now that we are closer to the start date, I can refine what I’m packing as far as clothing. I will bring Smartwool base layers for the cold mornings, but will not hike in them. I’ve had the same Smartwool base layer bottoms for at least 19 years. they are a little thin in some areas, so I did get a new pair, but I may just pack the old ones. One year, we went to the March for Life in DC and it was 10º. I stayed toasty warm with my Smartwool base layers. I’m hooked on Smartwool.
After church today, I’ll be refining my backpack for the trip. I can tell you that I will not be skimping on snacks this time. Last time, I was SO hungry because I did not bring enough snacks. I was wanting to keep my pack weight down and ditched most of the snacks. That will NOT happen again. <giggle>
I have recently started purchasing Melaleuca products. They have AMAZING low carb muffin mixes that we are currently addicted to. We love, love, LOVE the banana and the lemon blueberry muffins. We add a few extra freeze dried blueberries to each of them. So delish. We try not to each many processed foods, but after Marty’s diabetes diagnosis, we found we REALLY miss baked goods. The prepackaged stuff is so dry and just doesn’t cut it.
We also like the Melaleuca pancake mix. We make a syrup by using Bestie Brown allulose and Monk Fruit blend, water and maple extract. We boil it down and it makes a nice syrup for pancakes. I will be baking muffins today for us to eat on our adventure in the coming week. If you’d like more info about the products, just let me know. The Keto lifestyle can be a challenge to keep. I remind myself that we have to stick to it because of Marty’s diabetes — he is off all meds and it is under control as long as he sticks with Keto. We now know that sugar is linked to heart disease, dementia and diabetes. I am a sugar addict, so this part of our journey has ben difficult for me. Finding good products has helped me!
My Little Red Bike 