Song of the day

'Lick Mountain Ramble' by Jack Rose

Back to the trail, seriously ... Vol. 2

April 23, 2009, Thursday

When I announced in my last blog that I would be returning to the AT last weekend, I didn't take into account the one person whose advice would be most helpful — my doctor. Another round of X-rays last week revealed no damage to the bone in my right leg, but I was advised to wait an additional two to three weeks before continuing my journey. I compromised by waiting 1.5 weeks, which accumulates to just over three weeks off the trail. That's three weeks and the return of my love handles, but I'm returning to the trail with a lighter load to reduce the strain on my legs.

The extra week off was filled with a kick ass Wilco concert in Athens, along with attending a Hawks playoff victory, a groovin concert by my brosef Erik, and drinks with an old high school friend, Idun. Further, I fully utilized my sister Kat's couch on a dozen occasions, including my first American Idol exposures. These kids are not very good.

Anyway, Kat is driving me back to the trail tomorrow. We'll spend the night in Marion, VA, and the following morning she'll drop me off on the side of the road and speed away. I'll be back on the trail with what I hope will be a blooming forest. Due to my three weeks off, I'm no longer assured enough time to finish the remaining 1,650 miles or so. Classes at Saint Louis Univ. start Aug. 24, but I don't know when I need to be on campus for orientation. I also need time to find a place to live. Due to my time constraints, I'll be spending less time in trail towns, so I may not be blogging as much as previously. I'll try to update pictures frequently, and I'll post a video blog a couple times a week while on the trail.

Happy trails buckaroos, Mike (Steamboat)

Song of the day ...
"Walken" by Wilco

I'm walking
All by myself
I was talking to myself about you
What am I going to do

I was singing
This song about you
I was thinking about singing
This song for you

The more I think about it
The more I know it's true
The more I think about it
The more I'm sure it's you
Honey I think you're just right
You're just right

I was walking
Like I said by myself
I was talking
To myself about you
Like I always do

The more I think about it
The more I know it's true
The more I think about it
The more I'm sure it's you
Honey, I think you're just right
You're just right

Sitting in the Mid-Day Sun

I wanted to say something profound or sentimental prior to hitting the trail tomorrow, but my thoughts are lost in the five-month task ahead. With little focus available to blog, I would like to take the opportunity to apologize tonight, my last night before I hit the Appalachian Trail, to anyone I may have missed seeing in Atlanta prior to my departure. I'm also sorry to my Steamboat friends whom I left hanging my last few weeks in town. I want them all to know that despite my lack of goodbyes, they mean a lot to me.

On this last night in a warm bed, I'm sitting here contemplating the adventure I'm about to embark on. I'm no Bear Grylls or Survivorman. I've only slept a few nights in the woods, and I've never dropped a duece there. Some have asked if I'm bringing a gun, while others have asked if I'll be lonely. But what everyone seems to agree upon is that I'm a bit too doughy to be doing this endeavor and that a bear while likely eat me. They are right about the former, and hopefully 100 percent wrong on the latter.

I don't know what to expect to gain from hiking for five months. I doubt I will gain much insight about the foundations of the universe, God or how to pull the country out of the Great Depression we are facing, but I do hope to gain some perspective on priorities. I think this is secondary to my main goal, which is to have a great adventure. I think everyone deserves an adventure, and this one is mine. I may not be climbing Everest, but I'll have a good story to tell my grand kids one day. So, on that note, I invite you all – my friends and family — to join me on this trek at one point or another. Keep up to date on my location through my GPS tracker, which is linked at the top Toolbar menu under "Where am I?" If I'm close enough to you, come meet me an hike the trail for a day or two. You could also just meet me and buy me dinner and put me up in a nice hotel! Ya, there are hotels along the way. I'm not really roughing it like Magellen.

The toughest part of this trip is not what's ahead of me, but what I'm leaving behind. I'm leaving the love of my dog, Brinkley, who can't join me due to the strain it may put on him in his older years. He's due to retire by the fire by now. We've done at least 1,000 miles together already. I'm also leaving behind an amazing girlfriend, good friends, family and Braves games. I'm not leaving behind my sister Kat until Saturday because she's hiking with her big brother the first day to the Len Foote Hikers Inn, where I'll spend my first night, albeit a comfortable one, on my trip. Also, to Kat's Fourth-grade religion class - THANKS FOR THE GOOD LUCK CARDS! Each student made me a card that honestly left me, who has a heard of stone, a little choked up.

Further, I won't be documenting this trip through video like I had planned. Although I have not yet heard back from graduate schools, I remain hopeful that my path leads me to school this fall. With starting a PhD program, I would not have the time to edit the video. I will document my travels through photos, but my documentary plans have fallen to the wayside.

I'm also using this trip as an opportunity to raise money for the Nature Conservancy's "Plant a Billion Trees" campaign. Many of you have already donated to the cause, and for those who haven't, I put no pressure on you to do so. If you would like to make a contribution, click on the donation widget to the right of the Web page. There is also a video to the right of the page that describes the campaign in more detail.

So, I'm off. Take care and drop me an email from time to time to keep me motivated or to keep me up to date with what's going on in the world. If you would like to be included on an e-mail list that updates when a new blog is posted, which I'm aiming for once a week, then e-mail me your address.

Best wishes, Mike McCollum.

Song of the Day:
Sitting In The Midday Sun :
The Kinks

I'm sitting by the side of a river
Underneath the pale blue sky
I've got no need to worry, I'm in no hurry
I'm looking at the world go by.

Just sitting in the midday sun,
Just soaking up that currant bun,
With no particular purpose or reason
Sitting in the midday sun.

Everybody say I'm lazy
They all tell me get a job you slob,
I'd rather be a hobo walking round with nothing
Than a rich man scared of losing all he's got.

So I'm just sitting in the midday sun
Just soaking up that currant bun,
Why should I have to give my reasons
For sitting in the midday sun

Oh look at all the ladies
Looking their best in their summer dresses,
Oh sitting in the sun.
I've got no home,
I've got no money
But who needs a job when it's sunny. Wah Wah.

I haven't got a steady occupation
And I can't afford a telephone.
I haven't got a stereo, radio or video
A mortgage, overdraft, a bank loan.

The only way that I can get my fun
Is by sitting in the midday sun
With no particular purpose or reason
Sitting in the midday sun.

Oh listen to the people,
Say I'm a failure and I've got nothing,
Ah but if they would only see
I've got my pride,
I've got no money,
But who needs a job when it's sunny. Wah Wah.

Everybody thinks I'm crazy,
And everybody says I'm dumb,
But when I see the people shouting at each other
I'd rather be an out of work bum.

So I'm just sitting in the midday sun
Just soaking up that currant bun,
With no particular purpose or reason
Sitting in the midday sun

Making Progress

With less than three months left until I hit the trail, I'm slowly making progress toward finishing Graduate School applications, saving money for my hike and wrapping up the sale of most of my possessions.
In the last seven days I have sold half of my living room furniture, taken the GRE, received 2/3 of my graduate school recommendations, sold my computer, bought a computer, kicked out a roommate, and found a new roommate. Who's ready for a drink??
Anyway, I'm still set on a Feb. 20 departure from Springer Mtn., GA, for my Appalachian Trail hike.
If you are one of the few people left in the country with deep pockets, check out my recently created gift registry regarding my hike.
http://www.rei.com/GiftRegistryDetails/GR1818505?cm_mmc=gift_reg-_-Outdoor_Adventure-_-announce-_-21Nov2008

I have not been the only one busy lately it seems. My good Steamboat-friend Amanda eloped last week and Jen moved to Boulder. Throw in some juicy local gossip and a nutty election, and November has the makings of a pretty noteworthy month.

I've also been thinking of the election lately and how important it must feel for African Americans in our country. I don't think Obama was elected on the color of his skin. Being black only made it harder. It was only about 15 years ago that the last Black confederate war widow died in Steamboat Springs (That's right, black people actually live in Colorado). I think that it's fitting that the song of the day (month) should be Sam Cooke's "A Change is Gonna Come." An additional debate can be whether his version is better than Marvin Gaye's or Aretha Franklin's.

I was born by the river in a little tent
Oh and just like the river I've been running ever since
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

It's been too hard living but I'm afraid to die
Cause I don't know what's up there beyond the sky
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

I go to the movie and I go downtown
Somebody keep telling me don't hang around
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

Then I go to my brother
And I say brother help me please
But he winds up knocking me
Back down on my knees

Ohhhhhhhhh.....

There been times that I thought I couldn't last for long
But now I think I'm able to carry on
It's been a long, a long time coming
But I know a change gonna come, oh yes it will

A good song for the day...

A Ghost to Most

I guess I'll never grow a sideburn
it's a shame with all I've got to go between
I hope somebody's cause takes soon
it's getting hard to find a place a root can sink
Mama said a lot of things and be thankful was the one she never minded saying twice
Thanks to her I can think clear enough,
to be thankful that she died before tonight

Saving everybody takes a man on a mission
with a swagger that can set the world at ease
Some believe it's God's own hand on the trigger
and the other dumping water in the streets
Talking tough is easy when it's other people's evil
and you're judging what they do or don't believe
It seems to me you'd have to have a hole you're own
to point a finger at somebody else's sheet

Baby every bone in my body’s gone to jumping
like they're gonna come through my skin
If they could get along without the rest of me, it wouldn’t matter if they did
But skeletons ain’t got nowhere to stick they're money
nobody makes britches that size
and besides you're a ghost to most before they notice,
that you ever had a hair or a hide

I don't know how good it does a man,
to keep on telling him how good it is he's free
free to wash his ghost down the drain,
and free for them to tell him there's no such a thing

Mike Cooley / Drive-By Truckers