1 Day Left

Hi All,
It's 7am, Wed and I'm on my way to the DENTIST'S OFFICE (thats a story for later)!!!!!!!
When I get back it's off to Georgia. Pam will put up posts as I contact her, so it'll probably be a few days in between.
Thanks again to everyone for all the great support.  It would be hard to name you all!!!!

Talk Later,
Dave  (Smitty)
Ps Special hello to my new friends at Littleton High School, talk to you from the trail!

Just Waiting

Hi All,

Left Manchester airport Sunday, almost got off on the wrong foot!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
JUST KIDDING, friends playing jokes (HA HA)
I've been packing, repacking and packing my Pack, thats it I'm putting it away till it goes in the car tomorrow morning, when I'll be of to Georgia. So excited I don't know what to do with myself.
I miss Pam already!
Talk later from Georgia.
 Dave (Smitty)

Over Goal and Heading South

Hi All,
 Just a quick post this morning, but important one!! Friday night --thanks to a lot of great friends and help from my good friend Jack White and the Low Murphy Band.  We went well over the $5,000  goal I set!!!!!!
Now I can't wait to see how far over that goal we can go in the next 4 1/2 to 5 months that I will be gone! The ASPNC will put all the money raised to very good use.  It will be great to have new equipment of our own to use.
A special thanks to Laura White, Phil Katsaros, Jen Dupre, Michele Zangari and my lovely wife Pamela  for their help in the 50-50 raffle.  Also a special thanks to Mark the winner who donated back $100 of his winnings.
Well gotta go get ready to go to airport.

Talk later from Fla.
Dave (Smitty)

FOOD????

Hi All ,

Pam and I spent a few hours this weekend doing last min. food prep and double checking all info Pam needs  to send mail drops, swap gear ect.

Above is food for first 4 days on the trail.
Also found link (thanks to Ted Becker) of blind gentleman hiking AT this year using just a GPS system and hiking poles as his cane.His name is trail name is Bulldog and I hope to catch up to him on the trail. If anyone wants the link I'll try to post it on the blog
Talk Later,
Dave (Smitty)

new friends

Hi All,

Thursday night had supper with Dick & Sue and Sue's dad Ted, Sue and Ted thru hiked in 1989, then Sue and Dick hiked in 1998. They live in Lincoln NH and are great people who truly love the AT, I'm very glad to have met them, and I'm sure they are going to be great support as I make my way along the trail.I hope when I'm done I can share as many good stories with them as they did with me.
Talk later,
Dave

Back to school!!!

Hi All,
  What a great day!!! First thing this morning I went to Littleton High School.  I got to meet with two different groups of students to talk about my upcoming thru-hike. The students were really well prepared and showed a real interest in the AT and in following my hike. They asked some really good questions about the trail, my preparations and about my feelings regarding being on the trail for a long period of time.  They plan on following me on my trip(through my blog), sending me some encouraging letters in my mail drops, and some even want to arrange to meet up with me on the trail when I get up north in August and do some hiking with me.  So to Ms. Carbonneau and all the students I met today, THANK YOU for inviting me into your classroom to talk with you.  You made my day. Sorry to the first group this morning, class ended so fast I forgot to get a picture with you (next time).

 
Talk soon,

Dave

ps: One of the students asked what I was going to miss the most, I said a warm bed.  When I got home today Pam and I jumped on the bike and went for a ride down Rt 116 thru Franconia and Easton. THATS what I'm going to miss the most.
My wife and my bike.

Hi All,

 
I'm going to Littleton High School on Wednesday morning to talk to two classes about my trip, and the AT in general. It's been a long time since I've been to school, I'm a little nervous, but looking forward to talking to the kids. Maybe I'll even end up with some future members of the adaptive sports partners!

 I would also like to thank Tender Corp. for the donation of some products to help make my hike alittle more bearable, Jason was extremely frindly and more than willing to help.

Mt Pierce Winter hiking the AT

Hi All,

  Went for a hike Sat, took Crawfords Path to Mt Pierce, than started heading to MT Eiesenhower, turned around after3/4 mi.or so after summit of Pierce (really should have had my snowshoes, Forgot them!!), also some really high winds. Hiked back down past mizpah hut. It was a nice loop anyway, snow is still plenty deep(should be gone by time thru hikers get up here)!
Only 18 days left, cant wait to start some serious hiking!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Talk Soon,
Dave  (Smitty)

ski for light

Hi All,

Just a quick note, departure date comming fast, slightly nervous, hope preparations are complete.
This past weekend Pam and I spent both days X-Country skiing with a group of blind people visiting NH with the Ski For Light Foundation. We had some extra  training on guiding blind skiers, and then off we went!

Sunday we even had a dog who would pull the skier with a harness,(got a good workout attempting to keep up with that dog!!!!

Pam had a great time doing some guiding also!!
Thanks so much to all participants from the group for a great weekend.
We enjoyed your enthusiasim, and great conversation.
Dave & Pam

ps Hope to see everyone at the Village 3/26/10 after 7pm