Slight change of plans for Matt as he began his AT for CZC adventure. During his visit with me on Tuesday night, he learned that good friend James Fuqua was planning a partial thru-hike of his own. After hashing out the details together, Matt elected to postpone his start by a few days and meet James this morning for an official start date of April 21st.That being said, Matt has stayed with Steph and I for the past couple of days. It was great to catch up with him, hear about his plans for the next several months, and get a chance to see how much time, energy and thought has gone into this hike. While I had spoken with him on the phone at length about his plans, seeing him in person and learning about the various pieces of equipment that he's taking set my mind at ease and instilled in me a greater level of confidence that he'll be able to pull this off. I also was able to convince him to take oatmeal on the trip, rather than a totally gross bag of kous kous. And I gave him a hack job of a hair cut last night, breaking my clippers in the process...
So why am I posting on his Trail Log? After talking things through with him, I've decided to do my best to keep up with his progress in the coming months. Through contact via his GPS device, the occasional letter or phone call, and a possible photo dump at some point in the next month or so, I'll do what I can to update how he and James are progressing, what challenges they face, and capture their thoughts on the Trail.
I've just gotten back from dropping him off at the Charlotte Greyhound Station. While we were both still half asleep driving there this morning, our conversation was filled with the same humor, optimism, and quiet excitement that Matt has possessed throughout the entire planning process. He was considerably more at peace this morning than when he arrived a few days ago, no doubt a product of a few days extra planning as well as the knowledge that he'll have a hiking partner for the adventure.
Now, as Matt said a few days ago, the next post will indeed be from the Trail!
-Mike Primiani
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