Tomorrow will be our last day in Michigan until sometime in August. It is a strange sensation to look around my house and know that I won’t see the same familiar furniture, wall hangings, pictures or black cats for a while. I’ve spent parts of the past couple of days busying myself with last minute tasks for our trip while trying to squeeze the last amounts of home out of this place at the same time. On our drive home from Canada we made a list of the foods we thought we would miss the most on the trail. We visited Horrock’s, a farm market in Lansing and filled a cart with fresh vegetables, fruit, bakery bread and other perishable foods that we will soon have to do without. Mary and I both spend time with family members we are going to miss while we are hiking. We visited Moosejaw in East Lansing for new trekking poles, a back up water filter cartridge and some new wool socks. I figure if I’m hiking 273 miles I am likely to wear out old socks before reaching the Canadian border. I applied water proof to our hiking boots and insect repellant to all of our hiking clothes. Our mail drops are boxed up and ready to go. The house is cleaned, the laundry is all done, the bills are paid and our packs are stuffed and loaded in the Jeep. I feel a bit like Frodo leaving the shire, but at least I’ve had more time to pack. In less than 48 hours we’ll be in Vermont and the adventure will really begin.
