Trek Dirty to Me: 39 days until it's into the woods to get the thing that makes it worth the journeying into the woods, but today I shall take a break and reflect.

Well, technically I did some stuff today. I finalized all the remaining purchasing for my March (pre-trip) food/supplements/snacks to get my body used to the new mostly liquid diet. You can see what that looks like (but with only 1/3 the Huel and 1/2 the Athletic Greens) by clicking here. I have also completed almost all equipment purchasing except for a few key items (sleeping bag, filter, stove, and other things) that I prefer to make in person at Rusted Moon Outfitters in Broad Ripple Village, Indianapolis, Indiana.

So I’m pretty much ready to kick out of India in a week and (after a 16-hour direct flight from Mumbai to New York-JFK and a significantly shorter flight from NYC to Indy) attack the home stretch before heading out for Georgia and the Appalachian Trail at the end of March.

In addition to the remaining items I previously mentioned, there are still some electronics to buy for vlogging and podcasting when I get back. I have a shakedown hike at the end of March, a bunch of warm up hikes, and a fundraiser for which you should donate where I climb the tallest building in Indiana in my trail gear to benefit the American Lung Association.

There will be some certainly comical testing of all of this hiking, camping and recording gear around the Indy area. There will be much scheduling with folks along the trail for interviews, meals, cooking, and touring. I’m also spending a long weekend in NYC to do some awesome shit in mid-March.

I still need to prep my first series of resupply boxes with food and other items to have sent to me during my first month on the trail. Plus, I need to work out the logistics for the remaining resupplies for the following 5.5 months. I have some pretty trail-specific (non-walking) training plans lined up and a medical assessment at the National Institute for Fitness and Sport to get on the calendar before I leave to assess pre and post-trail fitness.

Then there are the countless tasks to do to ensure this website and project continue to run smoothly and hopefully grow in the months that I will be away on the AT. I have a storage unit that desperately needs purging. People to see. Indy restaurants to try. Big things to share.

March will be the longest that I have been in Indianapolis since leaving almost five years earlier to go to China and study kung fu - and ultimately moving to Paris, France a year later.

It feels like an impossible amount of stuff is left to do, despite all that I have already done. But this shit is going to be awesome. I have no doubt this will all be worth it.

-AJ

Couldn’t resist.

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