I have my permit!!!
A little electronic collection of pixels that somehow give me magical powers to walk a superhero distance carrying superhero weight on my back.
This almost-a-piece-of-paper that is my little key to adventure and pain and excitement and a whole new world of experiences I haven’t yet imagined.

This is kind of the middle of the story, but is also the start. There should be all the decisions and the whys and the how did I come to be here with this almost-paper, but none of those things meant anything until the permit arrived. Now there is a story, because with the paper I can get my VISA, book my flight and make my way over to the US to walk along a beautifully brutal footpath in the wilderness called the PCT.

So we may get to some whys and hows later, but for now the story is I AM GOING!  I have a bag full of obsessively researched things, a head full of mysterious words like ‘Campo’, ‘Sierra’, ‘Tehachapi’, ‘Stehekin’, ‘Nero’, ‘Zero’ that all have book meaning to me, but not yet the experience. I have things to pack, things to buy, maps to study (studying on how to study a map), so many many lists.

So much excitement, and stress. And possibility. Here is one little “WHY?” (there are so many) – because I can :).