Financial advice for people starting out, with examples

Financial Advice Start a retirement account as soon as you can. When I hired on at NASA in 1994, my annual pay was $27,000. This was barely enough for me to get by on. I shared a house with three other people, I was driving an old car, I ate the cheapest possible foods and shopped carefully with coupons. I was still strapped. I would have liked to take advantage of the 401k retirement account that my employer offered, but I couldn’t. It’s fully understandable. It wasn’t until a few years later when pay raises increased my income to get me above subsistence level, that I was able to invest. So I started to save for retirement as soon as I could - several years after I got the job. Why should you start as soon as you can? Two reasons. 1) Employer matching. Most employers will “match”, i.e., contribute the same amount as you do, up to a certain amount. It depends on the employer, but in my experience they’ll match between two and four percent of your income. You can contribute more than that (although there are limits, defined in the tax code) but they match that small amount. It’s not a lot, but it’s free money and you should take advantage of it. 2) Compound interest. What that means is you earn money on the money you contribute, and you also earn money on the interest paid to you by your investment. So the earlier you start investing, the more interest you will have to earn money on. This can add up to an astonishing amount over time. Make a budget and list everything. Include some savings at a bank or credit union, so you’ll have resources if something goes wrong - car repair, surprise fees, etc. If there’s a part of your budget that surprises you (like the amount spent on entertainment or clothes or insurance) you may have to make some hard choices. Shopping for new insurance is painful but worthwhile. You may need to go to thrift stores for clothes for a while. You might need to find less expensive entertainment. How you spend your money is up to you, but you need to be aware of how you’re spending it, and making a budget is a good way to do that. Example from my life: I moved into a cheap rental house. I didn’t know, at that point, how much various forms of heating cost. The house had baseboard electric radiators. They warmed the place just fine, but the first electric bill was several hundred dollars. It was about the same as my rental payment. The house had a wood stove, so I checked into how much it would cost me to get a cord of wood. That was $75, plus renting a vehicle to go get it. For $100, I heated the house with the wood stove for the rest of the winter. I had been surprised by the cost of the electrical utility, and I made the choice to pay with my manual labor to run the wood stove rather than dollars for electricity. I also had to educate myself on how the wood stove operated, and learned to get up in the middle of the night to check on it, to see if it needed wood. To me, that was a small price to pay to save a couple thousand dollars over the course of the winter. Once you know your budget, and you can survive on it, then you can plan for investing. Anything over your necessary budget plus some savings, you can invest. Most employers will pull your 401k contribution directly from your paycheck. That makes it easy and forgettable to invest, which for most people is the best way to do it. Set it and forget it. If you start your contribution when you get a pay raise, your wallet won’t see any difference. There are two ways to approach this. Put your entire pay raise into your investment, with the reasoning that it won’t make any difference in your daily life. Or put part of it into investment and part of it into your pocket, so that your current standard of living can increase. The earlier you are in your career, the more attractive the second option is. However the earlier you are in your career, the more you’ll benefit from compound interest, which you’ll get more of from the first option. When you change jobs, DO NOT CASH OUT YOUR 401k. You can leave it where it is for a while, and then “roll over” your old one to an IRA or a 401k elsewhere if necessary. Cashing it out means that A) you’ll have to pay a large portion of it to the government because there are rules about how old you can be to take it out without penalty, and B) you will lose the advantage of the compound interest. If you have to move the contents of an old 401k, read up on it so you understand how to roll it over. Once you’re putting at least the minimum into retirement investing, and you have a healthy emergency fund at your local savings institution, then you can also invest in non-401k things. I shopped around and found a company that let you invest without big fees - in my case, at that time, it was Vanguard. There are more options now. I saved up the minimum amount to get started, which at the time was $2000. My birthday present to myself that year was buying into the fund I chose. Because I’m not a financial expert, I chose a fund that generally matched the market - the Vanguard 500. This was another “set it and forget it” plan. I let Vanguard figure out which were the best things to invest in for that fund, rather than spending a lot of time and effort trying to figure out what individual companies to invest in. I think this is a good plan for most people who aren’t naturally inclined to spend a lot of time researching companies and the stock market. Once I’d made the initial investment, I set up my Vanguard account to automatically pull $200 a month from my bank account, which was an amount that I felt I could afford. And that was it. I left it alone. Vanguard did a good job of managing the fund, I didn’t have to remember to add money regularly, and I earned interest on the initial $2000, the $200 they pulled every month, and the interest from every previous quarter that I’d held the investment. It all worked in the background without me having to do anything after I set it up. I signed up for a DRIP, a dividend reinvestment plan. So Vanguard never paid me anything directly - any time the stock paid dividends, it was added to the investment so I could earn even more. This also meant that I did not pay taxes as they didn’t pay me anything. I would, however, have to pay taxes when I eventually took the money out. The taxes would be far less than earnings when I eventually did take my money out, so that was all right. That investment was the best birthday gift I ever got myself. It took me a while to save up the initial $2000, but after that it took no thought or effort on my part. For comparison, I started my 401k around 1997, at age 27. I started the Vanguard account in 2008, at age 38. So it took me quite a while to get to that point. In the meantime I bought a house (which was a good investment for me), and many things in my life changed that took money. I hope it would take you less than 11 years after starting retirement investing to get to the point of personal investing, but that’s how long it took me. I’ve taken money out once to help with a house purchase. It was about $5000. Between my initial contribution, monthly contributions, that one withdrawal, and market changes, the account has over $70k in it. If I’d put my $2k and a monthly $200 under my mattress, and not taken that withdrawal? I’d have $30800. Investing it more than doubled the money. I’d have had to remember to add to it every month, and my mattress would be lumpy.

Some clothing options for your lower half

Continuing up the the body, let's talk about pants. Or I guess trousers if you're English? I mean, I'm not English. I'm just very inclusive.

I gave up wearing shorts to hike in a long time ago. They just expose too much area to ticks, mosquitoes, thorns, sun, and poison ivy. Instead I wear thin synthetic fabric pants which are tough and dry quickly. They are a little warmer than shorts, but not as much as you'd think.

My favorite hiking pants ever were White Sierra Teton convertible pants. I could have done without the convertible legs - I basically never unzipped them. But they had everything else I needed in pants. They were thin and dried fast, they had side zips up the calves so I could put them on over shoes, they had pockets at the waist and thigh. They were roomy in the leg and had elastic in the waist, so they actually fit me really nicely. I bought enough to wear them daily, even off the trail. Sadly, White Sierra eventually stopped making them. The replacement, the Sierra Point convertible pant, has an entirely different fit AND no roomy thigh pockets. They're a waste of fabric in my book.

These days I have two options for pants. The LL Bean Vista Trekking Pants are made of a stretch fabric, which is not my favorite but I can live with it. They have two thigh pockets with zip tops. They are less roomy pockets than I like, and the zippers catch my skin in cold weather. But the pants are reasonably comfortable to wear. The other pair, which I ended up finishing last year's thruhike in, are REI's house brand Kornati Roll Up Pants. They also are made of stretch material, and they only have one (zippered) thigh pocket. BUT! They have an internal adjustable elastic waist band, so you can adjust the size as you lose weight. This means that I don't need to wear an additional belt. My experience with belts is they tend to snag on things and also come unfastened unless you have them on pretty tight.

So the Kornatis are my current go-to. They, like all these pants, also have pockets over the butt which I find annoying. My backpack always covers them. They end up being just useless fabric and in my way. Although I admit to plundering them for fabric when I damaged my pants and had to patch them.

I was excited to try out Rail Riders Weatherpants. They've been low-key famous for men's clothing for years because they reinforce the seat and knees with semi indestructible fabric. I regularly destroy the seat of my pants by sitting and sliding down sketchy rocks, so this would be a huge boon to my butt. Unfortunately the larger size was balloonlike on me. I still wore them, but eventually they got uncomfortably loose and allowed my thighs to rub. The next size down was wildly smaller. Despite further weight loss on the trail, my legs never got so small that the seam across the thigh didn't drag at my leg as I stepped up. I gave up on them after a few hundred miles and returned to using less bulletproof pants which were easier to walk in. If you have smaller quadriceps than me (most people do!) you might very well love these pants. They're also factory treated with permethrin, which is nice.

Toward the end of the trail this year I found Terramar Cloud Nine tights at Bluff Mountain Outfitters in Hot Springs. I got them to sleep in or in extreme weather to layer with my other tights. I'm so in love with these tights! They're thick enough to wear alone without showing your undies. They're incredibly comfortable and non-restrictive. No special washing requirements, they've worn like iron so far, and they're thin enough that I could comfortably layer them with my other tights under my pants and still feel like I wasn't being squeezed to death. I use them when I teach yoga in chilly weather, and I wear them around the house. I heart these tights so bad.

I wish I could tell you what my other tights were, but they are low on identifying marks.

I was going to tell you about Ex Officio Lacy underwear, but I see they've changed it. It used to have a stretchy lace panel which made the waist never cut in. I don't know what to tell you. Try going to commando - it's what a lot of people do, much of the time.

Some clothing options for your feet

You'll find people hiking in just about everything, from nothing but socks and shoes on Hike Naked Day to Mennonites conservatively dressed with dresses and bonnets or vests and big hats. Some men like to hike in kilts. I've seen both men and women hiking in sundresses - they're lightweight, loose, and if you don't have chub rub, they let air get up to your thighs so they stay drier and chafe less. A lot of people like to hike in running shorts for similar reasons - they're incredibly light and airy.

Generally, your clothing should be fast drying and as light as you can manage. NO COTTON except in very specific situations. Cotton retains moisture, which makes it heavy after you sweat. It also means that it will not dry off quickly as you wear it in camp, leading to heat loss and hypothermia. Are you hiking in August in Louisiana? Feel free to wear a cotton tshirt. Otherwise, stick with synthetics, or wool. There is basically never a good time to wear cotton socks, though. Once they swell up with moisture, the thickened fibers will rub and contribute to blisters.

There are thousands of garments available. I'm just going to list what's worked for me. Ladies, if you are shaped like a babushka, you are in the right spot to find clothing suggestions.

I'll start from the bottom. On my feet, I wear Vasque Trailbenders. These have a thickly cushioned sole with a wide gripping surface. They are the most comfortable, stable shoe I've worn in years. Shoe fit is, of course, as individual as feet are. But that's what's worked for me. I swap out the insole for Women's Berry Superfeet. The berry model has thicker high density foam under the ball of the foot. I've hiked thousands of miles and my feet show the wear and tear - on X-ray if not on the surface. The cushioning makes the difference between a fun day on the trail and a death slog.

Although my feet are not very big, I wear a size D insole, trimmed to fit my shoe. I have short toes. Insoles are designed as if you have long toes. If you have short toes, the arch in the theoretically appropriately sized insole can be in the wrong place! Make sure that when you choose an insole, you get one that fits your arch. Having support in the wrong spot can lead to pain and damage. My feet were much happier after I discussed this with a boot fitter and started getting the larger size insoles.

A lot of people like to wear Injinji toe socks to prevent rubbing between their toes. My toes are crowded and I find it extremely uncomfortable to have fabric in between them. If you do not have chubby toes like mine, you might be very happy with some toe socks.

It's common to wear a liner sock and an oversock. The theory is that rather than your foot rubbing against your one layer of sock, your liner sock stays put on your foot and the liner sock slides against the oversock. As far as I can tell, the theory is correct. Once you've hiked a few hundred miles, your feet may toughen up so that you can be less careful with them. This is my experience. But first you have to take good enough care of them to get to that point.

I find wearing two pair of socks to be pretty fiddly. I end up having to perform minute adjustments to get them wrinkle free and not tight around the toes. Instead, I wear double layer Wright Socks. (Note that for winter you can get a merino wool version that I can verify works great for warmth and blister prevention.) They hit the sweet spot between blister free and easy to use for me. They're lightweight and breathable. They are not, unfortunately, as durable as some other socks. A lot of hikers swear by Darn Tough socks. The company guarantees them! If you wear them out, they will send you a new pair. I know people who got through the entire trail on one or two pair of these socks. For me, they were uncomfortably tight. But thousands of other thruhikers can't be wrong - they're durable socks for a thruhike.

I wear short, stretchy gaiters to keep cruft out of my shoes. Any kind of grit that gets in there will destroy your socks. There are waterproof gaiters on the market, but as they hold sweat in, they are not useful in most weather that I hike in.

I gave up wearing shorts for hiking in 2010. After years of bug bites and three rounds of Lyme disease, I started buying thin hiking pants and tucking them into my socks. I treat my pants and my gaiters with permethrin, which I STRONGLY RECOMMEND. The best way to not get Lyme disease is to prevent the tick from getting to your skin to bite you. Daily tick checks are not sufficient because although it is rare for a tick to transmit the disease within a few hours of biting, it is possible. I got Lyme disease this way in 2011. The tick was on me for less than four hours, but I still got sick. Treat your clothing!

This has gotten long so I'll go over some pants options for women with hips in my next post.

Bears pay for our laziness

It shouldn't be controversial. Protecting your food from bears means you get to eat all of it. But protecting your food means you have to make an effort, and a lot of people are too lazy. Assuming you are not so disabled that you physically can't hang or otherwise safely store your food (and if you are, how did you get into the backcountry?), there isn't a good reason not to protect your food supplies.

If you don't, the most likely answer is that mice will get into it, which also kind of sucks. This is why shelters are overrun with mice. Sometimes they're eating dropped food, but much of the time they have been habituated to steal food from food bags. Mostly mice aren't lethal, hantavirus excluded. So although we are all annoyed by mice, rangers are not hunting them down with rifles. Bears, on the other hand, ARE lethal. Once a bear has succeeded in obtaining food somewhere, they will return over and over to try again. Which means that if the people before you, maybe long before you, didn't hang their food or did a bad job hanging their food, there will be a bear around to check out your food supply before long.

The reason I care, in addition to liking food, is that I absolutely do not want an animal killed for my mistake. I do not want to be the one who trains a bear to steal food from people. I don't want to be the one who eventually causes a ranger to have to pick up a rifle and shoot that bear. Maybe that bear was a jerk before he started stealing food. Maybe he was already dangerous. But the food is what made that dangerous bear start hanging out around humans. Unconscious humans, usually, as the bears visit at night. Usually they leave people alone, but not always. Maybe they can't get to hung food and they're frustrated. Maybe you smell like BBQ sauce. Maybe other things are going on in their ursine heads. Whatever the reason, sometimes bears attack people instead of just trying for the food bags.

There are some pretty vocal people on the internet who will tell you they always sleep with their food bag under their head and they never have a problem. That's great, until they DO have a problem. They might always drive without a seatbelt, too, and never have a problem until the accident that sends them through the windshield. They're gambling with their safety when they do that. And they're gambling with mine when they sleep with their food.

There are options for how you do protect your food. Personally, I use a sturdy roll top drybag. I have a small bag with a rope attached to it, and I put a rock in the bag so I can use it to throw my rope up over a high branch. Depending on the level of bear threat in the area, I tie the rope differently. If it's low, I tie it off to a nearby tree. If the bear threat is high, I use the PCT method. I'm linking to the Georgia AT club's PDF describing how it works.

Some parks and campsites will have a bear pole to hang from. That's a tall steel pole with prongs sticking out from it at the top. This is a reliable and safe way to hang. Other sites have bear cables, which is a slightly more complicated pulley system. This gets your food way, way up in the air. Mice and squirrels have been known to bypass blocks and get to foodbags on these systems. Additionally, it is possible to hang your food bag from a hook on the bear cables. Then it can be bounced off if you hit the ropes vigorously. If you use bear cables, attach your food bag securely! The third easy way to protect your food is in a bear box, which is a large, heavy steel cabinet that they have lugged out to some shelters. They are difficult to open. As far as I know, bears have not learned how. Sometimes, I haven't learned how, depending on how stiff the handles are.

You can buy a bear-proof stuff sack called an Ursack as an alternative to hanging your food high up in a tree. You still need to secure the bag to something sturdy, like a tree, so that a bear doesn't just leave with it to gnaw on at its leisure. But bears can't get in to these bags. They're made of kevlar.

The last alternative is a bear canister. I myself have not used one yet. They are starting to become mandatory in places due to bear activity. Technically the Ursack meets the same requirements the bear canisters do, but not all agencies have caught up to this message. If you are backpacking somewhere that requires canister storage, you'll have to buy or rent one. If you'll be doing it a lot, it makes sense to buy. I'm including a link to one of the lighter units on the market, the BearVault. At 33 to 41 oz, the canisters themselves carry a hefty weight penalty. But given that bears are intelligent, persistent, and like to teach one another new tricks, bear canisters may be ubiquitous in the future.

Let's talk about your parts

Last post I mentioned the Intimina Lily Cup Compact - Collapsible Menstrual Cup (size A). FYI there's also a larger size. If you've had a child, for instance, you generally need a larger cup to fit your rearranged anatomy. Don't be left out, moms. There's an INTIMINA Lily Cup Compact -Collapsible Menstrual Cup (Size B) for you too. These cups are non-latex, non staining, and collapsible for packing. I leave the little case home and carry mine in a little cloth bag because I feel like it keeps it drier and airier.

You can also get something like a Diva Cup. It doesn't collapse, but otherwise does the trick. I liked devoting less space in my pack to my cup. Of course, either option is still wildly better than carrying non-reusable supplies.

I don't recommend taking tampons and pads. Carrying them out is kinda gross, you have to store them like you would store food (away from animals!), you have to shop for more in town. They may or may not carry your preferred brand at the dollar general. If you do decide to carry them, or need to carry them, getting something like a Waterproof Reusable Zip Mini Wet Bag makes a lot of sense. At under an ounce, it'll keep your used supplies away from your other gear, and it's opaque for privacy. Nobody else needs to know your business, know what I'm saying?

Non-menstrually, I'm a big fan of pee rags. Nota bene: do NOT pick up fallen bandanas unless you are absolutely sure they are not a pee rag that's fallen off somebody's pack. Even if they aren't pee rags, they have been used to wipe off sweat and snot and are still disgusting. Maybe handle with ziplocks and carry in to the next town to be washed. That said, these are a great solution to carrying and burying or carrying out a whole lot of bath tissue. You still need it for #2, or for menstrual fluid, but plain old urine doesn't need to use up your precious TP resources. They're easily washed in a ziplock with a couple of drops of Campsuds. Note that that size bottle will last you a life time, so I repackage mine into something like 5-100ml Empty Plastic Squeezable Dropper Bottles Eye Liquid Containers. One 10 ml bottle is enough for pretty much a thruhike for me. A lot of people use Dr. Bronner Baby Unscented Liquid Soap but having tried both, I prefer my CampSuds.

I don't use anything special for bath tissue. I get whatever TP the store has, preferably with enough texture to really clean. The single ply stuff that is what you can usually find in individual rolls is definitely not recommended. Yeesh. TP is one of the areas where it makes sense to cough up for better quality. Unfortunately you will almost always have to get a two or four pack to get good toilet paper. Find another hiker to share with. Also, take the cardboard core out of the middle of the roll. That way the roll squishes down and fits better in your pack. You can be all fancy and dispense your TP from the middle of the roll after you do this. I am not fancy. Regardless, be sure to double bag your TP. I put mine in a quart sized freezer bag like Ziploc Quart Freezer Bags. You definitely want the freezer bag version - it will live longer. Then I put that bag inside a gallon size bag like Ziploc Freezer Bag, Gallon Size. With the double layer, you're less likely to suffer the horror of wet toilet paper. Also, having the larger bag means you can open the smaller bag and have a dry space to reach into when it's raining. It is incredibly disappointing to soak your toilet paper with rain while you're trying to get some out of the bag. The larger ziplock also makes a good place to stash other hygiene related items.

Also it is ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL that you keep your booty clean. A microscopic speck back there is enough to create untold misery. I've been using individually packaged Preparation H Totables, Hemorrhoidal Wipes with Witch Hazel for years, but they are not universally available on the trail. Last year I found Sea To Summit Trek and Travel Wilderness Bath Wipes which have been great. You should be able to find them at outfitters for certain. I'm sending myself a pack with my maildrop.

If things get a little tender down there, you're going to need to baby your bottom. I break with tradition and use a product I found a few years ago. The tube is tiny, and it works really well. Mayinglong Musk Hemorrhoids Ointment Cream takes up minimal pack room and lasts approximately forever. I got most of a thruhike out of one tube. If you're using the wipes properly you may not need the stuff, but on those long, hot, sweaty summer days, I think even the salt crystals and heat you generate as your flesh moves across itself is enough to cause misery.

Hello, The Internet

I've been over at trailjournals having a thruhike, but the thruhike is sadly over now.  Or not so sadly, if you're me and you were ecstatic to be home with husband and dogs and warm bed.  All at once because we sleep in a puppy pile.  But just like after my first thruhike, I missed writing afterward.  People suggested writing a book.  I might, but that involves a lot more brain than a blog post.  So blogging it is!

I'm actually gearing up for a section hike soon with my friend Neon, so I have equipment on the brain.  I thought I'd do a little bit of gear reviewing.

I plan to take the same tent I thruhiked with last year, the Zpacks Hexamid Solo Plus.  Not including stakes, it's 17.7 oz.  Mine is an ounce heavier because I got it in camo material, which is a little thicker.  My old Hexamid is in blue, and it's pretty dang see through.  The camo is not at all transparent.  On my thruhike last year, I suffered through weeks of attack acorns, and for the first time in my life my tent was punctured by an acorn.  Thousands of miles and decades of hiking, and this was a first.  But it happened, so be aware.  Cuben can be punctured by acorns.  Luckily it's easily fixed with a little tape.  I used Zpacks repair tape because I had it, but duct tape also works.

My camo Hexamid in the 100 Mile Wilderness

I used two different Zpacks quilts last year.  I used a 20 degree in chilly weather, a 40 degree in warm weather, and I layered them in cold weather.  I went for the extra wide version so I could still sleep in a pretzel shape while the 20 degree was fully zipped.  The 40 degree I only got straps on, no zipper.  Since I bought mine, they changed the baffle orientation to longways down the length of the sleeping bag, which should be a significant improvement over baffles running side to side.  The latter allow down to slide downhill to either side of your shoulders over time.  I was happy with mine despite needing to fluff the down back to the middle occasionally.  Both quilts gave me room to move around as needed.  I was able to use the straps of the quilt to attach to either of my sleeping pads, but I had to put my head at the narrow end of my larger pad to make it work.

I had a number of problems from wear and tear to discomfort to an extremely stupid trowel puncture, so I went through a lot of sleeping pads this year.  My very favorite was the Klymit Insulated Static V Lite. At 23" wide, it's enough for me as a side sleeper to be comfortable.  The V structure let the pad form around my sprawling sleeping form better than a more rigid pad.  At 19.6 oz it's a little heavier than some options, but the comfort was worth it.  After that was NeoAir Xtherm.  The large (AKA the wide) weighs 20 oz, so almost the same as the Klymit.  Mine weighed less because I cut a foot off the end of it, so it was about 18 oz.  It was significantly warmer, but slightly less comfortable to sleep on than the V shaped Klymit baffles.  I sent for it when the temperature got down to around freezing.


On the personal hygiene front, I loved the Intimina Lily Cup Compact.  It collapses to the size of a quarter when not in use, was easy to clean, didn't stain, and felt like nothing once inserted.  Dealing with your period on the trail is not especially fun or pleasant, but at least using a menstrual cup means not having to pack out any grossness.  And because I didn't need to buy supplies in town, I never ran out at an inconvenient time.  The compacted cup was small enough to live in my ziplock with my toilet paper.

2013 recap

This summer I'm planning to finally, 25 years later, finish the AT.  My friend Cody with whom I thruhiked in 2010 is trying to come with me, as is Pansy.  I have known Pansy online for several years but we haven't met in person.  So that will be fun.

It's been a pretty weird year.  JD's mom was diagnosed with stage four cancer, and had chemo for it before succumbing five months after her diagnosis.  That was hard on everybody involved, and is a blow that has hit her sons hard.  Their dad passed years ago, so now they are orphans.  At 40 I don't know if orphan is the correct term, but I'm sure it is the right emotional term. 

We've had a snowy, very cold winter here.  I got to use my snowshoes for the first time since the winter of 2009-2010, when we got several feet of snow.  I enjoyed using them very much.  Sadly I probably won't get to use them again for several years unless I go elsewhere, which I might.  If I could get somebody to go with me (and Just Blue Skies is interested) I think they could make for a fun winter trip.

I was on a panel at a technical conference last year.  My Toastmaster's training came through, and I felt fine up there on the stage.  I guess I did well enough, because another conference organizer contacted me and asked me to propose talks to give at his conference.  I did, and two were accepted, so I guess I'm going to give some talks.  The conference is in the beginning of May so I have some time to write and practice the talks.  I'll need to prepare slide decks, though.  I have only done that twice so I expect it will still be a frustrating experience to create them.

I was lucky enough to go on several fun backpacking trips last year following my NY/NJ hike.  DeLee and I headed up to Vermont to hike.  She had never been there before!  It was fun introducing her to New England, and revisiting some beautiful trail.  In the fall, Just Blue Skies joined us for a two night trip on the AT in Pennsylvania.  The rocks were less annoying this time around.  It seems that you can get used to them.

I've been back and forth with doctors for a lot of the last year.  I went to get shots in my neck as a bulging disk had been making my arm hurt all the time.  They put me on a nerve pain drug during the course of treatment, and the drug caused MS-like symptoms.  That was a disturbing time.  I kept getting worse, with numbness and tingling all over my body, vertigo, and falling down.  After they took me back off the drug at the end of the treatment, the symptoms decreased quickly.  Then I had to get off the drug the neurologist prescribed to treat MS, and THAT WAS AWFUL.  Yeesh.  The withdrawal was worse than the symptoms.

So, yeah.  Weird year.  Glad it's over, and I'm hoping the rest of 2014 is kind of gentle and boring.

Quietly Epic Trip

I just got back from a section hike.  I really, really needed it.  Work was extremely stressful for two months (like, taking Xanax to get through the day stressful), and then after those two months of working myself into the ground I got a sinus infection.  Fortunately DeLee got me to go see my doctor.  I had assumed that I would just get better on my own, but apparently that wasn't going to happen.  So one course of Cipro later I felt approximately human.

Human, but still in need of a major brain cleaning.  In my case, that means a long walk.  There may be better ways to turn my brain off, but if there are I haven't found them.

I planned an approximately 100 mile walk through New York and New Jersey on the Appalachian Trail.  When I thruhiked, New Jersey was just so unexpectedly pretty that I wanted to go back.  And the adjacent parts of New York were surreal (but challenging).  I decided that I could probably do about 100 miles in 10 days if I pushed myself a little.  Pushing myself definitely helps with the brain wipe, so I went for it.

The first day was mostly driving up and a short walk to the first shelter, where I met friends for the first night.  It was wonderful to see them!  And nice to be in a shelter, as the weather wasn't that great.  I knew the next day, my first full day, would be hard, so I got up as early as I could.  14.5 miles over tough terrain, with my pack nearly bursting with supplies for the long hike.  I got on the trail at 6:45.  And it was, indeed, surreally beautiful.  And tougher than I remembered.  I didn't make it the 14.5 miles to the next shelter.  I found a flat spot a little before Mombasha High Point and set up for the night.  It was a very pretty spot but I dreamed of bears all night.  In the morning I found a wild turkey racing around, which I'm pretty sure is what got my bear dreams going.  I had to laugh at myself.  At some point during the night either something bumped my tent or I dreamed that it did.  I woke myself up yelling "GRAAR!"  Apparently in my dreams this is an effective way to scare off bears.

The next morning I hit the woods for a potty visit and used up the last of my first roll of TP.  I dug way down in my pack for the fresh roll that I had stuffed down in the bottom.  And it wasn't there.  I checked again.  I unpacked everything.  No roll.  Well.  That put a different face on the morning.  I started hiking with toilet paper on my mind.  Argh!  Here I am going up and down these crazy difficult ridges, and all I can think about is what's going to happen the next time I need to poop.  I formulated a plan.  I had wet ones.  That would get me to my mail drop, which is where my fresh roll of TP must have ended up.  And I could maybe use rhododendron leaves? 

The trail was so steep that at one point I took off my backpack and dropped it because there wasn't room for me to face forward while wearing it.  It was pushing me off the mountain.  I didn't even have room to turn around so I could try to back down.  That was a scary moment.  Both the feeling that I might fall, and the fear that after I dropped the backpack it would fall to somewhere I couldn't get it.  It bounced and rolled a few times but luckily stopped.  I climbed down the rest of the way to it and put it back on, but it wasn't the last time that day that I had to take it off.  Or sit on a rock and scooch my way over the edge, since it was much too far to step down.  Man.  What the hell were the trail planners thinking when they routed the trail?

Missing 4.5 miles of the first day meant that I hit the previous night's planned shelter in late morning.   I decided to stop and make a hot lunch as it was wicked cold out.  I looked in the shelter for the register, and what did I find?  Toilet paper!  One of those teeny backpacker rolls with no cardboard core.  This was one of those instances of true trail magic.  I couldn't have been happier.  I made my hot drink with joy in my heart.

Hitting the shelter at mid morning in the midst of pretty tough terrain meant that I was not going to be making up the distance so I could get to the next planned shelter.  And in fact I never did sleep in another AT shelter on this trip.  I did stay at the "secret shelter" but it hardly counts.  I sleep better in my tent than by myself in a shelter anyway, and I saw barely any human beings on this trip.  So I think that worked out for the best.

Once I got to New Jersey the trail difficulty ratcheted down considerably.  I had been enjoying the views in New York of course.  I had specifically done the extra tough section because I knew it was beautiful.  But in New Jersey I could relax and get my mileage on.  It was a bit of a relief.

Highlights and insights:  Unionville, NY serves gluten free pizza at the little pizzeria there.  My Jetboil is an essential piece of equipment now.  It's worth it to carry the heavier sleeping bag when it's cold out.  (My water froze, and my breath froze on the outside of my sleeping bag, but I slept like a baby.)  I saw NO bears on this trip (compared to 12 last time) and no mentions of them in the registers.  That was a huge relief.  I innovated a pillow attachment for my sleeping pad (elastic attached to both ends of a stuff sack) and it improved my nights considerably.  I innovated an upper body prop for acid reflux nights (daypack/stuffsack strapped under the head end of my sleeping bag by its shoulder straps) and that also improved one of my nights considerably.  My stomach was so much happier on this trip than it ever has been, thanks to gluten free food.  Pain in the ass that it is to shop and plan for, I have to admit that it's worth it.  I actually lost weight on this trip, which never happens on "short" trips.  Not seeing people did not make me feel lonely.  It was a relief.  Sometimes I need to be alone - really alone.  By the time I was done I was looking forward to being home and going back to work, which was exactly the point of the trip.

I finished my trip a day early, meaning that I could take Sunday off for rest.  Which I have done.  I'm eating like a horse (bye bye, lost pounds) and napping.  It's perfect.

I was very happy with nearly everything on this trip.  My gear (backpack, tent, steripen, stove, rain jacket, permethrin treated clothing) all performed well.  I was a little disappointed that I only had the energy for ten hours of hiking per day at the start, which I quickly realized was ludicrous.  Who goes from a desk job to ten hours of mountain climbing with ease?  I loved the music on my phone (played in alphabetical order, which turns out to make a nice playlist).  I loved the sunny but cold weather, and all the raptors I saw, and all the flowers blooming.

Yup.  It was all pretty great.

Recuperation / vet visit pictures

Packing for another trip

I'm planning to hike the Appalachian Trail through New Jersey in a few weeks.  It's a beautiful area.  When I thruhiked in 2010, I knew I wanted to come back and spend more time.  And now I finally will.

The first thing I do when I'm planning a trip is try to figure out how far I'll walk every day, where I'll stop to camp, and where the water supplies are.  Once I have that laid out, I look at my resupply opportunities.  In this case, they aren't good.  There's a small general store (Horler's, in Unionville NY) several days in, and that's about it.  Take into consideration my gluten sensitivity and dairy intolerance, suddenly food is a real issue.  I won't be able to eat a lot of what I find in most stores.  So today I went to the grocery store to try to get enough backpacking food for the whole 8-9 day trip.

On a trip of that length, I have multiple considerations.  Primary is weight.  I will be able to buy some snacks at Horler's, and Joe To Go might have drinks or chips I can buy.  But mostly I'll need to carry my food.  After weight I'm concerned with variety.  Being hungry AND carrying extra weight in food you can no longer stand to eat (and I'm talking gagging when you try to swallow, here) are crazy-making.  So I know that I need variety.    I also need things to pack small enough that I can fit them in my backpack and still carry enough other gear to stay safe. 

Because my food will take up a lot of room and weight on this trip, I'll be carrying smaller and lighter versions of some of my other gear.  I'm still taking my 15 degree sleeping bag.  I can't compromise on warmth in camp.  But I'll take my little tyvek rain jacket instead of my big old Marmot Precip.  I might take my little antigravity gear stove rather than my larger and heavier Jetboil.  And I'll probably take my little Zpacks tent rather than my larger tarptent or LightHeart tent.

Last year I absolutely loved Packit Gourmet's breakfast smoothies.  They taste fantastic, and they're super high in protein.  400+ calories and 35 grams of protein is hard to beat, especially considering that each weighs less than 4 ounces.  The problem is that they're dairy based.  I decided to try making my own, and it turned out pretty well if I do say so myself.  I've found two different gluten free vegan smoothie powders - one chocolate, one vanilla.  To those I've added either strawberries, peaches, or pineapple and coconut, as well as stevia and dried whole goat milk.  I got the fruit freeze dried from my local grocery store (with the exception of the coconut, which I already had in powdered form.)  I used a mortar and pestle to crush the fruit to a powder and add it to the mix.  I've tried peach vanilla at home and it was DANG good.  I'll have that, plus chocolate strawberry and vanilla coconut pineapple.  I'm considering a vanilla apple cinnamon too.  That sounds like it would be good cold or hot.

I didn't make all my breakfasts up to be smoothies, though.  Again, variety is key for me.  So I threw in two different flavors of oatmeal, one Jamaican Peanut Porridge, and a couple different flavors of gluten free breakfast bars.  Every day I also get to have a serving of instant coffee with powdered goat milk and a little sweetener.  I used to bring dunk bags of coffee, but then I'd have to pack out the wet coffee bags.  Instant is good enough.

I mixed it up less in my daytime snacks, but they all taste pretty great so I don't need to.  This has been my standard snack bag for several years:  Welch's fruit snacks, a handful of nuts, a little box of raisins or four prunes, a couple pieces of hard candy, and several fun size candy bars or one full size one.  I can't have most trail bars now, but I like Kind bars quite a lot so now I pack a variety of those.  Most days I'll also throw in an energy gel.  They're good for that late in the day push up a mountain, when you realize you aren't as close to the shelter as you thought you were.

Every day I have a salty snack of some kind.  Doritos, Popchips, cheesy poofs (which, shockingly, can be bought gluten free), gluten free pretzels, and most varieties of potato chips are still good options for me.  The saltier and more flavorful, the better.  I also have one (or two, in hot weather) packets of Crystal Light every day - the varieties with the electrolytes in them.

Because I snack often, I don't always eat a real lunch.  If I do, it's minimal.  Maybe some Nut Thins (which have bonus protein since they're made from nuts) with sheep cheese or peanut butter on them. 

By the end of the day I'm usually tired (go figure) and uninterested in making a production out of dinner.  These little noodle soups have been my go-to easy dinner for years.  Luckily they're made with rice noodles so I can still eat them now.  I also like to carry out a retort packaged Indian dish for the first night, like Kashmir Spinach.  Neither the soups nor the Tasty Bite dinners are high calorie.  They're just something warm to put in my belly at the end of the day.  I don't usually do a big meat dinner.  Instead I bring pepperoni, bacon, sausage, and packaged chicken or tuna that I can eat a little bit of at lunch or dinner if I'm in the mood.  I get a lot of protein from my smoothies and nuts.  If I feel that protein is an issue I'll put a package of beef jerky in my snack bag for the day.

I have a few other favorites that often find their way into my food bag.  Crystallized ginger tastes fantastic and settles the stomach.  Fake gluten free oreos make for a nice rest break.  Hot chocolate is delightful for breakfast or dinner.  Werther's candies have been a staple for over a decade.  Dried mango is the shiznit.  And if I can get them, homemade Rice Krispy treats (with gluten free rice krispies, now..) really float my boat. 

So I purchased all this stuff and brought it home and packed it up.  It was REALLY HARD to pack it and not eat it.  I did do a little taste test to make sure the fake oreos were edible.  (They are!) But I persevered and packed for not only my New Jersey trip, but my next trip with DeLee.  Now I just need for it to be time to go.

Please welcome my new car, and try not to mention her hips. She's touchy.

I guess I can't NOT tell you that I bought a new car.  Eddy got too expensive and annoying to maintain.  And as much as I loved his bullet marked self, it was time for a new car.  Past time, even.  And then the windshield wipers started to shred, and the seal around the hatchback had already started to leak, and then on Friday the check engine light came on.


"THAT IS IT" I said.  In all caps.  I was done.  I was so done.  I mentally wished Eddy a fond farewall and girded myself for the car shopping that had finally come.  I still had no idea what I wanted, other than it would be comfortable and drive okay.  And have lumbar support.  I have always owned cars with lumbar support.  I just assumed it was normal.  But as it turns out, lumbar support is one of those special luxuries one gets, along with nice radios and fancy hubcaps.  About which I do not give a shit.  But the lumbar support is essential, especially after Pluto's contribution to the health of my lower spine.

So I drove my happy ass to Carmax on Saturday morning.  Well, first I spent an hour searching for Eddy's title.  Then I drove to Carmax.  And because I had never been there before, I first blundered into the associated Toyota dealership.  I had no idea.  I thought it was just Carmax.  And so there was a very nice salesmen talking about Toyotas and I'm wall "why the Toyota fixation dude?"  But anyway I test drove a RAV4 after talking to him about my car-related needs.  And once I finally figured out I was in a Toyota dealership, I said thanks and asked for directions to the used car lot.

He notified Charlene that I was coming, and she accompanied me around the lot as we checked car after car to see if it had lumbar support.  Answer:  no.  Finally we found like five cars with lumbar support, and I test drove them.  Okay, five "crossover vehicles".  Because I needed a station wagon, basically, in which I could drive both 2+ human beings and carry a bunch of crap.  Backpacks, yoga mats, horse cookies.. it all adds up.  Plus my muck boots, jumper cables, snow shovel, and a bunch of other useful objects.  So I need a lot of room in my boot.

The problem was this:  most of these vehicles drove like a truck.  I don't want to drive a truck.  I want to drive a car.  The one that drove the very best?  Had a scent issue.  I don't know what the hell they did to it, but it had a perfume smell that had my throat raw after the test drive.  I thought maybe I could live with it until the smell faded, until I found the two spots where somebody had drilled through the body of the car.  And I decided that I did not need to know what illegal activities had taken place in this vehicle, but I DID need to not buy it. 

I also drove a Mazda CX-something out of affection for Mazdas.  And it drove like a dream.  But it did not have lumbar support.

Around this time JD showed up.  He had to stay home because due to bizarre and crazy happenstance, we got our drive regravelled yesterday.  And somebody had to pay the graveller.  Obviously I couldn't, as I was car shopping.  He went on one test drive with me, but by then it had been five hours and I was completely zombified.  I had no idea which vehicle was which.  They all blended together.  So we left for Silver Diner.

At Silver Diner I ordered a diet coke and a coffee, because they only had caffeine free diet coke and I clearly needed caffeine.  I also ordered a bunless burger and some mashed potatoes (safely GF) and ate moodily while staring at JD's fries.  Once I was back in the land of the living, we talked about the various vehicles I had tried out.  There is no huge benefit in buying used vehicles right now.  Everybody wants them, and so the price has gone up.  So I decided to buy the very first vehicle I had tried - the new RAV4.  It drove great, it had lots of cargo room, the back seats were fine, and if I got the fancy package I could have lumbar support.  And butt warmers!

Only problem was, I had left Eddy's registration at home.  So we drove back there, and waited a little until Mr Toyota Salesman was available again, and then spent all of my available money on a new RAV4.  In green.  Not that I particularly cared about the color.  And we finally got back home around 9 pm.

So I am the new owner of a RAV4.  Note that I did not say "proud".  It's a nice enough vehicle, but it's no Eddy.  And it has a LOT of functions, most of which I have not read the manual for yet.  So it beeps at me a lot.  It's a little bitchy.  And it was manufactured in Canada.  It's clearly female (RAV4's are a little wide in the hip area) and might be named Nanette.  I'm waiting to see.

Winter backpacking trip

DeLee and I went backpacking this weekend.  I was desperate to get out, as I am ass deep in alligators at work and backpacking helps me de-stress.  We planned a short circuit hike (6-7 miles / day) in Shenandoah.  I knew it would be cold but I was confident that my clothing and sleeping bag were up to the task.  I didn't count on snow, however.

They closed Skyline drive on Wednesday or Thursday after some snow and ice.  This happens often enough that I didn't worry about it.  I figured that as usual the drive would open up again in a day or so.  But that didn't happen this time.  They did open up portions of the drive by Friday, but not the portion we needed to get to for our planned hike.  And Friday evening as we were driving out, they preemptively closed the entire drive because they expected more snow and ice. 

Well.  That changed matters a bit.  We had originally planned to drive into the park Friday night and stay at a hut close to the drive, thus saving $100 in motel fees or an early morning drive from home to the park.  The previous December we had stayed at the local Holiday Inn and it had been quite nice  - fridge in the room, spacious, clean, and best of all a gluten-free-friendly restaurant on the premises.  So we headed up to the Holiday Inn to see if they had a room available.  They did, and all my information was still in their computer so checkin was a breeze.  We ate dinner, did a little pack reorganization, and conked out. 

In the morning, the drive was still closed.  I made oatmeal with hot water from the coffee maker, stared at the snow up on the mountains, and contemplated.  And looked at my map.  We could still do our hike if we parked outside the park and hiked in the to the AT.  And if we went in at Compton Gap, there was even an entrance station where we could get a permit.  Done deal.

I've never intentionally done an overnight hike in snow.  I've been snowed on during a hike and then hiked out in the morning, but I've never gone in knowing that I would definitely be hiking and camping in snow.  But I have hundreds of nights of camping under my belt.  I figured it was time.

We parked the car at the trailhead and started up the trail.  There was, indeed, snow on the ground.  However, there was no entrance station.  We debated briefly and decided to be scofflaws.  It wasn't worth hiking back to the car, driving to the main park entrance for a permit, then driving back and hiking back up the trail.  It would have added an extra mile and who knows how long to our day. 

I'm not a good scofflaw.  I planned to throw myself on the mercy of the ranger if caught.  Especially as we had relied on the map in good faith.

We saw a few people in the first two hours, but after that we only saw three sets of footprints.  And then two of those sets suddenly disappeared at a road.  They must have gotten a ride out of the park.  So then it was just the one set, and they were northbound while we were southbound.  I was pretty sure we'd have the park to ourselves at night.

Several miles from our planned destination (which was 10 miles from our starting point rather than the planned 6 or 7) DeLee was pretty tired.  I found a spring running, but I didn't find a good place to put our tent.  The winds were supposed to pick up, and our tent needed to A) be staked, and B) be placed with its butt into the wind.  All the campsites we looked at either sloped such that our heads would be downhill, or had standing deadwood nearby.  And I wasn't sure I could get a stake into the frozen ground.  So I persuaded her to keep going.  She started slipping and falling on the next hill. 

With one mountain left to go, I decided we should walk down the drive to the hut rather than go over that last hill.  DeLee was pretty much done.  I couldn't hear her over the crunching of my feet in the snow, so I'd stop periodically to check for her.  And I turned around once and she wasn't there.  I started walking back up the mountain to her.  She was far behind.  But we were close to shelter, and she made it the rest of the way.

I got her into her sleeping bag and started heating water.  She didn't want to eat, but I wasn't having that.  I told her I didn't care if she *wanted* to eat, she was going to.  Once the water (eventually) boiled, I prepared my soup and she prepared her chili mac.  My soup turned out to be a better choice.  She had to ziplock up the remains of her chili mac because she couldn't finish it.  But at least she got food into her, and she seemed to feel perkier.

We got into our bags pretty quickly after that, because the temperature was dropping.  I have no idea how cold it got, but my sleeping bags (15 degree with a 30 degree quilt inside) were up to the task.  DeLee was cold at first but soon warmed up.

My fitbit says I woke up 17 times.  Only 17?  Seems unlikely. 

The morning dawned very cold.  I was happy when the sun crossed the nearest mountain and began to shine into the shelter.  It helped warm things up.  Even so, we ended up having to insulate the filter tubes with a down jacket so that the water wouldn't freeze as it dripped down the tube.  With the jacket on the tubes, we filtered four liters of water and were ready for the day.  We buried the water deep in our packs so that it would stay liquid, and we stashed the bite tubes in our shirts so they wouldn't freeze solid between sips.  Dehydration is a serious issue in winter because you tend not to feel thirsty in the cold.  I was determined to drink enough to stave off dehydration, mainly because dehydration leads to lack of energy.

After the slipping and falling yesterday, there was no question of going back over the mountains.  Instead, we walked Skyline drive.  Since it was still closed, we could walk on it anywhere we wanted.  We had to stick to the shoulder anywhere there was ice on the road, but much of the ice had sublimated since Saturday.  It was a bit tedious walking on the road, but we had great views at the overlooks, and there were a LOT of animal tracks on the road.  Way more than I had ever seen in the woods.  So that was fun.

Around mid morning a ranger drove by, checking the condition of the drive.  He stopped to do a sanity check - were we okay?  Did we have warm enough clothing?  We reassured him that we were fine, and the very fact that we were taking the safer road rather than the more treacherous mountain paths was an indicator that we were sane.  Or at least more sane than we might be. 

He told us it was 17 degrees out according to his truck's sensor, and he was on his way.  We told him to be careful on the ice.

By about 3 pm both DeLee and I were struggling.  We were tired, the temperature was dropping, and the wind had picked up.  With the sub freezing temperatures and 30 mph winds, the wind chill was brutal.  Fortunately we were nearly back to the car, so I sucked it up and soldiered on.  We were both pretty happy to see the car.

I ended the hike wearing everything I had brought except my down jacket and the wet socks from Saturday.  I'm pretty sure I've never worn that much to hike in, certainly not without getting too hot.  When we got to the car I was wearing:  wool socks, my boots, grocery bags in the boots (because the boots aren't waterproof), two pairs of long johns, zipoff pants, a down skirt, a rain skirt, a wicking shirt, a wool shirt, a fleece shirt, a wind shirt, a raincoat, gloves, overmitts, a wool buff, a fleece neck gaiter, a ball cap, and a fleece hat.  And I wasn't too warm.  Wow.

There are a few changes I'd make if we were to do it again, and I think we might.  Waterproof boots.  A free standing tent.  Chemical water treatment.  Extra stove fuel.  More wool socks. More high calorie food. And more soups and drinks.  But I think we did pretty well, considering.  My face is wind burned, and DeLee is a little sore from wearing heavy boots, but I'm happy with the trip.  It was beautiful in the park with the snow.  I loved the solitude.  Even as I was worrying about finding a camp site, I was still impressed with the drama of the scene around me.

Long story short, I went hiking with DeLee and it was good.

Dairy and Gluten Free Backpacking

I wish I didn't have to bother with this, but clearly I do.  I'm still figuring out gluten and dairy free eating at home.  And I'm still figuring out what works for me on the trail.  Googling "gluten free backpacking" does lead to some information.  I'm blogging here what is working for me so far mostly as a record for me to check back on.

First and foremost, the most important detail is READING LABELS.  Because gluten is hiding in the most unlikely places.

Gluten free eating has surprisingly helped me in one place - protein levels.  I substitute nut based foods for many formerly grain based foods.  So now my snacks are higher in protein and fats than they used to be, and they stick with me much better than high carbohydrate snacks.  I feel less hunger and have more energy than previously.  And my blood sugar levels are less wobbly.

When I first discovered that gluten was my problem, I tried out many gluten free items from the store.  And they were mostly snack foods.  It was so nice to eat without getting sick!  It wasn't so nice to gain a ton of weight.  Eventually I got over it and stopped eating just because I could.  I still like the gluten free cookies and pretzels, but I eat them infrequently, just as before I got sick I infrequently ate cookies or pretzels.

Most of the gluten free food I am eating now is naturally gluten free, not created with gluten substitutes.  Vegetables, fruits, plain meats, oats (oats not being a problem for me, unlike the extremely sensitive folks), potatoes, rice, corn.  I can and sometimes do eat less traditional starchy/grainy items such as amaranth or quinoa.  But they weren't a big part of my diet before, and they haven't become a big part of my diet now.  They just aren't that common.

Dairy free is much easier.  Everybody is used to the idea of non-dairy.  Alternative non-bovine dairy such as sheep or goat products are a little more out there, but they're available.  There is a huge section of alternative milk at my grocery store. I can recall boxes of soy, rice, flax, hemp, almond, and coconut milks.  I've probably forgotten a few.  My favorite so far is Almond Breeze plain unsweetened almond milk.  It's low calorie and not aggressively sweet as many of the "milk" products are.  I don't know why they sweeten the stuff but I find it gross when they do.

For long distance backpacking, I have to consider what I can buy at gas stations and the Dollar General stores I am most likely to shop at.  Not every town stop has a great Publix or Giant or Kroger.  Not even most town stops have a real grocery store handy to the hostel or motel I'll be staying at.  I can and will mail myself some things, but mostly I'll have to make do with what I find.

Gosh I'm long-winded.  You've probably given up and quit reading by now.  Too bad, because I'm just about to start listing actual useful products.  Remember that you must read the labels!  Sometimes they include wheat in weird places.

Breakfast: 
Oatmeal, instant or regular Quaker Oats
Kind bars
Dried or freeze dried fruit
Coffee
Sugar, or stevia packets if I'm mailing from home
Dried honey crystals if mailing from home
Glutino breakfast bars if mailing from home
Smoothies, if mailing from home (Arbonne vanilla protein powder, freeze dried fruit)

Lunch:
Tuna packets
Spam packets
Manchego (sheep) cheese if mailing from home
Nut thins, any variety
Dried fruit
Scharr gluten free bread alternatives, if available
Peanut butter
Individually packaged jellies, if mailing from home
Individually packaged pickles
Celery from town
Glutino pretzels if mailing from home
Hard boiled eggs


Dinner:
Rice noodles
Instant Rice
Corn pasta (so far the spirals seem to cook the best)
Mashed potatoes - beware the additions in flavored packets
Spam Packets
Sausage (check the label!)
Gluten free individual soy or tamari packets if mailing from home
Frank's Red Hot
Any freeze dried, dried, or fresh vegetables I can find
Hot chocolate
Scotch, rum, tequila, schnapps, wine, cider packed in
Parmesan cheese seems to go down okay
Manchego cheese
Home-dehydrated spinach
Home-dehydrated spaghetti sauce
Pepperoni
Retort packaged Indian or Thai meals

Snacks:
Kind bars
Pro bars
Lara bars
Dried fruit, especially raisins, mango, apples
Some stores have freeze dried apples or pears individually packaged
Most chocolate / candy - M&Ms, gummy bears, jelly beans,
Individual packs of almonds
Individually packaged prunes
Gorp
Crystal Lite pure drink mix (contains electrolytes)
Nut thins
Corn based chips - Fritos, some Doritos, tortilla chips
Salsa
Potato based chips - Popchips, most potato chips
Some beef or turkey jerky - read the label!  Plain is safest
Hard candies
Power gels

And anything else I can find in the store that is gluten and dairy free and I think I can keep down. 

Hiker items that I need to NOT pick up out of habit:
Ramen noodles
Capellini noodles
Breakfast bars
Nido dry whole milk
Pretzels
Power bars
Luna bars
Cheese sticks, mozzarella or cheddar
Pringles
Cookies
Hostess products
Frozen pizzas in town

In town foods that I need to NOT eat out of habit:
Pizza
Burgers with buns or cheese
Any kind of sandwich
Most soups
Fried chicken
Chicken tenders / wings
French fries at most places
Ice cream
Soy sauce, and the associated sushi with fake crab / roe in it.
Most Chinese food
Pancakes, eggs at places that add stuff to make their eggs fluffy, waffles, french toast
Beer (oh god, the beer)
Any baked goods

Honestly in town will be tougher than on the trail.  It's really, really hard to ignore fresh, hot food when you have hiker hunger.  I'm remembering meals I've eaten in the past in town and I don't think any of them were both dairy or gluten free.  Sigh.  At least if there is cell signal in a town I can try googling the various eating establishments before I go there to see if there are some safe options for me.

I better make myself a list of safe town foods.  To wit:
Fruit
Plain veggies
Plain burgers
Salads, oil and vinegar (but not malt vinegar)
French fries at some places
Plain chicken or turkey - maybe fried if I pull the skin off?
Go to a store and look for non-dairy ice creams, popsicles
Eggs, veggie omelets
Chinese buffets might have some stuff you can have, like spring rolls with rice paper wrappers, plain white rice, some sushi, fried plantain.  If you luck into Mongolian you can make it safely.
Steak
Chipotle is safe
rice & beans
Sigh.

Sometimes I get messages

JD is out and about this weekend doing nerd things.  Not that I'm not a nerd.  I am.  But we are differently nerdy.  That's not my point.  My point is that I'm solo this weekend, for a few more hours anyway.  I desperately needed some alone time.  As an introvert, just being around people is tiring for me, even if they're people I love dearly.  And so I look forward to my occasional days on my own.

Ironically as soon as JD clears the doorstep I miss him.  Despite the four cats and two dogs, the house is too quiet.  I suddenly have oodles of free time and nothing to do.  It seems like when I have time to sit and think, I never think about positive things.  I dwell.  When I *don't* have time to think, I manage to eke out a few thoughts, a blog post, an email, and I'm creative.  I come up with solutions.  I make jokes.  I'm just generally more proficient.

Why is it that I have to be a little annoyed to be proficient?

So I'm sitting here in my quiet household.  I had planned to go see Pluto, then stop by DeLee's and pick her up on my way to RoadRunner Sports, to try to find replacement trail runners because my current model had been discontinued.  And then we were going to stop in at the Perfect Pour to see if they had any gluten free beers I hadn't tried, and maybe pick up some hard ciders.  And DeLee was going to feed me some of the super hot chili she had just made.  An excellent plan for a Sunday.  And the weather is great, which always makes me happy.

I remembered that the oil light had come on in Eddy (again.)  The first time the light came on (a couple of weeks ago), it went right back out. I checked the oil and it wasn't low, so I discussed it with JD but put the issue on the back burner.  It came on again yesterday when I started the car.  Fortunately I wasn't far from home, so I drove it the two miles back.  But I intend to drive it no farther than the mechanic's shop before I find out what's wrong with it.  Oil pressure sensor?  Oil filter?  Something more evil?

The backup vehicle is Rabies, JD's truck.  I grabbed the horse cookies from Eddy and trudged through Shirley's yard to Rabies.  And cranked the ignition, and got that disappointing "Rurr,rurr,.. thud" of a nearly dead battery.  Something isn't right with the truck.  JD put a deep cycle battery in it last year so it can be recharged if it runs low, but it's running low far too often.  I don't think that the truck is charging the battery at all.  Sigh.

I trudged back through Shirley's yard and dropped the horse cookies and my mug of coffee onto the roof of the Miata, and went inside to find the keys for it.  No keys were visible.  I texted JD.  "Where are the keys to the Miata?" ...  "In my pocket."  Well, crap.  The search for the spare key revealed nothing, other than that a Chrysler key and a house key were in the bottom of the umbrella bucket.  Also, there were 10 hiking poles in the umbrella bucket.  I may have a pole problem.

The only remaining car, other than the one JD is driving, doesn't have brakes at the moment.

I figured I'd tell DeLee she'd have to drive, but right about then she texted me that she wasn't feeling well.

You know what?  I may not take the first clue, but if you hit me upside the head with enough clue bats, I will eventually figure out what's going on.  The universe is saying something to me.  It's saying "STAY HOME" and it's saying it pretty loudly.  Once I recognized this, I gave in.  Fine, universe.  I'll stay home today.  Today shall be a day of rest.  A zero day, in hiker parlance.  I don't know why, exactly, the universe needs me to be at home today, but at home I will be.

In which I get shot in the butt

On Thursday DeLee came by my house in the morning and drove me over to the Spine and Pain center.  I'm not kidding about the name.

They're direct about the reason you're there.

The doctor, with the help of a heavily shielded nurse, used an xray machine to guide his needle deep into my right buttock, where he deposited about a grapefruit sized bolus of steroids.  Or possibly a tablespoon sized bolus.  It felt huge though.  I mean, right then it didn't because first he gave me a local anesthetic.  But when that wore off.. sitting was not so much of an option.  I stood a lot on Thursday.

As an aside, since the shot needed to go into my sacroiliac, my butt had to be bared.  But I didn't have to strip.  Shirt pulled up, pants pulled down.  It felt pretty illegitimate.  And then my doctor was cute.  Hi!  This is my butt.  Good gravy.  Could it get any more awkward?

I am uncertain if the shot is working the way it should.  My L5-S1 joint isn't so painful, but it had already become less painful after the brusque physical therapist showed me how to work on my tilted pelvis.  And now the sacroiliac joint feels like I got kicked in the butt.  Like I should be black and blue.  Just on my inside parts, though.  Apparently it takes some time for all that stuff to absorb and do whatever it's going to do.

My instructions were to rest on Thursday and apply ice every hour, which I did.  Friday I went to work like normal.  Saturday I went out to the park like I always do.  My instructions were not to increase activity, so I didn't.  I even did less mileage than the previous weekend.

Today I sent a note to a friend who has been down the steroid shot route before and knew what to expect.  "I feel like somebody pegged me in the butt with a softball," I wrote.  "Is that normal?"  She replied that I might need to be less active on it, and to try heat.  I wrote back "I was less active!  I mean, I only went 8 miles instead of 11.."

My friend says, "Uh, I think I see why you might be experiencing some pain still.."

I obviously don't have the first clue how to exercise in moderation.

Wednesday I go back to PT lady so she can evaluate my efforts.  She reminds me very much of some riding instructors I've met.  Very blunt, outspoken, and REALLY GOOD.  Unfortunately I couldn't completely keep up with her rapid fire blasting of anatomical descriptions and consequences of various problems, but I *did* get her to give me paperwork specifying precisely how the curative exercises are supposed to work.  I was very impressed with her insight and knowledge.  I love it when I meet people who are very good at what they do, especially when it's something that would be very difficult for me.  I can't look at a person and tell you much about how their body works.  She can look at me and visualize how my bones are connecting, and make the mental correction to how they should be connecting.  Just amazing.  I just nodded and tried to pay attention to what I needed to do to make it better.

I expect that both PT lady and my chiropractor will lecture me about not taking it easy enough while we're changing how my inner parts relate to each other.  Medical professionals get like that.  Like it's so easy being me?  You do not want to know what happens when I'm forced to not hike for a while.  *shudder*