Getting our gear on

(Susan) With our rather last minute decision to hike the trail, we have been running around trying to get our house and gear in order. Funny how you forget that some of your gear is totally spent. Eg: Dwight's food bag (which is generally suspended from a tree at night) had so many holes in it, I'm not sure how it was actually holding food. So it was back to the sewing machine for me, and out to the yard (cutting grass, replacing outside lights, fixing the sprinkler system...) for Dwight. As usual, we are trying to make the hike as light weight as possible. To that end, D spent time this morning cutting the margins off the trail maps. That had to cut out a fractional part of one ounce! And my friend Diane helped lighten my load by cutting about 6-8 inches of my hair. But first we're off to DC for my niece Ellie's HS graduation--and then we'll be hitting the trail early next week.