Why!?!

I thought I would write a post about our reasons behind this "grand adventure" that we're planning on undertaking.  Also known as the "crazy idea" or "what were we thinking", while inserting colorful adjectives.

Anyone who knows Matt will not be surprised when I tell you that his answer to the question "Why do you want to hike 2100 miles?" was "I don't know, it sounds like fun!"  But anyone who knows me tends to be very confused as to why I am also willing to do this hike.  Partly it's because it will be fun sometimes (although I'm fairly certain it will be miserable and/or boring at least 50% of the time).  Partly it's because I want to do something, well, grand, at least once in my life.  But mostly it's because I want to do this with Matt.  When we finish the trail, no matter how many pictures we take or how detailed our journals/letters/tales afterwards, we can't really convey what the experience was like while we were hiking.  I didn't want to miss out on such a big deal in Matt's life.  I wanted to be able to say "Remember when we...." instead of listening to him say "I remember when I...." 

I would not attempt this hike by myself, because frankly I just don't care enough.  But I am more than willing to do this with Matt, which just goes to show the complexity of marriage I guess :-)

This is not meant in any way to be a condemnation of those partners who choose not to thru hike, but instead take on the huge task of providing trail support.  I just wanted to offer a brief explanation for my choice :-)

Sewing stuff

Matt says it my turn to update since he's done the last few :-)  I've actually been out of town visiting my parents on the West Coast and using my mother's very nice sewing machines along with her help to make some clothing for the trail.  Not that I don't appreciate my (free!) older machine, but newer ones are much nicer :-) 

I had decided that I wanted to hike in a skirt (for various reasons) and had a hard time paying upwards of $70 for one, especially when I know how to sew.  Also we were intrigued by the idea of rain kilts instead of pants, because quite frankly you WILL get wet when hiking all day in the rain no matter what your gear.  We have rain jackets, and the kilts are just to provide short/skirt protection.  Plus, way easier to pull on over boots! 

I went online and researched options for fabric as JoAnn's wasn't quite specialized enough for this.  I found The Rainshed out of Oregon and ordered some fabric samples.  If anyone is ever looking for outdoor fabric I cannot recommend this store enough.  They have reasonably priced swatch sets and their customer service is fantastic.  I called them a couple of times while sewing the rain kilts to ask for advice and they were extremely nice and helpful (even when I called 3 times in 20 minutes).

For my hiking skirt I chose SolarWeave fabric in Khaki.  The SolarWeave is extremely lightweight, wicking and SPF 30.  The fabric is really soft and so light I can barely feel it on.  The skirt comes to just above my knees and is a basic A-line with a 3/4" elastic waistband and weighs in at a mere 3 ounces.  I'm pretty happy with it so far :-)

The rain kilts are made out of urethane coated fabric.  Matt's is slightly heavier as my fabric was on sale, but only in purple and he refused to wear a purple skirt :-)  I used the same pattern for both but added some inches for Matt.  Just in case anyone is curious or wants to know for future reference...the key to sewing on this fabric is to use a walking foot.  Cheaper than buying a teflon presser foot and needle plate.  The coated sides are out while sewing and they stick to the machine and cause the fabric to bunch up.  Since everytime you pierce the fabric you are negating the waterproofing, this is not something you want to have to rip and resew.  I'm going to pick up some urethane seam sealant at REI tonight and seal the side seams and hem.  I don't know that I'll bother with the waistband because our jackets come down over that part and the elastic may screw it up anyways.

I still have to sew two fleece hats, pillows, and a pair of mittens.  After that the sewing machine gets put away because we need the table to work on packaging meals.  And to leave everyone with a laugh here are two pictures of me with my cold(ish) weather hiking clothing and rain gear....very stylish, no?  :-)