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 :-)