Ready to go!

Ready to go!

New video viewing process...

The cool thing is that i still can upload videos from my phone, the bad news is they go to youtube instead of the blog like they used to...

i have found out that blogger has discontinued the video feature from posting directly to the blog. crappy. but i have created a video page in the pages bar (above the posts) and a link to Videos from Moss (the youtube link in the right column). the good thing is that the videos from my phone seem like they can be longer, about 30 seconds, and they are archived there until i delete them. also, they are (and always have been) pretty crummy quality, but hey, at least you will know we are alive. sorry about all the tests earlier today, trying to get this thing figured out before we leave. comments left on youtube about videos will not go to my phone, but you can let me know what you think by commenting in the post on pct10.com that let you know there was a new video. sheesh! i'll do some kind of a test of how i'll alert you to a new video upload to youtube someday soon! 

let me know by commenting on this post if you understand... or if you don't. who's actually watching anyways?

It's official! I am moss.

It's official! I am moss.

soon...

i leave asheville in 24 days, i get on a plane to san diego 6 days after that. on my way to Ohio to park the car at nano's parents, i'm stopping in virginia to hike 30 miles past the place i got off the AT in 2007, just for a personal warm up. and on the 28th of april, my life starts over in the califorina desert mountains. and to all those people who think this is stupid, dangerous, and most of all that i will be killed somehow, i tell you i am dead if i stay here anyways. death by sloth. death by society. death by computer. death by boredom. slow painful and tragic death for my soul is all that is waiting for me in this apartment living.

Get busy living, or get busy dying, that's goddamn right.
- Red, The Shawshank Redemption

Video! Tahini Can Stove in action!

This is the stove we are taking in full force action after burning for 10 minutes.. it boiled for at least 6 more minutes after this video.. used about 2 oz of fluid, maybe less, didn't really measure it. the actual stove part is made of 2 heineken keg cans, the big ones, and has a penny covering the air intake in the center, it has 6 jets that fire towards the center, conserving heat... a smaller version is sitting on the counter next to it. the beer cans are sealed with high temperature silicone engine sealant, and the pot is an MSR Titanium Kettle. the tahini can serves as a stand and initial wind screen as well as keeping the fire under control. the two aluminum pieces were cut from a long strip from ace hardware, and act as risers to let the flames have a place to exit (i have 4 of them so they can raise the pot up higher for cooking rice a little more evenly without burning it). the whole thing packs inside the pot. well, not the frisbee which is there to keep from making a mess for the bears to smell. the frisbee also serves as a cutting board so it goes in the bear bag at night, oh, and it's a frisbee as well!! i shot this video on the ipod nano with minimal lighing, too cool.

Email test

Whoo! Spicy!

first phone test!

moss and i are enjoying one of a limited number of dinners out in asheville. he said he would buy my dinner if i posted to the blog from my phone. one free plate of pad thai coming my way! only 6 more days of work for me and i am getting excited!

Good videos of the desert section...

This guy "Lion King" has a bunch of these short videos of PCT sections on his youtube channel. The first one here is happy, the second one not so much! I'll be shooting video with the ipod nano, and maybe we will have some cool little videos one day for future hikers that are obsessed with the trail like me.

A Walk in the Woods

so one of nano's clients gave her this book called "A Walk in the Woods" by Bill Bryson. i started reading it, and believe it or not, i actually like it so far. it's all about this guy's hike on the AT with his friend, and they are just getting to Neels Gap in georgia after blood mountain, which was also where we (wild bill and i) met my good friend Joker, who at the time was named Crocket, but then i met the real Crocket later with Root Down and Doc. anyways, the book is better than i thought it would be... most of the thru hikers i met on the AT thought it was crap, but they must have just been hatin' on mr. bryson because i don't think he finishes the trail in the book.

a quote from the 2nd chapter:

"What on earth would I do if four bears came into my camp? Why, I would die, of course. Literally shit myself lifeless. I would blow my sphincter out my backside like one of those unrolling paper streamers you get at children's parties--I daresay it would even give a merry toot--and bleed to a messy death in my sleeping bag."


thank you mr bryson

Happy equinox

Happy equinox

Moving day approacheth...

Moving day approacheth...

PCT Haiku #2

moss can't fall asleep
one million thoughts are swarming
of preparations

Desert Car

Found this while googling photos of the trail...

This car appears to have been abandoned on the pct, i guess they got out and walked to canada instead.

Vitamins, Vitamins, Vitamins

our first round of vitamins are on their way here. $100 got us 2-3 months of: spirulina, raw b-complex, glucosamine chondroitin, emergen-c...

we'll see how long that all lasts.

oh, and i changed the template for the blog, something a bit more cheerful - because i am a bit more cheerful right now

Entry to Canada

Our official entry into canada via the PCT forms just arrived. They say you have to keep it with you the whole time you are on the PCT, seems a bit dangerous for the forms, like, what if a marmot steals your form in the night? I was thinking about mailing it to Washington, but now I have to protect it with my life for 5 rugged months. So now we are official, Canada forms, Thru Hiker Permit, California Fire Permit, Check.

Nano has chosen her desert shoes...

Avia A5510W - $19.99 - Wow