Four Weeks!

We leave in four weeks.  Shit's gettin' real.

I sound very gangsta today, yes?  I've been practicing...drinking Guinness, that is.  I don't practice dumb shit like gangsta.  I worry about more important things like beer.

I won't be able to order a Miller Lite in the Dingleberry Forest, so I have to practice my Guinness drinking here in Islamorada.  Sipping a pint of the black stuff when its 86 degrees and humid is a very different experience than when one is huddled in a pub, near a fire while the rain pelts the windows.  A Guinness is like a meal and in hot, humid weather, it can sit in your belly like a rock.

Fortunately for me, I love rocks.

Having said that, I look forward to downing pints in a drafty pub, huddled close to a crackling fire while local musicians entertain me and my girl.  She has no idea what's in store for her, but have no doubt that our Ireland Adventure is going to blow her doors off.  She's a huge fan of green and we don't have a lot of it here on our island, aside from palm fronds and she's grown weary of them.  She misses great expanses of green grass and "real" trees.  She's going to think she died and went to forest heaven.

It actually is beer heaven, but I won't burst her bubble.

While I daydream of pubs and fires and Irish music, I need to actually get some things accomplished.  Tomorrow night, we're going to sort through all of our walking gear; backpacks, walking poles, boots, rain gear, emergency supplies, first aid kits, etc.to figure out what needs to be replaced and what else we need.  I already know we need more thin, bamboo socks.  (We wear two layers of socks to prevent blistering.  The under sock is ankle height, very thin and made from bamboo.  It absorbs moisture.  Over that, we wear a thick, higher sock that does something important.  I don't know how it works, but our system kept our piggies blister free during our 200 mile walk across England.  You don't mess with a plan that works.)

On Saturday, we trek to the mainland (Lauren is driving the whole thing, both ways!) to buy whatever we need, so that if we can't find it, we have time to order it.

One of these days, I need to do a 10-miler to be sure my boots still fit properly....with only four weeks to go, I should have done that weeks ago.  I just haven't found time.  I've been busy practicing.

Speaking of which, I think it's time for a Guinness.