One More Day!

Pinch me.

We leave for Ireland tomorrow!!  Tomorrow!

The months of planning and daydreaming have finally brought us to the day before blast off.  There's much to be done, of course.  Lauren and Dougie are sleeping in (I was too excited), but when they eventually wake, I'll start pulling out the packs, rain gear, boots, walking poles, etc and begin organizing it into piles.  I haven't decided the best way to pack everything or what we're taking in terms of checked bags and carry ons.  It'll sort itself out soon enough.  It always does.

I've been gathering first aid supplies over the past few days.  I have enough to open a small hospital, but I consider it to be insurance.  If I carry it, we won't need it.  I will be able to treat cuts, burns, muscle aches, tooth aches, sprains, sun burn, cold sores, upset stomach, diarrhea, constipation, fungus growths, and pink eye.  If anyone needs a tourniquet, we're screwed.  Thanks to Saint Paddy, there's no need for a snake bite kit.

You may recall I mentioned the need to buy a small pack like the one Lauren's dwarf loaned her in England. She has a big pack like mine, but it was overkill.  It just wasn't necessary.  The small pack clipped around her waist and allowed her to carry important stuff like passports, wallets, hats, gloves, cell phones, camera, and food.  It was easy access, too.  Much easier than digging through a huge pack.

Well, I never found one.  BUT - thanks to the kind and generous soul of my friend and favorite bartender, Kim, we have one!  She took a weekend trip to DC and spent her precious tourist time testing/trying on packs and bought us the one pictured to the right.  It's perfect!  Thanks, Kimnmy!

I'm committed to taking just one checked bag for the two of us.  We don't need a lot of crap.  We learned when walking the Coast to Coast, that once you find an outfit that keeps you the right temperature and is comfortable for climbing/scrambling/jumping, you tend to wear it every day.  We pretty much wore the same thing every day for sixteen days.  Stop making that face!  We washed everything in the sink at night and burned out several hair dryers trying to get all of it dry by morning.  More than once, we set off for the day in damp leggings and soggy socks.

My walking partner just dragged herself from under the covers because her belly is demanding nourishment. I've agreed to make apple-stuffed crepes and then we pack!

Tomorrow...we hop a jet to my Daddy's homeland.  Big Len, I hope you're watching from your John Deere in Heaven.  This walk is for you.

Five Days!

Are you tiring of my countdown?  You'll only have to deal with it for FIVE MORE DAYS!!!

Can you believe it?  All these months of planning and daydreaming and Guinness drinking are coming to an end.  It's almost time to pull on those boots, strap on that pack and start hiking!

The Dingleberry Forest Gods have tried to help me prepare in small ways.  Our usually bright blue skies have been overcast and painted in moody greys since the weekend.  We've actually had rain, too.  (A rare thing here.)  The sky resembles what we will see across the pond...but it's going to be very different.

I've been watching the weather on the peninsula.  I know we're in for some high winds, blowing sideways rain and cool temps.  It's been a steady 55 (low 40's at night) with some rain, but they've had beautiful clear days, too.  The forecast for the start of our walk is low sixties and rain.  For me and the Goo (that's my girl), that is perfect walking weather.

We love walking in the rain.  Even the sideways kind that stings the face.  It certainly reminds you that you're alive.  Maybe it's because we don't get much rain here or maybe we're just odd, but rainy walks are the best walks for us.  I'm confident we'll have a healthy diet of them next week.  (Doesn't that sound smashing?  "Next week"?!)

I just need to plow through the next few days of work and then...well, then the magic happens.

Seven Days!

Seven days!  Only seven and now I realize there are all kinds of things not yet done.  What the hell have I been doing?

Oh yeah, practicing my Guinness consumption.  I've gotten to be respectable.

At 5am this morning, I bolted straight up in bed, yanked by anxiety from what was a lovely dream about the Partridge Family attending Alice's funeral.  I was there, of course, the Brady's include me in everything.  I was sitting with Greg, Peter, and Bobby - away from the girls.  The boys like me better than their sisters.  Who doesn't, really?  We all got tired of Marsha, Marsha, Marsha and her nearly perfect hair, teeth and skin.  What I would have paid to see her with a bad case of acne...

Anyway, I was yanked from my dream by the realization that I never booked a room in Dublin.  We arrive after a looonnngg trip from Miami at 8am.  We're going to spend the day being tourists, crash early, scarf some breakfast and catch a train to Tralee.  But, hello?  Booking a room would be a good idea.  I jumped out of bed and did just that.  One step closer.

Now remains the issue of currency.  Oddly enough, we'll be expected to pay for our nightly accommodations and pints.  Most places in the Dingleberry Forest don't take plastic; they're too remote and country for that sort of thing.  It's cash or nothing.

I plan to ask Doug to make a bank run to exchange dollars for euros.  He enjoys that sort of thing, or at least that's what I tell myself to ease the guilt of asking him to run errands for my adventure.  It works just fine.

Lastly, I remembered that Lauren needs a smaller pack.  During our English Coast to Coast, she borrowed a small waist pack from her dwarf.  No, not a fanny pack. Dwarves don't like those damn things.  It was a pack that strapped around her waist and we used to keep our passports, wallet, guidebook (when it wasn't crammed into my waistband), hats, gloves and food.  I need to buy one.  It proved much more sensible than having her carry a big pack on her pack.  That's what I'm for.

My ginormous pack (internal frame) carries our emergency blankets, first aid supplies, extra socks, toilet paper (you walk for 18 miles after drinking a few pints of Guinness and see what happens), water and food.  Yes, we both carry food.  We learned early on, we could never have too much food.  Never.  Never ever.
I even carried a bottle of wine most days.  I'll leave it at that.

So, I'm off to tie up a few most loose ends.

RIP Anne B. Davis.  May you be the Queen of Heaven's Meatcutter's Ball.  This Guinness is for you.

Rental Car It Is!

Decisions have been made and bookings are complete.

Having received much valued advice from an Irish friend, I've decided to rent a car the day after we finish hiking the Peninsula and drive the 3-4 hours to Westport.  I'm sure it'll be more enjoyable.  We'll be able to stop when we see a castle or ruin that calls to us and then there are the inevitable pubs....

Doug doesn't arrive from Dublin until 3:30pm or so, which gives me and Lauren all day to make the trip.  I'm looking forward to driving the countryside and stopping as we see fit.  Can you picture it?  Me and Lauren wandering the Irish countryside in a teeny European rental?  Will it be another "Vacation" movie in the making?  Chevy Chase, where are you?

Having made up my mind, I booked the rental this morning, as well as our train from Castlebar back to Dublin.

Twelve days.  Twelve days of daydreaming and anticipation...and Guinness drinking.

Poor me.

Thirteen Days!

That's right!  We're now counting days instead of weeks until we blast out of Miami's hazy sky and touch down on the Emerald Isle.  That is enough to make me screech with happiness.

I gave up on the gaitor hunt and bought replacements.  They've arrived and look anxious to be put to use.  No worries there.  Those babies will be all mucked up two weeks from now.  All that's missing is the Compeed.  It's been ordered, but not delivered.  Compeed is a European miracle that I've yet to see in the States.  It's like rubber, stretchy covering for blisters that melts into your skin and stays on for days and days, even if you shower - which we do on occasion.  Compeed is a godsend on a walk like the one we're about to begin.  Once it arrives, we are ready to pack.

I'm still farting around with train schedules and rental cars.  I think I've decided on the following plan, but am waiting to hear from an Irish friend regarding the drive.

6/11 - 6/20:
Lauren and I walk the Dingleberry Forest and have a grand adventure  (that's the easy part)

6/21:
Doug arrives Dublin and hops a train to Wesport.
Lauren and I get a cab to Kerry Airport from Tralee and drive to Westport OR we train to Westport, cab to Knock Airport, rent a car and hightail it back to Wesport to meet Doug.

(It seems easier just to drive, but then again, it's about a 3 1/2 hour drive from Kerry to Westport.  I don't know if the drive will be all crazy highways or slow country roads.  I'm waiting to hear from a local before making a final decision.  Never having driven on the wrong side of the road, I want to be sure I'm not tackling an overly dangerous thing with my girl in the car.)

Either way, we'll spend the later half of the day wandering Wesport.  I plan to spend the evening in Lavelle's Bar, hopefully meeting the famous storyteller Mick Lavelle, if he's still on this side of the grass.

6/22:
Climb Crough Patrick, drive around Clew Bay and around Achill Island, stopping at castles, ruins and pubs as we see fit.  Booked at a nice B&B in Mulranny.

6/23:
Venture east to Castlebar, where I've felt drawn for quite some time.  Not sure what's waiting there, but something is.  Return the car that evening to Knock Airport.

6/24:
Hop a train from Castlebar to Dublin.  Arrive around 1pm, which leaves us all afternoon and evening to see some sites and hit some pubs.

6/25:
Regretfully, I have to come back.  Doug and Lauren will continue their adventure in England and Switzerland without me.

So, there you have it.  Decisions yet to be made, but the bulk of the planning is done.  Now it's the execution I'm waiting for!!  Bring on the Guinness!

Three Weeks!

Three weeks.  Only three.  That's enough to make me giddy.  Oh wait, I think I was giddy at four weeks, so I'm not sure what word best describes how I feel about our upcoming adventure.

How about stoked?  Stoked works.

We did, in fact, take inventory of our gear last weekend.  It brought back all kinds of memories of walking across England.  Lauren and I reminisced a bit, but she's just shy of sixteen and thinking too long about the past isn't something she does.  Her mind is in the present, where it belongs.  Mine wanders between the past, present and future with great regularity, but I've got thirty years more of past than she does to think about.

Last Saturday, Lauren drove us to Homestead.  It was the first time she drove that far and her first time on an interstate.  She did really well.  Turns out, I didn't need the diaper I'd put on under my capris.  Better safe than sorry.

We bought new waterproof jackets that were on sale, socks and more leggings.  We really don't need much...but while we were on the mainland, we hit up a bunch of stores and bought some cute things for Lauren.  Almost sixteen-year-old girls need things.  They just do.

The only thing we lack is gaitors.  They are a necessity for a walk like this and we both have them (we bought them on the Coast to Coast and wore them every day), but we can't find them.  For those who don't know, gaitors protect your lower legs/aankles from getting muddy.  They are easy to strap on and hook behind your knees and ankles.  When we got home from walking across England, ours were really muddy and gross.  I put them somewhere...I remember thinking it was a great place because they wouldn't be in the way.

Well, that sure is true.

They are not in the way.  In fact, they're so far out of the way that we can't find the damn things.  If I don't find them by the end of next week, I'll have to order replacements.  Going without gaitors would be like going without hiking boots.  They are an essential piece of equipment we'll wear every day.

I've tried channeling my inner gaitor but with no success.  I really did a great job of putting them out of the way.

I think I'll pour a Guinness while I think about where else they could be.  A girl has to keep up her strength.

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.