there was an old man named michael finnegan

There was an old man named Michael Finnegan

He grew whiskers on his chinnegan

The wind came up and blew them inagain

Poor old Michael Finnegan

Begin again

here i am again, in the same hotel i was in two years ago to the day. family again is making the trek to see me off, but no magz or pups this time - the drive home by herself was too much.

i left yesterday in a one way rental car, driving all afternoon. despite requesting and being guaranteed a car with 35 or better MPG weeks ago, hertz only had an SUV when i went to pick it up. i’ll concede that it was pretty comfortable, but seriously, giant american cars are dumb - especially on a down-country trip when gas is $4.50/gallon. give me a honda fit any day. oh wait, the honda fit was discontinued in the U.S. because of lagging sales. :facepalm:

somewhere in tennessee around 23:00 i decided i was hungry and stopped at three separate mcdonalds’ only to find that they all closed at the top of the hour. lame.

it wasn’t long until i stopped at a rest stop and climbed in the back to sleep. it got cold enough that i had to pull out my sleeping bag. i was back on the road by 07:00, and made it to gainesville with ample time to spare for my noon drop off at hertz.

i took a moment to delete the myriad phones that were in the bluetooth list (along with their address books) and leave mine (without an address book).

the hotel was a 1.3 mile walk down a busy street, and i was happy to be oit of the car. my left knee was super unhappy about the drive and walking definitely helped. i called magz and had a brief conversation, but the sounds of traffic made it hard. for some reason the south really likes noisy mustangs.

tomorrow we head to amicalola falls and i get to restart the AT. it’s customary to carry an artifact on the trail. last time and on the LT i carried a flask of scotch. this time however, it’s my 2020 AT badge.

i have to admit i don’t feel nearly as prepared as i did in 2020. two years of pandemic has me feeling worn out. my plan was to retire, do some clean up at home and then hike the trail, but i’ve been in a kind of holding pattern waiting to get back here. we’ll see what my energy levels do once i’m actually walking.