Sure I'd like to go hiking with you...

Unlike Grace, my motivations for the trail are not long-held. You see, it's only because of Grace that I have any clue what the Appalachian Trail is. Not being from the East Coast, I'd never given any thought to the Appalachian Mountains at all, really. So, whatever pain and discomfort I encounter on the trail I get to blame solely on her, even if she doesn't know that yet.


You see, this starts with a throwaway conversation that I was having at the Peace Corps office in Yerevan--well, I thought it was a throwaway conversation at the time. Grace was dating a PCV at the time who I was good friends with. I knew Grace, of course, but since we hadn't had the opportunity to interact a whole lot during pre-service training (the 2 and a half months we spent training before we actually became for-realsies volunteers) we weren't terribly close. He and she and I were all sitting in the Peace Corps office, and somehow it came up that Grace was planning on hiking the AT after service. Adam (the friend), knowing that I'm an avid hiker, turned to me and essentially said "Grace can't go on the hike alone; you're going with her."


To which I responded "sure, why not? How long is this trail?"


"From Georgia to Maine"


"..."


"..."


"Huh. Well. Alright."


To tell the truth, I didn't think much more about it. But Grace and I--due to our proximity--became very good friends over the next two years. And after a while she brought it up again and again, and so my agreement solidified into a real plan to do this. I've had my doubts over the course of the last year or so as we've talked more about it and it's come closer to reality. For a while I kept vacillating with the excuse that I didn't know if I'd be able to afford it. But then, I realized that if I was actually going to do it that I had to plan everything in my life around it, which meant looking for work and a cheap place to stay that would allow me to save the money I needed. I'm still trying to save that money, by the way, but am bound and determined to have enough to not have to drop out.


Moral of the story: don't agree to go hiking with Grace.


<3