Beginnings

When hitting a mid-life crisis some go off and buy a sports car, I have decided to walk a couple thousand kilometers.  My initial inspiration for this came from a book I heard about, Wild by Cheryl Strayed.  I read it in a couple of days and was hooked on the idea of Walking the PCT.  After a bit  of research I came to realize that primitive camping may not quite be the safest thing for a novice, an epicurian one at that, and the idea of taking cold showers for 3 months would probably detract a little from my soul searching.
A friend recommended a movie, The Way staring Martin Sheen, and after watching it I decided that perhaps a trip through Europe, on trails more than a thousand years old, would be more suited to my purpose and skill level.
So it begins with a trip this weekend to the Whichita Wildlife refuge, tryout the new equipment and walk long distances on consecutive days.
My guiding thought through this whole process is best illustrated with a quote from an American poet that I have just begun to read, Henry David Thoueau, modified for The Dead Poets Society:

I went to the woods because I wanted to live deliberately,
I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, 
To put to rout all that was not life and not when I had come to die 
Discover that I had not lived.

This blog will chronicle the journey, this trip into the woods and for those friends who know me there will be some interesting self evaluation, you may laugh and cry along with me as I sojourn during this intermission in my life!  Hoping to come out the other side with a vision for the next 25 years.
Cheers!