Pre Hike
14. April 2003 — Dublin, Ireland – mile 0 Pre-hike
Hi there,
the time is drawing near. Only 3 days of work left. All my things are packed away. I’m leaving Ireland on Friday 18. April heading for Germany by Car/Ferry. The few days over easter I will spend with my family. And do last preparations for the big trip.
On Wednesday 23/04/03 my flight is leaving from Frankfurt and I will arrive late in San Diego, CA the same day.
And then we see…
20. April 2003 — Euskirchen, Germany – mile 0 Pre-hike
arrived in Germany yesterday after driving over from Ireland. Took me 20 hours to get here. Was dead tired yesterday. Now I’m getting spoiled by mum’s cooking.
Still lots to do but I’m getting there.
23. April 2003 — Carlsbad, CA – mile 0 Pre-hike
Finally I got started, after two hour drive to the airport it was time to say goodbye to my mum. It was kind of hard but I was really excited to finally start my adventure. Before even checking in I got a roasting from a security guy of US Airlines that made me really nervous. I know that Immigration could be quite tough in Philadelphia, but it turned out to be harmless. The guy just looked at the visa asked a few questions and let me thru. The flight to San Diego was uneventful and we landed a few minutes earlier then scheduled.
I was met by Glen and Brian at the airport and on the drive to Glen’s Place we picked up another tru-hiker (Glen) at the train station in Carlsbad. Glen has 6 people staying over until the ADZ on the weekend. When we arrived at the house I met two of them (Paul & Erica), in the Jacuzzi. Climbing into the Jacuzzi was absolute heaven after the long flight. Really relaxing. When I finally climbed into my bag I had trouble sleeping. Thinking of a busy day ahead…
24. April 2003 — Carlsbad, CA – mile 0 Pre-hike
The day didn’t turn out as busy as I thought. Finished the shopping I had to do by 10:30am got all the boxes packed by 1pm. I’m very surprised, my pack only weights 13 pounds. I thought with the stuff I added in the last days it would be more. Hey I’m not complaining. After that it was just sitting in the sun talking to the other people in the house.
I got my first sun burn:-( but it’s not to bad and at least I’m not the only one. Glen had some people over for a BBQ in the evening. Amazing Mexican food. I love it. Then it was time for a swim again.
Tomorrow Glen will drive all of us to Lake Morena for the ADZ.
25. April 2003 — Lake Morena, CA – mile 0 Pre-hike
Glen drove all of us to Lake Morena at about 2pm. The scenery during the drive showed us what awaited us on the trail - very rocky, not many trees but lots of sun - another warm and sunny day. When we reached the camping ground, we set up our tents bought some beer and hot dogs and got a fire going. Pretty soon, there were lots of people to talk to. Went to bed at 11pm.