The Cat and the Convertable, a Year in Review.

Guess what, I didn't really forget about this thing. I thought I would do post on what has happened this past year and why my plans for the Appalachian Trail are on hold for now.

I'll start with my vehicle situation. For a while, I have have had two vehicles, a Ford Explorer and a Jaguar. I've had the Explorer since college and it had been a a very reliable car. Not long after I moved back to South Carolina, I decided to upgrade my vehicle and found a really on a Jaguar. I had never owned anything like that and this happened to be a really good deal so I bought it. Also, it helped that I was living with my parents at the time so I didn't have much in the way of bills. I had been planning on selling the Explorer soon after I got the Jaguar but I wound up paying off the Jaguar fairly quickly so by the time I moved out, I had two cars with no car payments. When I started considering thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail, I thought about selling one car so I would have the necessary funds.

However, I started learning that the true price of a luxury car is the price of repairs. Both cars were starting to show signs that soon, they would be need expensive repairs, particularly the Jaguar. I decided, then, it was time for a change in vehicles. What kind should I get though? What I would really want is 4WD Jeep Wrangler with a removable top and automatic transmissions, but it's not easy to find one that is affordable and low mileage. So it came down to deciding between one of two things I would like to have: a four-wheel drive vehicle or a convertible. I decided I would like to own a convertible at least once in my life. While talking to the dealer that I bought my last two cars from, he mentioned he would be getting a hard top convertible at an affordable price and now I have my new car. While it was a decent price, I still had to take out a small loan and now have car payments. This means until it's paid off, I cannot go six months without working; therefore, a long thru-hike is out for the moment.

Since I now knew it would be a few years before I could even think about my thru-hike, I began thinking about adding a pet. I have been living by myself for a few years now and thought that a companion would be a good idea. I talked in a previous post about how I grew with dogs. A dog would be difficult to keep couped up in a small apartment, especially when I sometimes work long days. I have never had one before because of my sister's severe allergies. I figured have be a new experience. I hadn't really starting looking much when I told my parents I was considering getting one. It wasn't much that my mom said a coworker was wanting to give one away. The cat was an adult female and was already fixed and came with a litter box and food dishes and, best of all, was free. One of her previous owners had named her Rogue. I don't know if that was based off the comic book character or what but I didn't think it was a bad name and couldn't think of anything better so I went. Rogue has turned out to be a rather affectionate cat rather easy to care for which makes her perfect for someone like me. Of course, unlike many dogs, you can't really hike with a cat. If I go for a long backpacking trip, I would have to find someone to temporarily care for her during that time, since, now that I have her, I don't intend to give her up.

Finally, I received some unexpected news late in the summer. My landlady was going to sell her house, and my apartment happened to be a part of that house. My apartment was one of a few attached to the house. She was originally going to try an sell it with us still there and it would be up to the new owner to decide if they would continue our lease. However, she decided she was going to renovate everything before she sold which meant I was have to find a new place. Finding a new place in a location not too far from home that is decent and that I can afford. Also, now I have a cat so they have to accept pets. I probably would not have gotten the cat if I knew this was coming but like I said before, now that I had her, was not giving her up. I finally found a place and I suppose I'll be there for the next year since that's what my lease is for.

Going forward now it will be a while before I can do a thru-hike. Pretty much, it's hard to do much more than a weekend for now. While this is something I still want to do, it does mean it might be a few years. I do need to move forward in other areas of life so I'm now strongly considering going back to school. My current leaning is to study atmospheric science at the University of North Carolina in Asheville. Of course, I do not know the path God has laid out for me but I hope there is a place in there for me to do not only a thru-hike of the Appalachian Trial, but also the Pacific Crest Trail and maybe even the Continental Divide Trail. We shall see.

"Let's Go!"

I've mentioned before about living near some woods and how I enjoyed walking through these woods.  I also lived within walking distance of my grandparents in one direction and my aunt and uncle in another.  We moved to this house when I was either 8 or 9 years old.  By the time we moved in, we had a dog, an Eskimo Spitz, named Foxy.  We got her while we were living in another house but she was living with my grandparents while we were living in an apartment while the house was being built.  Foxy remained outside and unpinned most of the time.  She was smart enough to know where she should and shouldn't go.  Particularly, she knew to stay away from the dangerous road.  She was also very protective, of me especially.   This would be a problem when she would remind visitors of this with a quick bite to the ankles.  However, she never would never seriously hurt anyone and I could always could count on her to go with me where ever I roamed.

Not long after we moved, my sister decided to get a new puppy.  It was a mix of German Shepard and Collie named Franky.  Foxy, having had puppies herself before, pretty much adopted Franky as her own.  He grew into a rather large but extremely laid back dog.  While he was not as protective as Foxy, he would also follow me where ever I went.  Eventually, I trained them to know when I'm walking somewhere and to follow me by saying, "Foxy, Franky, let's go!"  They would then immediately get up and start going in whatever direction it looked like I was going in.  Foxy would typically stay close to my side while Franky would go a little bit ahead of me.  Whether I was going to my grandparents, my aunt and uncle's, or the wondering through the woods, they were going to be there with me.  I never had that many friends but those two I knew I could count on to always be there.   The trick could be to get them not to follow me when I didn't want them but at least they knew enough not to follow me to the increasingly busy, Woodruff Road.

Of course, the lifespan of dogs is not very much when compared to our own.  Foxy was a very old dog by the time she died during my senior year of high school.  Franky took it the hardest and disappeared for few days before finally being discovered in an animal shelter.  My sister bought my mom a new dog we call Blue due to his one blue eye.  We thought he was a Sheltie.  I say "we thought" because he wound up growing into a full-sized collie.  While he was very intelligent, he never learned where he shouldn't wander to so he had to be kept pinned up.  This was very apparent when the church next door decided to keep their doors open for one Sunday morning service and he walked right in.  Still, he would follow me whenever I walked anywhere much like Franky and he would stay near as long as me or someone else was outside.

Unfortunately, the woods were disappearing more and more as time passed.  The two churches nearby where growing and needed the room.  While the churches growing like they were was no bad thing, I did miss my woods.  Also, age had finally caught up to Franky and he too died.  My family eventually moved away from that house when the church needed our land to grow more.  Blue seemed to not mind the new setting and had grown into an extremely obedient dog, always eager to please.  I had never even seen him angry except for one time when another finally annoyed him to the point of snapping at the other dog.  No one could blame Blue for that one either.

I share the story of the dogs I grew up with because Blue recently had to be put to sleep because of extensive health problems.  These dogs have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember even though I haven't lived at home in a while.  I currently live in an apartment where owning a dog would be difficult.  Perhaps I will do something different and get a cat as my next pet.  I never could have a cat growing up because of my sister's allergies. Anyway, regardless of the future, these three dogs I talked about here were an important part of my childhood and my growing up.  Their companionship was invaluable.  The memories they provided will be with me the rest of my life.  I can only hope if I have children, they can have friends as good as they were.