A great week

I have had a great week. My oldest daughter started school this week. A big First Grader. Monday she was so excited to be going to school and for the most part every day this week she has been ready to go. Wed was a little rough getting out the door, but once we were out the door she was good. After school we have been lucky enough to get off to the pool and swim every day except for Wed. My youngest has been hanging out with me during the day and it has been fun to hang out with her. She is almost five and missed the cut off for Kindergarten by 15 days. We have had a lot of fun and have been picking up her sister from school together. She thinks that is very cool.

Last night, while at the pool we ran into some pool friends and got to see a very large bird. It was either a Hawk or a Falcon. I am pretty sure it was a Hawk, but it was huge.

The Journey Off The Trail

Well as much as backpackers love to backpack, we spend far more time off the trail than on the trail. During which, if your are an ultra light backpacker (ULB), we look at new gear: pots, stoves, packs, sleep and shelter systems and all the other things that make being on the trail good. Then there is the rest of life that mandates we do other things than hike or dream of hiking. However the trail never leave a real backpacker, for a real UL backpacker starts to think about life as a minimalist. OK, maybe not all, but I do. So my off the trail journey is one of removing the unnecessary things out of life and leave what only is needed and good. So as the days go on, until the next time life affords me time and money to hit the trails, this blog will also be about life off the trail. Some of it will pertain to backpacking, much of it will not. Some of this will not mean a dam thing to many, but to me it hopefully will mean a lot. More or less my personal journal of life.