Jazzing up a staple.... Ramen redone!

Terri here,

In an effort to prepare meals that are: lite, good tasting, filling and easy, I have taken a backpacking staple and jazzed it up a bit!  Most everyone on the trail has eaten Ramen Noodles at one time or another.  Some hikers eat it almost every day, while others can only stomach it when it is the last option in the food bag.  Dreamer and I enjoy Ramen occasionally right out of the bag; however, I think you will find that this recipe will bring your noodles a bit higher in the food bag options.

Check out the video at:  http://youtu.be/NoSj3iMpXdQ

Recipe

1 – Ramen Noodle package, including the seasoning

1/2 cup – Dried ground beef

Hand full of dried mushrooms

Pinch of ground red pepper

Tablespoon of chicken gravy mix

Other options:

Dried vegetables

Dried Zucchini

Dried Onions

Dried Red Peppers

Dried jalapenos

Any dried vegetables you might have (Just Veggies have many freeze dried options) 

BLOCKBUSTER HIT FINALLY RELEASED!

Dreamer here,

The long awaited, greatly anticipated, highly acclaimed nominee for this years best all around movie review has been released!!  Dreamer and Terri have spent hundreds of hours and months in the making of this video.  For a short period of time, (very short) we are offering FREE screenings of this mega-hit!

Watch it now, because you don’t want to be the last one on your block to say you have seen this.  This video will change lives and propel average people towards greatness.  It may even have supernatural capacities to leap tall buildings in a single bound!

Wake up Dreamer, wake up, you are dreaming again…  Oh, what I meant to say, was Terri & I have just released our newest video reviewing about 12 videos on the Appalachian Trail, as well as a couple others on the Pacific Crest Trail and the Continental Divide Trail.  Enjoy!  For those of you not interested in videos about the backpacking, you can stop here and anticipate the next awesome Blog Post by tntonthetrail.

For those interested, follow this link:  http://youtu.be/6id2EmbJL6I

           

Grab a box of popcorn,

~Dreamer

The Great Crash of 2012!

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The Great Crash of 2012!

Horror of horrors, it happened.  Just imagine, you have been putting all most favorite treasures in your closet for a couple months, and one day you opened your closet to get your things out, and the closet was empty!  Empty, not a video or picture file could be found!  You guessed it; the closet is my computer.  The great crash of 2012!  One day, it was all there.  The next, it was all gone!

As most of you know, I have been learning to use my new video camera, as well as studying Final Cut Pro X.  I am really enjoying not only the challenge of capturing good video; but I have been especially captivated with the editing process.  Well, now I get to start over with a clean slate.  I’ll sum up the tragedy…

I have been a MAC user for over 20 years.  I have only had to call tech support once in all those years.  My MAC’s have always been rock solid and easy to use, until now.  A couple months ago, I purchased a new 13” Mac Book Pro with a 500gig Flash Drive.  I wanted something with no moving parts, because I plan on bouncing it in a bump box from Georgia to Maine.  (A bump box is one that is mailed ahead on the trail with various items ‘you don’t want to carry’ from one zero day [zero day is a day with no hiking miles] to the next.  After two months, I had still not fully moved into my new computer.  Final Cut was the only program I was using.

On the evening of December 26^th, I opened Final Cut to pull off a video clip for Terri.  (She was working on a Blog Post about food prep.)  When the program opened, in the place of the clips was RED caution symbols saying no clips could be found.  After doing everything I knew to do, I was overcome with waves of heat and feeling physically sick.  All of my work was gone.

For the second time in 20 years, I called Apple Support.  After five hours on the phone with six different agents, (they kept moving me up the food chain) I was no closer to my files than when I started, and even worse, no one could explain what happened.  This day ended with sending a disc image of my computer to the engineers at Apple to be evaluated.  I was assured they would be able to get to the bottom of this.  The next day they called from California with the bad news, they had no idea.

Tech support at Apple is first class in every way!  Some of the nicest and courteous people I have ever worked with.  I could not be more pleased (Well, I suppose I could be if they had recovered my data and explained the issue.) with them and how sincerely interested they all were in trying to help me out.  Every one of them E-Mailed me (while I was talking to them) their contact information in case we were cut off and I needed to call them back.  Really sweet!!

Bottom line, I lost all my video!  I had no back up!  I have some excuses, but none of them suffice to mention here.  The lesson has been learned.  I am grateful, it happened now, early on in my instruction.  It took me a day and a half to rebuild my computer from the ground up.  I now store all my new video on a one-terabyte external hard drive, and I archive the raw files from the video camera as well.  And, just as I always do with my computer for work, I have Time Machine running in the back ground to back-up the entire computer, at all times.  Let’s hope and pray it never happens again; but if it does, I am ready.

~Dreamer

A Day in the LIfe of an AT Thru-Hiker

Greetings,

There are literally hundreds of videos on YouTube about the Appalachian Trail.  Most are very good, some are funny, others are serious, for the most part they are real, (shot with poor to average equipment and edited uniquely) but at times I find one here or there that really says it nicely.  This is one of those...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4f8DVZnMFBk&sns=em

Enjoy!

~Dreamer

Finally, my 1st Clothing/Gear video is finished!

Dreamer here –

Yes!!  I was finally able to upload the first of five videos on my clothing and gear I have produced.  Can anyone relate to “Learning Curve” here?  For an old guy with limited geek skills, the learning curve has been mighty steep.  It simply seems like every small piece along the way has to be learned, tried and then retried.  The old saying around our home is, “If it isn’t one thing, it is another.”

To see the video, click here:  http://youtu.be/a1TWbROGdlA

Like I said above, this is the first of five videos I will be producing.

1.     AT 2013 Clothing/Gear I will be wearing.  (Not what is in the backpack)

2.     AT 2013 Clothing I will be carrying in my pack.  (Mainly my safe clothing)

3.     AT 2013 Gear I will be carrying in my pack.

4.     AT 2013 Terri’s Clothing/Gear (Not mentioned above.)

5.     AT 2013 Charlie’s Clothing/Gear he will be using.

Obviously, a mere amateur here!  I would love to hear your comments and suggestions on the video.  My goal is to learn, so that my video & editing skills will increase in order that one day I will be able to create a nice DVD of our 2013 AT thru hike attempt.

~Dreamer

Clothing/Gear I will be wearing at the beginning.

Dreamer here –

To say that we are getting excited would be a serious understatement!  96 days and counting!!  It is beginning to get real serious.  Terri, Charlie & I are just over three months away from the adventure of a lifetime for us!  A journey of journeys!!  We have been very busy with the typical day to day real life kinds of stuff that keep all of us busy; however, on top of that, we have been making lists, shopping, building more lists, working on spreadsheets, hiking almost everyday, building our food cash, and on & on…

The list of gear (below) was intended to be used with a video that I created.  But, it is just one more learning curve for me.   I am discovering there is a lot to learn about cameras, memory sticks, software, YouTube, etc.  A LOT!  It seems like every time I do something, I learn something.  For every three steps forward, I move two steps back; at least that is how it feels at times.  Here is my latest lesson, after working very hard to: create a list of gear I will be wearing, (everything not actually in my pack) assembling it all nicely on a table, setting up the camera and filming myself going over every item, loading it all into “Final Cut X”, watching tutorials, and creating a very amateurish video, I was ready to upload it to YouTube.  It is then I discovered that You Tube has a 15-minute limit on videos with out prior authorization.  Rats…  So, now I am waiting for authorization to come…  In the mean time, here is the blog post.  Which has been and continues to be a learning curve all by itself!

Nice picture!  Not blurry at all...  You get the idea!

I thought I would do four videos on our gear:  The clothing I will be wearing, all other clothing I will be carrying, all remaining gear and a final one on Charlie’s clothing and gear.  So, hopefully, when I get it all figured out, you will see them in the near future.  Until then, here is a list of clothing/gear that I will be wearing when we begin our thru-hike attempt of the AT on March 1^st, 2013.

ITEMS	WEIGHT IN OUNCES
Tilley (Hat)	3.7
Gossamer Gear Hiking Sticks	8.6
Small (Swiss Army) Knife	1.0
Special Forces Compass	0.2
Salomon XA3D Ultra 2 Shoes	29.2
Orthotics (insoles in my shoes)	5.0
Gators (high cut) Mountain Laurel Designs	2.5
Windbreaker with Hood              (Houdini) Patagonia	4.4
Icebreaker Socks (Crew weight) 85% Merino Wool	2.8
Royal Robbins (zip-off) Pants	13.4
Icebreaker Short Sleeve Shirt 100% Merino Wool	0.6
Icebreaker Long Sleeve Shirt 100% Merino Wool	9.8
Underwear (Reebok)	4.0
Handkerchief	1.2
Watch (Suunto) Observer	3.0
Carmex or Burts Bees	0.4
Stickpic	0.4
Iphone	4.8
External Battery for Iphone	3.6
Earbuds	0.7
Video Camera Case	7.4
Sony HDR-CX580 Video Camera	12.2
Battery for Video Camera NP-FV50	1.7
Sandisk 32GB Extreme Pro SDHC-1	0.1
Total Worn	7.54 pounds
Two other potential layers depending upon weather
3-Layer Jacket with Hood (Mountain Hardware – Quasar)	9.0
Synthetic Vest (Arc’Teryx)	9.8

Catching up a bit!

Dreamer here,

Terri, cooking and dehydrating some of our favorite meals!

Even though it has been awhile since the last time I have written, that does not mean nothing has happened.  Honestly, real life has crept up and held me down with some amazing strength.  Have I had time to write, yes; however, the time I generally have is when I am dog tired from a day filled with the stuff of real life.  Can you relate?  Busy with family, work, home, friends, surgery and losing my father a couple months ago has been consuming my productive hours.

As far as Appalachian Trail planning goes, Terri & I are moving forward!  Hopefully, over the next few weeks I will provide some detail to our planning efforts.  For now, I will stick with generalities in order to catch up a bit.  We have been buying and testing all kinds of new gear, including: clothes, sleeping bags, pads, video camera, Charlie items and lots of odds and ends.  As I say, more detail to follow.

Various thoughts as they come to mind…

·      My father passed away this summer and serving as his Personal Representative has been much more (time wise) than I had anticipated.  Generally, everything is working out and life is beginning to return to normal, especially emotionally.  The best part is, my sisters and I have a great relationship that has only gotten stronger working through our grief together.

·      I have a new video camera. (Sony HDR-CX580)  I learned several lessons this summer while hiking the North Country Trail with Charlie.  One of them being, I had the wrong camera.  So, I have been spending some significant amounts of time learning to use this new camera.

·      I had knee surgery about six weeks ago.  Scope of my Right Knee to remove some loose debris.  It was a couple weeks before I could get back out on the trail, which almost killed me.  However, as of today, I believe I am nearing 100%.  Charlie and I are hiking between 5 and 10 miles per day.  Tomorrow I will be able to begin hiking with my pack on again.

·      Team TNT now has a Twitter account.  It is “@tntonthetrail”.  I have been making friends with other hikers out there in Whiteblaze & Twitter world.  In fact, Terri met with another 2013 AT thru hiker the other day.  Her trail name is infinity and she will be starting in the middle of March from Springer and will be hiking with a few other ladies.

·      Perhaps my largest purchase to date has been a new computer.  I have had MAC’s for going on 15 years and that has not changed.  My old MAC is four generations behind and it was unable (because the operating system was too old) to work with the video from my camera.  So, I don’t have it yet, but I purchased the new 13” Macbook Pro.  My plan is to spend the next four months getting to know it, so that when Team TNT heads out, the computer will follow along in our Bounce Box.  (A Bounce Box is a box that we mail to ourselves up the trail. ) Hopefully, every time we take a zero day, we’ll have our computer to download pictures and video, as well as other practical uses.

Like I said above, I am excited to begin sharing some of our new gear and clothing changes and look forward to offering more detail with the major items as we move further along.

~Dreamer

PS  If you are into listening to Podcasts, check out “The Trail Show”!  Lots of fun with four hikers who are all triple crowners.  (AT, CDC & PCT)  It is kind of like sitting around a campfire listening to friends have a good time.

Testing, testing. Can you hear me now?

Learning to Blog was a big deal for this old-timer!  Now I know enough to be dangerous. ;-). It occurred to me a couple weeks ago that I would have to learn how to blog from my cell phone, so that I could keep the blog update while hiking. This is my first attempt at creating a blog entry from my cell phone.  Also, below, I am learning how to upload short (blogspot only allow short ones) videos.  Let me know what you think!

 Early this morning Charlie and I headed out for our regular hike at Rose Lake. If you have never been there, you owe it to yourself to check it out. I would be happy to serve as your guide, if you are one that is tentative in the woods. Many, many miles of beautiful trails. Charlie and I normally cover about 5 miles in around 1 hour and 40 minutes. (Depending on how many squirrels and bunnies he sniffs out.)

Terri working to build 9 meals for me!

Strawberry Fruit Roll ups!  A bit sticky, but VERY good!!

 Yesterday, Terri began building some meals for me that will feed me on my upcoming adventure on the North Country Trail. So far we have: Chili Mac, Beef Stroganoff, Tuna Noodle Casserole and my favorite Hamburg Gravy!  And, for desert, Strawberry Roll ups that she dehydrated.  Very tasty indeed!!  I am sure Terri would pass along the recipes if you are interested.  This ends the first test of blogging from my cell phone!

 ~Dreamer

Hiking the North Country Trail

Greetings from Dreamer

As always, I find my mind returning to hiking and backpacking in almost every other thought!  It is almost as if I am crazed, near to obsessed with: hiking, gear, maps, guides, food, spreadsheets, books and videos about backpacking.  Charlie and I cover about 5 miles, most days of the week.  But in the evening when all the work is done, dinner is cleaned up, I like to sit back and watch a DVD on the Appalachian Trail.  And my favorite is TREK!  I have watched it (seriously) many many times.  I’ll watch it with anyone that is willing to sit through it.  Check it out on Amazon. 

1st picture of Charlie when we rescued him.

My purpose in writing today is discussing our (Our being, Charlie & I) newest adventure.  We have been planning and preparing since our last adventure to the Jordan River Valley to cover another 100+ miles of the North Country Trail.  This time, we will be hiking the section of trail maintained by the  (GTHC) Grand Traverse Hiking Club.  Even though I have been a member for quite some time, I have never hiked the portion of trail that the club over see’s.  If you are interested in more information on the North Country Trail, go to NorthCountryTrail.org and check it out.  I can personally say the folks at GTHC are amazing!   A few weeks ago, I wrote to Sara Cockrell, the Program Chairperson for information and within a few hours I had all my questions answered and more.  If you would like to join their hiking clubs group, you can go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GrandTraverseHikingClub/.

Dreamer is about to take his first steps on the AT

Here is our proposed schedule for the trip:

June 23 – From: Udel Trailhead to Sawdust Hole – 11 miles

June 24 – From: Sawdust Hole to Campsite #6 – 12 miles

June 25 – Campsite #6 to Mesick – 11 miles

June 26 – Mesick to Anderson Creek – 11 miles

June 27 – Anderson Creek to Baxter Bridge – 8 miles

June 28 – Baxter Bridge to Fife Lake – 16 miles

June 29 – Fife Lake to Sheck’s Place – 14 miles

June 30 – Sheck’s Place to Guernsey Lake – 10 miles

July 1    -  Guernsey Lake to Kalkaska – 10 miles

Terri & Dreamer hiking in Shenandoah National Park

Obviously, this is only our “proposed” stops and approximate mileages.  Depending on how Charlie and I are feeling, weather conditions, and a host of other variables, this could all change.  We could very well go beyond Kalkaska, and we could very well not even make it that far!  We’ll see… 

Dreamer on McPhee's Knob in Virginia

If there needs to be a purpose for this hike other than simply getting out there, it is to:  give Charlie an extended hike to check out his abilities, test some new gear (more to follow on that) as well as test Blogging from my cell phone, and uploading pictures etc.  So, stay tuned between June 23 and July 1^st.  I’ll be Blogging about our journey, testing to see how this will all work when we take off next March on the Appalachian Trail.

~Dreamer