ANYWAY... Kelle sometimes has sponsored giveaways on her blog. I entered my comment in one such give away a few weeks back- and WON! I am supposed to be receiving a $250 gift certificate to "My Publisher" . This site does photo books- and you all KNOW how much I love photo books! My comment was that I would use the gift certificate to document my twins hike of the Appalachian Trail. So, Wow! I can hardly wait! I really expected the photo books to be more expensive, but they are comparable in price to Shutterfly. (Thank you Kelle and My Publisher!)
Here is a bit of background for Daniel and Sam's Appalachian Trail Trip.
Always an Adventure
Daniel and Samuel were born to Tom and
Tammy at home in Central High, Oklahoma on June 17, 1996; the youngest two of
seven siblings. They were entirely home schooled. One of the favorite family
outings as they grew up was hiking at the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge
near Lawton, OK. From a very early age, all of the kids were exposed to
hiking. Most of Tom's vacations saw the
family hiking in the beautiful Hocking Hills of southern Ohio.
For their fourth birthday, the twin brothers
asked for and received camping equipment. They spent many nights camped in the
yard outside their parent's bedroom
window.
About the time the boys were eight, the family moved to
Arkansas. Being youngest by a number of years, Dan and Sam often visited their
grown siblings in Texas. Here, they became acquainted with other families that
take annual hiking treks into the wilderness. Two of their older brothers
invited Daniel and Sam to accompany them on Trek one year. They all had such a
great time, Dan and Sam have continued participating in the yearly adventures
even when their siblings have been unable to attend.
Daniel requested a subscription to Backpacker
Magazine for his fifteenth birthday. Sometime during the following
year, he read about the Appalachian Trail- and the idea of hiking it took root
in his mind. Dan was anxious to get a job and begin saving money to finance his
hike. By the time he was 15, he had found a job as a dishwasher, and set about
saving as much as he could. When he moved up from the dishwashing position to
fry cook, Sam stepped into the dishwashing job. Sam wasn't eating, breathing,
and dreaming the AT like Daniel. He saved his money and bought a truck, and
invested some into hiking gear like Daniel was accumulating. Both Dan and Sam
worked several part time jobs for a number of people in the community. When
they could manage time off, they would toss their backpacks into the truck and
go hiking.
In the summer of 2014, Daniel set his AT
departure date: March 9, 2015. He began meticulous planning. Tammy was to be
his re-supply person back home. "As a Mom, I was pretty nervous about my
son being on the trail alone. I knew Dan was determined to go through with
this, so I wanted to support him in any way I could. One of my big concerns was
that, as a twin, Daniel and Sam have never been apart more than a few days at a
time. This could possibly be their point of divergence."
Before the summer was over, Sam decided that he
would be missing an awesome lifetime opportunity if he didn't hike the AT with
Daniel. (Mom breathed a sigh of relief!)
Working together, their trail hiking strategy was fine tuned.
Rather than relying on care packages from home,
it was determined their best bet was to resupply along the trail. Most of the
things that would of been shipped to various Post Offices or hostels along the
route were readily available in towns the AT passes through. A few harder to
obtain items will be drop shipped from Amazon as needed.
Tom and
Tammy will be dropping Daniel and Sam off at the trailhead on Springer Mountain
in Georgia, and picking them up at trails end in Maine. Sam will be keeping a
trail journal as well as updating a blog chronicling their progress. Several of their siblings hope to be able to
make the trip to meet Daniel and Sam at the end of the hike, but those details
haven't been worked out.
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Here is the link to the Sam's blog, which he will be keeping updated during their hike.
1 comment:
Hey Tammy,
I was happy to get your emails! Definitely not a stalker,I do the same so if you are I guess I am also!😉 I am excited to find your blog and am thinking we were meant to have found each other's blog through Kelle's Blog. By the way ONE AMMAZING BLOG she has. I think it is neat we have so many things in common and can not wait to continue to follow you. Thanks so much for the emails again you made my week. Good luck to your boys and safe wishes going out to them. Looking forwardt to o hearing from you again.
Tammie
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