Hike all the places: Financially realistic reappraisal.
I'd hoped to take a hike in all fifty states and all ten Canadian provinces (though probably not the three territories) by the time I turned 40. At the end of last year I'd gone hiking in just six states (New Mexico, Texas, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Connecticut), but you may (or may not) remember the various posts I wrote detailing various plans to achieve my ambition. Basically, I expected to be far more financially solvent beginning this year (first by selling off Legos I'd collected, then enjoying reduced debt and fewer bills starting in 2016), permitting two or three trips per year: flying to a city, renting a car, and scooping up quick day hikes in neighboring states over the course of a few days.
I still hope to be more financially solvent by 2016, but finances are so tight right now I can't even justify selling Lego sets to pay for trips; if I sell off, say, my $1000 Millennium Falcon kit, most of that money is going toward heating oil and Christmas presents and maybe paying down credit cards. Flying to cities and tooling around in rental cars seems to be off the table, at least until '16 or '17.
Which means, in all probability, I won't achieve this ambition by the time I turn 40. But eh, that's okay. As long as I can still hike then, I don't care for nice round numbers. It'll get done as long as I care about the (rather arbitrary) goal.
Earlier this year I added Delaware, bringing my state tally to seven. This summer and fall may see a couple bigger than normal trips: the first real family vacation we've taken since 2010, plus one or two weekend drives I want to take solo. By the end of 2014 I feel confident I'll have hiked in Rhode Island, Vermont, and Massachusetts, as a bare minimum. It's likely I'll add Maine and New Hampshire as well, assuming I can find cheap lodgings in southern New Hampshire for my prospective solo trip in September.
I also wanted to scoop up Virginia and Maryland before winter, but I think I may save that trip for May 2015. I also have the most tentative of plans for a weekend road trip into Ontario and Quebec to do my first Canadian hikes late that summer.
Maybe I'll be able to begin my fly-n-hikes in '16, maybe not. I won't set my heart on it, though if I did go, my first trip would be to Albuquerque. New Mexico is already in my hiked-states list, but I could add Arizona and Colorado if I exert my rental car. More likely, however, 2016 will see more weekend drives. Perhaps I could swoop through West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio in one trip, and pick up the southern Maritime Provinces in another.
And so on in that fashion. It's silly to talk about trips years in advance, but I like thinking about possible trips and how I might pursue the Hike All the Places goal.
I still hope to be more financially solvent by 2016, but finances are so tight right now I can't even justify selling Lego sets to pay for trips; if I sell off, say, my $1000 Millennium Falcon kit, most of that money is going toward heating oil and Christmas presents and maybe paying down credit cards. Flying to cities and tooling around in rental cars seems to be off the table, at least until '16 or '17.
Which means, in all probability, I won't achieve this ambition by the time I turn 40. But eh, that's okay. As long as I can still hike then, I don't care for nice round numbers. It'll get done as long as I care about the (rather arbitrary) goal.
Earlier this year I added Delaware, bringing my state tally to seven. This summer and fall may see a couple bigger than normal trips: the first real family vacation we've taken since 2010, plus one or two weekend drives I want to take solo. By the end of 2014 I feel confident I'll have hiked in Rhode Island, Vermont, and Massachusetts, as a bare minimum. It's likely I'll add Maine and New Hampshire as well, assuming I can find cheap lodgings in southern New Hampshire for my prospective solo trip in September.
I also wanted to scoop up Virginia and Maryland before winter, but I think I may save that trip for May 2015. I also have the most tentative of plans for a weekend road trip into Ontario and Quebec to do my first Canadian hikes late that summer.
Maybe I'll be able to begin my fly-n-hikes in '16, maybe not. I won't set my heart on it, though if I did go, my first trip would be to Albuquerque. New Mexico is already in my hiked-states list, but I could add Arizona and Colorado if I exert my rental car. More likely, however, 2016 will see more weekend drives. Perhaps I could swoop through West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio in one trip, and pick up the southern Maritime Provinces in another.
And so on in that fashion. It's silly to talk about trips years in advance, but I like thinking about possible trips and how I might pursue the Hike All the Places goal.