I went to talk to my boss today. After discussing some details on my current assignment, I turned, closed the door, and said: “I’d like to take 6 months off. Is that ok?” He said, “well, sure.”

So this is real. I’m really going to hike the pacific crest trail.

I was undecided for a while on whether I should ask for a leave of absence or just quit my job altogether. The idea of being totally free, totally uncommitted to anything but my dream – it’s appealing, but I’m not ready to go there, not yet. I’m ready to let go of the paycheck for a while, but not the job title. I’ll be an Engineer for a little while longer.

Gear-wise, I’m almost ready. J is working on our two-person shelter, but otherwise we’re down to odds and ends. I’ll get a gear list together before we go for the gear junkies out there – maybe even find a scale and weigh everything. I don’t weigh myself, so why weigh my pack? It’s about twice as light as my old backpacking setup – no scale needed to figure that out.

It keeps coming together…