I'm fully aware that one of the biggest questions that most people probably have but maybe aren't saying is "How can you afford that?" or "How can you take off work for so long?" So, let me answer that the best way I can.
When something's been in the back of your mind for so long, I feel like part of you subconsciously makes plans that you don't even realize you're making. Things kind of start falling into place. Here's the sequence of events that happened to make this thru hike become a reality.
We sold and bought a house. We lived very close to town limits in a little town nearby and absolutely loved it there. We talked many times about wanting more land, but it just never seemed possible. Jeff just happened to come across a house for sale out of town and seemingly in the middle of nowhere. We went and looked at it and felt pretty immediately that this is the house we're supposed to buy. This house was going to require a complete remodel. Thankfully we were absolutely shocked that the house we were selling could actually sell for well more than what we paid. This was truly a blessing.
We moved into this house in January 2018 and literally just finished remodeling everything this past Spring with the addition of a new heating and air system. Finally, we were "done".
The next thing we did that really helped this process was buy a cabin in the fall of 2020 to rent out as a short-term rental on AIRBNB and VRBO. Again, it needed work. It wasn't completely finished. We got to work on finishing the cabin so we could get it rented. We bought it in September and had it listed for rent on December 1st, 2020. The next year blew us away. The cabin rented out consistently and kept me very very busy with cleaning it and managing it.
As the real estate market started going crazy in 2022 and 2023 it was on our mind frequently as to whether or not we should sell it. We did buy it at a good deal because it wasn't finished, we rented it out and we could sell it for a profit. So many decisions. Finally, in July of 2023 we decided to sell it. By September we were closing on the deal, and it was done. We no longer owned the cabin. It was also a relief for Jeff because I wasn't going to have to deal with the cabin while he was gone.
Besides these two real estate decisions, we also had to just save up money. I kicked my little farm business into gear in 2023 and thankfully it has been successful for me. This has given us a cushion of a little more money than we thought so I can come and visit them more often along their hike.
A lot of things had to fall into place for all of this to work out. Before we ever announced this attempt at a thru hike, Jeff needed to talk to his boss. Jeff works for a company in Charlotte, NC and thankfully it's still a family run business. He knows the owner and he's been with the company for more than 20 years. Sometimes longevity doesn't matter but I think in this situation it really helped. Added benefit is that Jeff is really good at his job. So, finally he planned a meeting and sat down with his boss. Thankfully, after a lot of worrying about this meeting, Jeff was met with support from his boss and the fact that his job wouldn't go anywhere while he was gone. Another answered prayer.
Next, we'll talk about making plans as a blended family.....