It's official! I'm going to take 3 years to hike the American Discovery Trail (ADT) starting at Cape Henlopen State Park in Lewes MD and I think I'll take the Northern route but I may change my mind as I research what historical, cultural sights, and natural wonders are there. I want to see and report on the most sights as well as the most interesting sights on this trail.
You can go here for my Gofundme ad to see the reward levels which also details what books and documentaries I'm planning to produce through this hike. https://www.gofundme.com/patrick-g
You might have noticed I'm taking action on this adventure while in the process of learning what's on the trail and what it's going to take to do it. That's part of the fun for me. I am learning as I go which is the opposite of studying it for a year and then maybe talking myself out of it by the end of all of the research.
Last Thursday, I started my physical training. I went on two - 3 mile hikes with my backpack which had my tent and my sleeping bag in it so I was at about 20 pounds with the weight of my pack. I then hiked for 3.5 miles and then 4 miles on Friday and Saturday. On Sunday I took off from hiking since I plan to hike for 2 or 3 days in a row and then take one day off when I get on the trail. Monday I added 10 pounds to it and hiked for 5 miles and yesterday I hiked for 4.5 miles. Really, however, since I plan to walk around each town I enter, including the first one the trail begins with, then I'll be walking a lot more than 5,000 miles to get from Delaware to California.
So why am doing it?
I've worked hard the last year at trying to get my online guitar lessons business going and so far am still working it out really. I tried to do Über and Lyft also this last year which also didn't work for me and I'm about to be homeless (however I do have good friends who said I could go live with them rent free until I have enough money raised to go on this hike) and I want to make sure other people don't become homeless by making the same mistakes I've made and I feel that by going across this country I can help others and support others to become successful emotionally and then hopefully financially.
I want to be the one person to make an impact on others lives. I want to show people that no matter how low they might get in life there is still a way to make their lives work by practicing meditation and by availing myself to be of service to others.
Remarkably, I always thought that if my life ever came to this point where I could no longer keep a place of my own that I would panic and that life wouldn't be worth living. To be honest, when I left my corporate job last year, I knew this scenario was a possibility if I couldn't make money enough to pay for the costs of living at a profit margin.
And I believe my ideas of a few documentaries and a few books coming from my experience of hiking this trail and seeing the rest of the US or at least those parts near the trail from here to California is my path. I have faith and believe my guitar lesson business will one day ignite as I become the "Blues Guitarist who Hiked the ADT."
But what is really keeping me calm and feeling at peace is my meditation practices as well as my positive affirmations.
Breathing in and breathing out, letting go of all my past memories, I forgive myself and others for all past hurts and mistakes and I also now let go of all thoughts of a future, living only in this present moment.
I plan to meet people and hopefully get to know them enough so I can recommend them to the practice of meditation as well as to listening to positive affirmations and podcasts. I hope to not only help these folks but also those who will hear them tell their stories in my documentaries. I also plan to use Steemit as my platform to report my stories and videos twice weekly as I do the hike. I'm excited to see what will come out of it!