2018- The Year of Limbo

I can hardly believe it is already time for my yearly recap. 2018 came and went in the blink of an eye and yet, seemed to drag on for all eternity. Guess that's what happens when you're having the best and hardest time of your life.

Here's a brief look at our year:

January

The month started out cold. I remember that much. The end of 2017 had some of the coldest weather we've had in a long time. -4 is cold no matter where you live. Brrrrrrrrrrr

But! We had our first tooth lost. Caleb wanted Daddy to tie a string around it and shut a door, so Daddy did. The tooth was almost falling out it was so loose and it popped right out without any incident.

There was new backpacking gear received for Christmas that just HAD to be tried out.

I took some time to read. This book was written by a friend of Curt's aunt. She hiked the AT back in the 90s.

We did our own hiking. The weather turned nice for a short time so we hit our local trail.

And we visited some friends. Throughout the month of January Curt was preaching down in Virden, IL. It was nice breaking up this long winter month with weekly trips to hang out with good friends.

February

A little more of the same...

We did some hiking

We sold Girl Scout Cookies (If you want some in 2019, let me know!)

We ate. (This was delicious!!!)

It snowed. Often. So. Much. Snow.

Curt was fitted for some new contacts.

Curt spoke at a local retirement center about the trail. It was amazing. About half a dozen of the people that came (and there was a bunch!) had hiked some portion of the trail. After Curt spoke he had more people come up to talk about the trail than any other time he has spoken.

We did some more hiking. Although, this trail is so flat it should be called walking.

We ate some more.

The weather turned beautiful again so we went outside and did school. I threatened them with their life until they made this look picture perfect.
Just kidding. I promised them ice cream if they would just work without fighting me. ;-)

We went fishing!

March
We did a lot of prep during the month of March

Because we were heading out to the Appalachian Trail for an undetermined amount of time, shorter haircuts were in order.

But before we could hit the trail, we headed to Madison, Wisconsin for Canoecopia. Here we learned several new skills including knot ties, making our own paddles, and how to surf on giant fish.

I was determined to eat healthier on the trail than we have in the past so I tried some new recipes I learned at Canoecopia.

And before we knew it, we were staring down some mountains in Northern Georgia.

We began our hike at Springer Mountain. Mr. Jim and Miss Sharon drove us up to the parking lot near the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail and we hiked up to the beginning while they took a very rough and bumpy ride back home. Mr. Jim and Miss Sharon have been incredible trail angels and friends to us since Curt's thru hike in 2017. We are so thankful to have met them.

The trail was very different than the year before. We had cold, wet weather most of the time and the damage from the fall 2017 hurricane was evident. Our little people were troopers though. They had a good time and we learned a lot during that hike. #1 being- Isabel runs much colder than the rest of us and #2 Caleb can outhike us all.

We met up with the Bearded Servant, but due to a neck/back injury he was only able to hike 2 days with us. He's planning on heading back out in 2019 for a second attempt at a thru hike. You can find him on YouTube!

Seeing Blood Mountain for the second time was incredible. There was no pressure to complete a thru hike this year so we enjoyed every minute we were on the trail.

Isabel's day was made as we descended Blue Mountain into Unicoi Gap. Trail Magic awaited us and she cried. Caleb had foot races with some of the Trail Angels and we took off for Hiawassee for Easter services.

April

With the news of a friend's passing, we headed off trail towards Illinois. We visited Franklin, NC before driving home and had the pleasure of meeting several new friends at First Baptist Church. They serve a hiker breakfast daily during peak season and it was great to meet so many people ministering to hikers.

We weren't home very long when Grandpa put us to work in the fields. April is typically pretty windy with unpredictable temps, but we made the most of it and worked hard picking up trash from the fields along state route 29. PEOPLE!!! STOP THROWING STUFF OUT YOUR WINDOWS!

Speaking of unpredictable weather... This is snow/hail/sleet/rain

We, for some unknown reason, opted to go canoeing. In April. In the Midwest. We had a swollen river and cold temps so that didn't last long, BUT we met a couple super cool park rangers in the process which turned into a friendship.

But first, Gabe had a concert.

This was before we ended up wet and cold. In the river.

Because paddling wasn't working out for us, we hit a trail instead.

Flowers were just beginning to make an appearance in the Ozarks.

After a rough trip, we felt we had earned some BBQ. We can find a BBQ joint in the middle of the desert. Not kidding.

The end of April means Priority. I had the opportunity to see some great friends and make new ones during this weekend for Illinois Baptist Women.

And, of course, we finished the month out hiking. On our favorite local trail.

May

We can almost smell summer!!!!!

Our vehicles were getting up in mileage and the car was about to cost us a ton of money. We opted to purchase a new to us Jeep. I've never driven such a nice vehicle, let alone owned one, so it felt a little bit like a dream.

We sold our camper. This was a tough decision. We love camping, but we just weren't using it enough to warrant keeping it.

Shockingly, we went hiking. But we took some friends along with us this time.

A birthday party for a friend meant some fun skating down in Springfield!

Grandpa rescued this poor kitten from a fire. His momma and siblings died in the fire and sadly he passed away about a week after this photo was taken. Smoky has a special place in our hearts.

It was time to head out to the trail again! Summer temps meant summer gear. It's amazing how light we've managed to get our packs from the first couple times we backpacked.

Trail Days was first on our list. We had a great time meeting up with hiking friends from last year, seeing some of this year's hikers, and meeting many YouTube subscribers. The kids had a great time and we won a lot of new gear, including a Gossamer Gear Gorilla backpack for Emily!

We hiked this section with one of our favorite trail angels from 2017, Stan the Man. He, Emily and Gabe hiked up to catch the sunrise at one of the most iconic spots on the AT.

It's amazing how quickly we fall back into trail life.

Finally, around lunch, I got to see this incredible spot. If you're ever in the Roanoke, Virginia area, I highly recommend taking a day hike up to this point.

As many of you know, our hike ended abruptly when Caleb fell of the shelter deck just past McAfee Knob. Someone had put the picnic table on the deck and as he was walking around it, he fell off and landed on his arm, on some tree roots. Tree roots at popular hiking spots are exposed and far above ground level. They won.

Our trip was shorter than we had originally planned as it was because my nephew graduated from 8th grade at the end of May. The cousins were sure proud of him!

There may have been some rough moments in May, but this picture is a reminder that there is always something beautiful to see, even in the darkest of times.

June

Summer is finally here!!!!!!

June 1. Suddenly I have a child no longer in her teens. This is an odd moment. That's all I have to say about that.

We took another trip down to the Ozark National Scenic Riverways National Park. Curt spoke on his thru hike and we managed to squeeze a little paddling in.

But not on the Current River. It was flooded. This is the parking area down by the river.

Caleb did really well with his cast. Mom found a waterproof layer to put on over the cast so Caleb could still swim.

We created our own trail at the back of my folks' property. It was beautiful to hike through.

Gabe got his driving permit.

We went to Rutabaga to prepare for our next adventure.

Curt and I were off to the Boundary Waters. Alone. The weather was pretty yucky to start.

But this was the sunset that night...

We had a nice time exploring a new section, but I have to be honest, paddling isn't my thing. We had a great time regardless.

When I got home I had a new book to read, written by a couple Curt hiked the trail with last year.

Gabe did some more driving. I still can't believe I have 2 children old enough to be this independent!

And I read another book!

This young lady had a blast with her birthday present.

June had a lot of swimming, a lot of outdoor activity, and a lot of family togetherness.

July

There are very few 6 and 9 year olds capable or confident enough to set up their own backpacking tents. Not so with our kiddos. These two asked to sleep in tents one night and asked permission to choose where their campsites would be. I think their differing personalities show quite nicely just by their choice in location. For the record: Caleb stayed in his all night. Isabel gave up pretty quickly and went to her comfy bed. More proof of how very different they are.

The fair came to Henry

Just before the 4th

We found some new hiking grounds. This was just up the river, south of Hennepin.

Curt and I took off for some paddling on the western side of the state. It had some beautiful backwaters that weren't easily accessible to big boats.

And we saw a few more gorgeous sunsets.

Caleb practiced his canoeing skills. Here he is learning what to do when your canoe tips over.

Gabe left the country for the first time. He was Canada bound with the Illinois Baptist All State Youth Choir.

With Gabe gone for a week, we took the littles on a camping trip south of Springfield.

And we went hiking once Gabe was back.

And again...

And I read my 4th book of the year. That's a record for recent history. I haven't read a single book in years.

August
Buckle up. This was a busy month! It started with a bang. Literally.

This was heartbreaking. A new driver ran a stop sign and totalled the yellow bug. We were all devastated. Yes, it is just a car, but for us, it was more.

Backpacker magazine came to Bushwacker so we went to listen to the talk.

VBS was a huge success for Isabel and Caleb.

And sunrises are my favorite.

Of course, what month would be complete without a hike on our favorite trail? This time, we made an overnight backpacking trip out of it.

Emily got a new to her car. It can't compare to the bug, but it sure gets some fantastic gas mileage.

I battled plantar fasciitis all year. All. Stinking. Year.

We prepared for our next journey on the AT. Summer gear for everyone. Light packs. Lots of bug spray and a bunch of water capacity marked this hike.

Soon we were off. But first, we had to drop Emily off at school. Curt rode with Emily and left at a ridiculous time in the morning. We waited a bit and Gabe got to drive for most of Illinois.

We made several stops along the way.

Our fist stop was in Alabama to visit Shammy, a hiker from the trail, and his family. We met Shammy in Virginia and stayed at the same campground as he and his family in Harpers Ferry. Shammy and his wife, Misty, live in a tiny house. We had a fantastic visit and here you can see the area that the 5 of us slept. Curt slept on the cot he is sitting on, I slept on the couch, and the kids shared a double bunk cot just behind the ladder. Shammy (real name is Nathan) and Misty's room is just above us and their children share a loft on the opposite side of the house. We learned a lot about living minimally and making the most of the space you have. Can't wait to go back!!!

Oh... someone lost both front teeth. They are still gone as of December 31st.

It was time to hike! We traveled up the eastern coast from Alabama to Pennsylvania. We made a quick detour in Erwin, Tennessee to visit Doug, a shuttle driver from Curt's thru hike and then carried on to Harpers Ferry. We met up with Uncle Paul there who had just stopped his thru hike attempt due to an injury. Our original plan was to spend some time hiking with him, so now we had an empty book on what we could do. We opted to go ahead and begin hiking where we were originally going to start. It is a flattish section of trail that made for easy hiking.

When we made it to Pine Grove Furnace State Park, the halfway point on the Appalachian Trail, the kids decided to attempt the half gallon challenge. They failed.

Our hike was marked by heat. Then some more heat. With a little bit more heat thrown in for good measure. We covered about 60 miles and never dried off.

But the trail is beautiful. Always.

These two are amazing hikers

We reached Caledonia State Park. There was a detour in the park for the AT and Curt and Isabel had had enough. It was ridiculously hot, but the boys and I decided to finish out our hike. We left off at this sign so we could easily begin from this point when we come back out.

The kids hiked hard with very few complaints. Instead of continuing on and making them absolutely miserable, we did a tour of the Civil War battlefields in the area. First up was Gettysburg.

Followed by Antietam.

We stopped by Fredricksburg, VA.

Then switched gears and went to Yorktown to learn more about the Revolutionary War.

Our final stop of August was to visit Cur Dog and Diane. I don't have picture proof of this so you'll just have to trust me.

Oh. And Curt's back went out at Cur Dog's house so we had to make a trip to the ER before making our way to our final destination of our month long trip....

September
As we drove south, we discovered some pretty cool places, like the Georgia Welcome Center.

It wasn't long and we were down at Ft. Myers Beach and my folks' trailer. All I have to say about our time there, is this:

Need I say more????

We also did some hiking......

And finished with this sunset. SO beautiful!!!!

An early Christmas present was in store for the kids. Because we were already in Florida, my parents treated the kids to Disney World. Man, were they ever excited!!!!

And, we got to see Cur Dog again!

As much fun as we were having, it was time to head towards home. We purposefully took a long route and saw a few more friends:

Smoky Mountain National Park, on our way up to Clingmans Dome

Smoky Mountain Angel and her daughter Bella.

We wanted to see Emily before heading home so we drove through Tennessee. Gabe hadn't been to Shiloh Battlefield so we detoured that direction before going to Jackson. At our hotel in Savannah, TN we got this surprise:

This was a law enforcement helicopter used to fly over and spot marijuana fields. There were about 10 drug enforcement officers in the hotel with us.

Shiloh is a battlefield that takes a lot of time to explore. The weather wasn't really cooperating but we did get out to see this Illinois monument:

October

Things were much more laid back in October.

It started with a beautiful sunrise

I tried to get some exercise in

We visited friends

Had some fall campfires

Cooked

Went hiking (shocker, I know)

And just enjoyed the beauty all around us.

The littles have started searching out painted rocks wherever we are.

We ate some more...

Who can say no to the Ice Cream Man???

And just hung out.

November

Our plan for the first week of November was to meet up with my friend Tina and hike a section of the AT. In order to lure me out the the trail, she baited me with finishing up the Georgia section so I could check that off my bucket list. I have a few more miles of the trail completed than she does so where she hiked didn't matter as much as getting out and hiking. So, the plan was to meet up in Georgia.

Guess what happened?

Yep, she ended up injured. Let this be a lesson to everyone. I am bad luck. Everyone I try to hike with ends up injured. Except Curt.

It happened with Cur Dog. It happened with the Bearded Servant in March. It happened with Caleb in May. It happened with Uncle Paul in August. And it happened to Tina in November. The only person I have successfully hiked with is Curt. I'm a curse!

BUT if it hadn't been for Tina, I wouldn't have gotten to do this: