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This is the second half of the questions that came out of my notebook. These address some of what it takes for some of us to "leave home" for 6 months. I added a few things to consider about "coming home" as well.
Read them ALL. Some of them won't apply to you, but I'd bet more than a donut that you've forgotten something.
The Home Fires --
- Do you rent an apartment or house? Will you move out? Sublet? If not, how will you pay the rent?
- What will you do with your furniture and belongings?
- Do you own a house? Will you move out? Have someone house-sit for you? Sell? Rent? How will you pay the mortgage and property taxes? Who will take care of necessary repairs and maintenance while you are gone?
- Do you have furniture? What will you do with your belongings? Are you sure you'll know where to find everything when you get back? Will you make a list to remind you where it is? [Stuff walks]
- Do you own tools? How will you make sure you still have them when you get back? [Tools walk faster and farther.]
- Do you have the time/energy to sort through your belongings before you leave to figure out what you don't really need any more? How many books do you have? Will you get rid of some of them? How? Where will you store the rest?
- Do you own a gun? Who'll keep it - in a safe place?
- Will you have a storage locker? Where? How big? How much will it cost? How long will you keep it?
- How will you move your belongings in - and out? How will it be paid for? Can you get a "deal" on it? Who'll know where it is and who'll have access? ["Access" means more than just giving them the key - it also means "authorization".]
- Do you have pets? Who'll keep them, feed them, take care of them while you're gone? Who'll pay for food, vet bills, etc while you're gone? How?
- Do you have a car? When does your car registration need to be renewed? When does your drivers license expire? Before you return from the trail maybe??
- Where will you store the car while you're gone? Who'll drive it while you're gone? [Cars deteriorate rapidly if they're not driven periodically]
- Does the car need to be inspected before you get back? Who will do it? How will they pay for it?
- When does the car insurance expire? Will it be paid up for the time you'll be on the trail? If not, who will pay it? How?
- Do you have household insurance? Will it be paid up for the time you'll be on the trail? When does it expire? Who'll pay for it? How?
- Do you have clothes you can wear after you get off the trail? [If you lose weight or change shape - your pretrail clothes won't fit.] Where will you store them? How will you get them after you've finished the trail?
- Do you/will you have a safe deposit box? Who has the key and authorization?
- Who will have your checkbook? Will they have bank authorization to use it?
- Do you have a current will? Do you need to give someone power of attorney? [If so, write it with a time limit or automatic revocation clause.]
- Have you done your income taxes (both State and Federal)? Are you expecting a refund? Who will keep an eye on your mail and deposit it for you?
- If your "on-trail" mailing address is in a different state, what does that mean with respect to auto registration, income tax, voter registration, school financial status, etc?
- Where will your mail go? Who'll pay the bills? (last-month bills, on-trail bills, credit cards?)
- Will someone monitor your mail for important stuff - like tax refunds, IRS audit notices, jury duty notices, etc.?
- What credit cards do you have? Which one(s) will you use on the trail? What will you do with the others? Who'll pay the bills while you're gone? How?
- What magazines do you subscribe to? Where do you want them sent while you're gone? Which ones do you want to cancel? Which ones need to be renewed while you're gone? Who'll pay for them? How? [Can you prepay them?]
- What organizations do you belong to? When do the membership dues/fees need to be paid? Who'll pay them? How? [Can you prepay them?]
- What kind of medical care do you need before leaving? Podiatrist? Chiropractor? Dental? Medical checkup? Optometrist?
- Will you be able to continue your health insurance while you're gone? How will you pay for it? What are their policies about getting service out-of-area?
- How will you get prescriptions filled along the trail? Will you buy six months worth of medicine ahead of time? How will it be stored (should it be refrigerated?) and mailed? Will you get a small quantity of certain prescription medicines for your first aid kit before you go (i.e. epipen, pain killer, altitude medicine?)
- Do you have a spare pair of glasses/contacts that can be mailed to you or put in the drift box?
- For the PCT and CDT - Do you have prescription dark glasses or glacier glasses? Where will they be when you need them? How will you get them when you need them?
- What kind of training will you want to get before you go on the trail? First Aid? CPR? Map & compass? Wilderness First Aid? Winter mountaineering? Learn to use an ice axe? Or crampons? Snowshoes maybe?
- If you're married and your spouse is staying behind to act as support, have you thought about how the hike will affect them? Do they understand what you're doing and why? What can you do to help them understand?
- What can you do to help them realize their dreams? Are you/they sure they can handle things without you there? What do you need to do to be sure that they can?
- When will you tell people at work that you're leaving? Will they support you, or will planning to leave get you fired? Or will they gradually take away all responsibility so you are left with nothing to do for the last few weeks or months?
- Can you get a leave of absence? Or will you have to quit or retire?
- Have you updated your resume? [Do it before you tell your boss you're leaving!]
- What do you need to do to clean up your life before you can leave? What unfinished business/loose ends are you leaving behind? What can you do about them?
When you get off the trail:
- How much money will you have left? How long can you survive without a job? What kind of job will you be qualified for? How soon will you "have to" go back to work?
- Do you want to go back to your old life, or start over someplace else? What do you want to do with the rest of your life? What changes will you want to make?
- Where will you live? Location (what state/ town?) What kind of housing? Momma's house? Apartment? Rent or buy a house?
- Will you need to buy a car?
- You may need medical attention - will you have medical insurance?
- Remember to revoke the Power of Attorney you left behind.
- Especially after the first few weeks, friends and family won't be at all interested in your hike/pictures/slides/stories. How will you handle this?
- Your family and friends will expect you to be the same person and act (and react) in the same ways you did before you hiked. But you won't be the same. So how will you handle this? How will you go about finding out who you are now?
- Will you go to the Gathering?
Created: 30 June 2004
Revised: 30 Sept 2016Copyright © 2004-2017 Spirit Eagle