Memorial day hike!

Today we wanted to celebrate Memorial Day with some good ole fashioned Adventure! So, what does that mean? Climbing an old non-working water tower, of course! Zakc woke me up today and I got ready to get James (who hasn't hiked with us very much but whom is going on the trip). Playing with his new dog, me and Zakc's arms looked like they were beaten with a whip from all of the bites. We left with James, went to pick up Zakc's girlfriend, Bailey, and after stopping by Target we came back home to head out towards the water tower!

Now looking at it from a distance the tower itself doesn't seem too big. We were wrong. We walked the long way to the tower which is through the graveyard, and across the railroad tracks. We could have walked along the railroad tracks to make it there in no time but we were stupid. It was fun though; getting cut up and bruised from the Devil's Cane (thick briers). James was the first out and decided to walk along the tracks until Mr. & Mrs. Slowpoke slowly made it out of the brier.

After THAT we were almost to the lot where the tower was until we had to go down a small hill and through MORE briers and over a barbed-wire fence. FUN. I made it ok but it took, once again, Zakc and Bailey forever. No hard feelings towards them but it's just fun to pick on them! We finally made it past the fence and off we were into another part of Grantville we have never been into! This was cool! There's nothing like finding and abandoned factory with old machines and cool areas to explore! If you haven't tried it then you should! We don't go looking to vandalize or mess with anything but just to look.

We went into some old buildings that had apparently not been in service since Rainbow Plastics had moved out years ago. We found a lot of blackberries, an old fire hose and a ladder that led to the top of a building! I was excited and so we proceeded to climb it! We took some pictures and came back down. James found a hammer on top of the roof.

Before we came down though we had seen some puppies in the distance close to the water tower. Zakc was excited. We walked around the buildings upon reaching the ground again and were almost to the tower when 4 puppies came out of the building. They were barking and as excited as ever to see people. They were lonely! However we could not pet them. They had mange, a horrible disease that dogs get somehow which makes their hair fall out and skin scab over. It was sad. We went on.
We were at the base of the behemoth; A giant water tower resembling the Warner Bros. water tower, only gray, was standing over our heads! Oh the joy! James went up first. Just watching him go up the thing was scary! He stopped halfway up to take a breather (apparently he was 'tired' [pansy!]). He made it up and I was next. I was scared to death. I'm not normally afraid of heights but this would be the highest I've climbed before! I went up and didn't stop halfway! I couldn't look down, I was shaking so bad, and I went on. When I reached the top my hands were shaking fast! I shouted happily, exclamatory in my excitement. Then, up came Zakc. Bailey never came up but watched us three. Zakc is REALLY afraid of heights (it took him an hour to jump off of my eight foot roof into the grass) and James didn't make it easier on him.

James was clanking metal bars and chains he found on the tower together for some odd reason which scared Zack. He made it up though! To tell you the truth I didn't think he would. But he proved me wrong! We looked at the city, seeing it from a perspective that only a handful of people ever have. It was wonderful. I want to do it again! I was scared to go back down. I kept jumping to conclusions like 'it took all of our weight coming up but going down it might not be strong enough anymore.' Stupid, I know. But I did it anyway. But before I went, James did and guess what happened to him? He fell off of the water tower! I know right?!

Not like you think though. James was about a 1/4 the way down when he decided to venture off onto the scaffolding of the tower. STUPID. He got the idea to take the support beams down and he regrets it now. He was about 3/4 the way down when his depth perception told him wrong about how close the ground was and he hit the ground! He hadn't eaten anything so when his body tried to vomit he was just dry heaving! Zakc made it down after me. It was a lot easier for us coming down for some reason. No one saw us the entire time and we set on leaving the area. We needed to get James some Canada Dry (Ginger Ale) and rest. He was as pale as a ghost!

We climbed over a fence to leave (and found a "No Trespassing" sign we didn't see coming in from the back) and James ripped his shirt. We walked back and couldn't wait to tell everyone what we had done. It was exhilarating! If you ever get the chance to climb a water tower you should. It's a lot of fun.

Why we're doing it

Reactions from our uncommon proposal to hike across the U.S. have been mostly good. Most people we've spoken to either think it's either great or stupid; some for the documentary purpose, some for the hiking and even some for both. Either way, why do you think we're doing it?

A sense of adventure can be found in many different ways. Most people seek the conventional ways of adventure in a yearly vacation, military expedition or local extracurricular activities. Though they are all excellent ways to enjoy life's simple pleasures they are, to us, not enough. We want to lose ourselves in adventure, but not be lost. We want to not only expect the unexpected, but embrace it. During filming of our documentary better footage can be gotten when things aren't planned, they just happen. Not knowing what's coming next.

This in turn can make for great cinema. How many times have you or someone you know done something that would have been so wonderful to catch on footage or have a picture of, but just didn't expect anything crazy, weird or amazing to happen? Our hike, our documentary, opens the doors to just such a chance since we'll have a camera the entire time! Many people, not all, would be scared or worried at such an endeavor and to us that is half the fun!

We're putting on our adventure hats for this one and are planning on not only having a great time but making a great documentary! Our trials we will face throughout the trip will change us in many ways and, captured on film, will only be for the better. Zakc is going to quit smoking during the trip and combined with the stress (and adventure!) of what we'll be doing it will definitely leave way for great footage! The possibilities are seemingly endless.

We can't wait to go, not knowing what to expect. There is sure to be pain, laughter, good times and bad times. And that, my friends, is what America wants to see!

Departure approaching, but we still need stuff!

It's getting close to August, and we want to leave on the 1st for weather to be in prime conditions for hiking. Thanks to a few donations we're shortening the list of things we need in order to depart. However, we're not even close to having everything that we need! A lot of planning has been underway and the film and hike becomes more of a reality day after day, but only while we're months away from the trip.

We've gone around the County to hand out letters to potential sponsors/investors hoping that they might be able to help us out with the incentive to receive a little $$ if the film is distributed. But as that is going slowly, our conditioning is going fast. At our current rate, we'll be conditioned to make the hike by August but we don't know if we'll have the necessary gear. So I have compiled a list of things we are going to need in order to make this film a reality:

Back Packs x 3 - While conditioning we've been carrying weighted packs that will make us used to carrying packs far heavier than we'll be using. We just need the actual packs to make our efforts useful! Here's what we need.

Hiking Boots x 2 - Our regular shoes are worthless while really hiking and, thanks to Robert Hinley of Hit the Trail in Newnan, we only need two pair of hiking boots! Here's what we need.

Sleeping Bags x 3 - We're hiking from summer through fall and maybe to winter and we'll definitely need warmth while we sleep. The right sleeping bags aren't hard to find, but aren't within our current budget either. Since we'll most likely be traveling through some harsh weather conditions and camping most nights we'll need a good, synthetic sleeping bag. Here's what we need.

Hydration packs x 2 - Dying of thirst or coming close is nothing no person should ever have to experience. We definitely don't want to either and that is why we need 2 hydration packs, thanks to Leon Dyes for his donation of 1. Here's what we need.

These are the main items we need. All donations are tax-deductible, so any help will be greatly appreciated and rewarded! Help us make this film a reality! All of these items above can be bought for under $1080.00 (+ tax).

Thanks!

Thanks to Robert Hinley, owner of Hit the Trail in Newnan, GA, for the pair of GORE-TEX hiking boots donated to us! My old Dollar General shoes definitely would not make it a 1/4 of the hike and are almost useless from just conditioning!

And thanks to Leon Dyes for donating a Marines-issue Camel back water pack!

~ REMEMBER ~

Anyone who donates is AUTOMATICALLY included in the film credits AND, if your donation covers a value (or money) of $500.00 or more you will be eligible to be considered and investor! Thus you will be able to subtract your donation from your taxes via the Grantville Veterans Associations Non-profit status (*and be entitled to a little $omething). Don't miss out on your chance to be a part of a movie! It's a blast for everyone!

*To avoid fraud or illegal operations, all investors must sign the necessary paperwork to be entitled a percentage of profits made from the film.

Updates!

Hello everyone! This week has been a little slow, but we got some good hiking in recently. We hiked with very heavy backpacks, just filled with weights for conditioning, from Grantville to Hogansville. About 7 miles. Not too bad, and we made good timing, despite a few stops along the way. We got some miniature rock climbing in with the backpacks and I almost fell coming down; it was quite exhilarating!

You think you might see a lot of dead animals on the road when you're driving. Well, just walk a couple of miles and you'll see a lot more!

Oh, I forgot my camera, so you guys can't see the midget horses or the rock wall next to the railroad tracks. Fear not though, we're doing it again on Monday and I'll bring my camera!

Till then, Happy Mothers to all of those who bore or are bearing children out there!

Well, our promotion efforts didn't work...

But' we'll keep trying!!!

Hungry? Thirsty? How about a Snow Cone?!!

If you are planning on going to Wal-Mart or just plain shopping around in Newnan this week, don't be surprised to catch us out in the Grantville Veterans Association truck selling Snow Cones! We're going to be raising money (hopefully) for the documentary so, if you've got the feeling for something sweet and refreshing we'll be around Bullsboro all day! They're only 1 dollar, WHAT A DEAL, right?