And..... He's Off!!!!!!!!

Not Mark! Sam, his nephew. Sam is from Indiana. He is 21 and loves the outdoors. There's not a whole lot going on in Indiana right now, so Sam is going hiking - all summer. He is hiking the Appalachian Trail and plans to take it all the way to Maine!!! (I didn't even know it went that far!)

Sam took the train from Indiana to Toccoa, Georgia. We were meeting him at the station, so we went up the night before, because the train was delivering him at 6:15am. We took a quick tour of Toccoa and Mark declared that it looked just like Decatur, Indiana - his home town.



Then we had dinner at the Cornerstone Restaurant - fresh, homemade and delicious!!!!!!!!!

We got done at dusk, found the train station and took a picture for the scrapbook.

The train arrived right on time and Mark and Olivia were there to greet Sam!

After a shower, we headed out for the breakfast buffet. Yum! Sam started the trail with a full belly.

The Trail starts at a place called Springer Mountain in the Cherokee National Forest in North Georgia. You have to have a "monster truck" to get to the actual starting place. For people with regular cars, you go to Amicalola Falls State Park. It has a "hiker sign-in" and an "approach trail" to the Appalachina Trail - 8.5 miles long. These pics are from the Visitors' Center.

The Visitors' Center has some pretty useful info - like what snakes to avoid (they had real snakes on display), and that there could be bears. They had lots of maps and hiking gear, too.

Here is Sam heading out the door to the trail starting place. His last air conditioning for awhile!

Sam with Mark and the girls in the archway leading to the trail...

The official marker of the "approach trail" for the Appalachina Trail (AT).

We gave him his a chance to change his mind - but he just laughed.

Bye Uncle Mark! (They are such "guys".)

...................................................GOING.....

..................................................GOING...

............................GONE... (you can see his legs taking the right fork)

We wish him well on his adventure!!!! It's quite an undertaking!!! We know he'll do great!!!!!!!!!