Day 1 , Chestnut Ridge camp, West Virginia

Nothing terribly exciting to report today. But I did discover something that I should have done, but didn't. Before I leave each time, I am supposed to check out anything that was new or newly organized, to make sure it works. I did Go through the routine for everything but one item. Several years ago, when I remarked to the manager of the north face store in Washington that One of the pole sleeves on my v25 tent Had gotten torn From six years of heavy use. He said, no problem, just bring in one piece of the tent, and we will give you a new one, which he did. I welcomed the exchange because I had been asking to purchase an extra set of tent poles, but they did not have them to sell. So, after this exchange, I had myself an extra pair of tent poles. The problem with my original tent poles was that overt time, with heavy use, they begin to get bent, with the end result that the tent it's not exactly Symmetrical. So, for this trip, I packed the new bag of poles. Unfortunately, I never check ed them out before I left. As it turns out, two of the four poles are for the V 25 tent, but the other two are for a smaller tent.I did find that putting up the tent was a lot easier because I didn't have to struggle to get the ends of the tent poles in the grommets, but the end result is that two sides of the tent sag inward. The good news is that I brought along the old poles so I will probably take the two best ones from that group and use them instead of the two smaller poles North Face gave me. I guess I can't complain because I got a $900 tent for free.

Even On The Road, if it's not one thing, it's another. Nevertheless, despite the difficulty in camp tonight, I will admit that it's good to be back on the road. But for how long, only time will tell.

Ed and Donner, from the road