I still have not packed... grading papers every waking hour... in the Spring I always wonder why I've assigned my student so much writing--which only means I have to read it all. (They think likewise).

I have about 5-6 people who have talked about walking some of this trek with me so far--but usually only one of five every actually shows up--no matter, I can walk-without-thinking alone as easily as with someone else.

The way I have this scheduled is in one-week segments so I should take each weekend off... I'll hitchhike home each weekend at the beginning or Sharon plans to come to meet me on some weekends. The Indian removal journey took 1-2 days a week off on average. There was so much sickhness and death the first 3-4 weeks that they sometimes had to stay 2-3-4 days to get the number of sick down under 100. I will try to stay on track with their rough schdeule which gives me a "Sabbath day" or two each week. Most treks I've done (and most other trekkers) find a day off a week or two actually INCREASES their total mileage -- there's a lesson in that I think.

OK back to grading--my reward for getting this done is getting to leave and start walking... I'm ready..wish I could leave tomorrow! Maybe I'll just give them all A's and leave early!