[pct-l] PCT Financial Planning

[jjolson at uwyo.edu (Jeffrey J. Olson)]

Don Wilson wrote:

> I can't stand the thought of waiting till I retire (I'm 44). So, I'm 
> trying to work it out to hike in 2005.  Just a couple more details to 
> iron out. As has been said on this list before, it's just a matter of 
> priorities.  I've got a wife and teenage kids too - but they'll 
> support me, and I hope be inspired by their old man chasing something 
> important to him.

I'm in an agonizing kind of way as well.  I'm looking for work elsewhere 
and if I find it, will need to take the summer finishing all my 
house-remodeling projects, sell the house, buy a new one, and settle 
into a new life.  Luckily there are lots of jobs in my field - academic 
social work - so I'll probably land another teaching position.  A large 
minority of me hopes no one wants me, and that I can take a year off, 
hike the PCT, do my writing/research, and do another job search next 
fall and winter.  If I am offered a job, I'll ask if I can start in 
January. 

I haven't made the thru-hike a priority, as Don seems to have done.  A 
friend talks about how each of us has a myth about ourselves.  He has an 
ice axe, crampons, and took a three day course in mountaineering, made 
it to Camp Muir on Rainier before being driven out by the weather.  He 
says his myth is in his heart of hearts that he's a mountaineer.  There 
is a possibility that my desire to hike the PCT is part of my personal 
myth.  I also want to create a just world so all children have enough to 
eat and a warm and safe place to sleep. 

I like these musings and wonderings.  I like others modeling looking 
into their hearts and deciding whats really real, what's a myth, and 
what is simple self-deception.  I really liked Don's post...

Jeff Olson
Laramie Wyoming, where it's 54 degrees outside, four degrees below a 
record high for the day...