What?

It began with a desire to see the fall foliage of the northeast, then a fascination with the oldest and supposedly best long-distance trail in the country, the Appalachian Trail. Stretching across the spine of the Appalachian Mountains, the trail starts in Georgia and runs some 2100 miles through thirteen other states: North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and, finally, Maine. We will be only vaguely following this trail--by car, on parkways and highways--which is for hikers and generally takes four to five months by foot; our trip will last less than three weeks. We begin by flying to Nashville, where most of my (Raffi's) extended family is from. Then, we will take off on a '92 Ford Ranger with 200,000 miles, a car my aunt has so graciously allowed us to use, and pick up the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. Assuming we make it to Maine, we will then return to Nashville on a route we have yet to map; and, if time permits, we will go to New York City and hopefully some other places. Our planning has been meticulous--we read some websites and watched Deliverance--but as with everything, we will improvise quite often, sleeping at campgrounds or motels depending on timing and availability. So, with only the slightest inkling of what we're doing, we set sail for the mystical, smoky beauty of the Appalachians, on an exciting expedition to discover our country. Wish us luck, and we will do our best to update this blog.