I have made it to Georgia! I feel as though I have been in transit for days, what with the 24 hour flight schedule from Syd-NY & the 17 hour train ride from NY Penn Station to Gainesville, Georgia. But I did get one full day in that favorite of U.S. cities: NYC. Wandered through Central Park & Times Square (that place is whack), met my friend Peter for coffee, followed by a (well-remembered) savory crepe at Cafe Europa diagonally opposite the beautiful Carnegie Hall, bought a new phone from the swanky 5th Ave Apple store. And spent some time admiring this old friend:
Got my hobo on at Penn Station prior to departure on the Crescent (which runs all the way down to New Orleans) with my backpack, frontpack and not yet apportioned food purchases for the trail still in brownbags from my morning grocery shop at Wholefoods, prompting an announcement over loudspeaker to please refrain from sitting on the station floor. Provide seats then. Sigh. I must have looked quite at home as I was asked for directions. Twice. Just passing through!
My sleeper was cosy – I got me some good sleep on this leg of the journey.
I made friends with my carriage steward, Mike, on the Crescent, who gathered from my outsized pack that I was hiking the trail, and subsequently brought me stashes of coffee, sugar, personal TP portions (N.B. rail travel packaging is the perfect size and weight for the aspiring thru-hiker) & snacks. He signed the passenger manifest as a memento and told me to message him news of the journey.
Passenger manifest for the Crescent – Mike’s ‘l’s look remarkably like my ‘f’s but I’m fairly sure he’s wishing me good luck, not telling me to get $@*#ed ๐
On arrival in Gainesville, I was picked up by Duffy and shuttled to my accommodation (The Hiker Hostel) 6 miles out of Dahlonega, where I am staying in a container cabin. 
There is a 1km trail on the property which gives a sense of what kind of country I’ll be passing through these first few days
My accom – as seen from the hiking trail
Getting lots of ideas for my tiny house dream
This is what four days worth of trail food looks like:
I’ll let you know in four days whether I was right…
Oh yeah, and here’s the beast:
Home! At least for the next 6 months…
Booknboot 
fabulous images accompanying your text travel well xxxxx A Trish
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Thanks Trish. It’s taking me a wee while to figure out how to blog from my phone but getting the hang of it. Hope you’re well! Xo
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Have a great adventure Lou-looking forward to all your posts and pics. Kev.
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Thanks Kev! Super excited (and a little bit nervous) โบ๏ธ
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Wow! Beautiful pictures! Why don’t you stay in the cabin for a while ๐
Good luck on your first day on the trail! Can’t wait to hear how it went!
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Haha believe me I want to! The jet lag is showing no signs of dissipating. But I figure some hardcore exercise will sort out my sleep patterns in no time ๐
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Awesome effort Lou, you have done an amazing job to get to the start line. Enjoy every metre of the trail and soak up the scenery. BEAR! Just kidding, it was only a mountain lion.
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Ha, nice one ๐. Thanks Steve!
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Great start, Lou! What a wonderful adventure. I will be following your progress and looking forward to seeing your photos and comments.
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Thanks Wes! Looking forward to hiking some with you ๐
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Hello faraway Lou. Great pics Mum’s half way through her Great Ocean Walk – not quite your stamina! Love Dad
Sent from my iPad
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Thanks Dad. Looking forward to seeing the pics of her adventure too! Hope all is well with you. Love Lou x PS say gday to Bruce!
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