Time flies when life gets exciting!

I sit here at my writing / trading desk,
analyzing all that has transpired since August.

Our life continues to create itself directly before my eyes.

Update to our adventure:

• Unemployment is coming to a close.  I do not see myself ever working for any other company but my own.....well, I will serve on the board of directors for family corporations. :)
• I've gotten over two E.R. visits with poison oak.  I'm thankful we have had a few good frosts to kill our border weeds.  I will soon be walking the woods after the holidays.
• I've been to Vegas three times this year learning how to become the casino vs. being the gambler.  I am very pleased with how we are going to fund our future adventures.

I am very blessed and grateful with my life.

The Universe does conspire to do us good.

Keeping it simple, keeping it positive and still moving forward, always forward!

~ Kindle

This is good......

I'm amazed at how life is beginning to flow like I am no longer paddling upstream but instead, going with the flow of life.  Peaceful and with ease.

Items and events in our life are creating themselves before our eyes, in some cases instantly, like magic!

Since the co-creation has been so rapid as of late, we have really been paying attention to what we are placing in our minds eye & thoughts.

As for an update to our adventure:

• I'm still unemployed and waiting on direction to move forward, job or no job - while in the meantime, I'm setting up my trading desk w/ dual monitors at this time.
  (8 monitors will be my dream system).
• I'm also paying close attention to smoothly installing the special software platforms that are needed to place my trades.
• Coupled in this, I'm also figuring out useful hacks to retrieve my social data feeds with my trading friends without burning up the whole allotment of bandwidth for the month in one week.  Living on a mountainside allows for few choices on how to stay connected with the internet.....satellite is the only option right now.
  
  You see, trading the world financial markets are going to fund our future life, its exploits and adventures.  I am becoming my dream.
  The 19 year old I was had a great plan for how I've wanted my life to be in my 50's.  :)
• We've been killing the poison ivy and poison oak around the property as I continue to be physically affected by it.  Seems all I have to do is look at it and I start getting bumps on my flesh.   Dealing with these physical effects will be paramount for my future in the woods and on trails.
• Soon our training trail will be laid out for daily excursions up the mountainside behind the home.  Just in time for fall viewing of the foliage! See the view in the video linked in my last post :)
• New healthy recipes are being incorporated in our normal diet and as we continue to try new things, first and foremost, our conversation about these meals always includes the question: "Can we dry this for the trail?"

Thanks for following along!
I'm tickled each day on how our dreams continue to become reality.

P.S.  Annette has settled on a trail name after trying on several over the years.
Penny W. Docktor, April-Rainy-days, Anita B. Tokensom and a few others have come and gone as she has matured as both a hiker and a team mate.
Accepting a bad trail name could be reason for divorce from me I'm told, for she will have to endure hearing it each day, several times a day, while on the trail.  I'll admit, I am quite brutal with songs that include her name, sound effects that I toy with in character voices proclaiming her name with those different voice inflections and the such.  It is annoying, I'll admit, but I practice my art to perfect it. :)

Through this process; spanning several years, I do not desire to drive her crazy, I just DO drive her crazy with my antics.
So, all silliness aside, she has settled on a trail name......
Penny Gr8ful.

Penny Gr8ful is very fitting.
We move forward as a team! 
Kindle McGuinness & Penny Gr8ful.

Keep it simple, keep it positive and keep moving forward, always forward!

The latest chapter

This week began with me being unemployed.

A few days into the week, my wife too became unemployed.

What better thing to do than go hiking with my hiking partner.

Here is a short video showing the view we uncovered from the top of the land that our son owns.

(We have our own mountain to train on to get ready to hike the Appalachian Trail!)

When you come to a fork in the road....take it! :)

I presently stand at a fork in the road and once again need to choose:

• Continue with the vocation I'm presently engaged in

• Choose a new direction with unknown outcomes and challenges

The past has allowed for me to do both but each time I face this fork, I wrestle with the choice.
All in all, each has unknown outcomes.  The one with the challenges has always served me the best of outcomes....I am leaning heavily in that direction.

My decision, as always, keeps this thought in mind: "Which will lead me to the trail quicker?"

Other than that conundrum, I am moving forward with compiling my use of the data from the latest 2014 version of the Appalachian Trail thru-hikers Companion.  I've begun the arduous task of making myself an expert of its knowledge, nuggets and holdings.  At least that is what I've understood to be amassing as I read and transcribe each dot, "i" and "t" within its pages.
I believe I have a unique reason to be undertaking this task for it will benefit myself in how I am deciding to use that data for my hike but also for the bigger picture of helping others in their future need of this data in a friendly use, programed format.  Odd thing though, I do not plan on selling this idea but to freely give of my efforts to ease the planning burden many seem to face as they quickly realize it is not available to them as they plan an undertaking of this type of hike.  
To others, I already realize that my efforts could be considered pointless and a waste of time.  Either way, I'm doing what I am lead to do through dreams of completing the entire trail via three individual 700+ mile sections. There are no tools available for this type of hike planned so I must create the tool I need.  For others (mainly seasonal section hikers) this tool will be held in high regard and invaluable to their planning.....at least I hope it to help them and all for free.  Open source thinking.

This year the A.T. has grown to 2185 miles and the Companion now includes Elevation Profiles of each described section along the way.  A very welcome addition I might add.  Having the elevation profiles has opened my eyes to the many trail journal & documented "PUD's" along the way. 
(PUD's: Pointless UP's and Down's as some hikers refer to them).

Enough ramblings for now, I have need to enact my next move.....   to be continued:

Thoughts DO become reality!

Six months have passed and in the whirlwind called life (or is it a fast dance?), either way, I now reside in the state of Kentucky and am in the second week of a new job that is preparing us for the trail.
There is no way I could have ever planned the recent events that fell into place to allow me to be sitting in an actual home on the sunny side of a mountain to write from while working a job that is GUARANTEED to force us to loose the pounds we desire to loose in preparation for through hiking the Appalachian Trail.
I am blessed and I'll be sharing the "To The Trail"'stories here soon.

As always.......to be continued.  :)

A while ago......

...we arrived in New York State with encouraged hearts and willing desire.

It has taken a few months to acclimate to the change of pace but I needed the boost to have my inner aspiration re-kindled, from a ember, into a flame.

Now is the time to control the process of getting our affairs in order.

There are many forgotten projects and commitments to attend to.

All of which are required to achieve our future excursions in the woods.

I’ve decided to pull all stops and push my limits to get this done. 

Jettisoning most, if not everything we have possession wise. 

A few items will be held in storage but I desire to have the storage fit in one mid-sized truck load.

If we have the need to move again before we are hiking, everything we consider near and dear to us should fit on a truck bed and in our 4’x8’ trailer.

The hiking goal became bigger:  The Triple Crown.

Appalachian, Continental Divide & the Pacific Crest Long Distance Trails.

Quite possibly not in that order though.

This way, no matter where we end up in the country, we have a long distance hike to perform that is close to that area.

The less we have, the less we will need as we move forward to being off the grid, by choice.

I am still a few months away from blogging here on a consistent basis, but I felt it was time to do an update.

I’m setting it on my schedule to visit quarterly until I can orchestrate updates monthly to finally weekly.  Who knows, monthly at this point seems feasible.

If I was to share with you all of the goings on, the task would appear to be impossible.

It would appear as the Elephant that needs to be eaten. 
One bite at a time.
I like this challenge that I’ve created for myself.

I fully expect my efforts will allow for plenty of relaxation in the future.  

It is being built into the plan.

Right now the focus is losing the weight. 

Body weight and personal possession weight that owns me more than I own those items.

Physically, I’m so close to being considered “Overweight” vs. “Obese”.  That is a very welcome goal line that I will be crossing with new goals to 165# that need to be crossed.

Spiritually, I’m in touch with my beliefs for they form my path.  
Most times miraculously.  
Seriously, it is a joy to meet each morning with a smile.

Mentally, I’m learning new things daily and polishing up some of my old talents.

One never does know when skills learned will need to be utilized.

Developing courage to face fear and dispel its myths. 

Doing my best to … Keep it simple, keep it positive and keep moving forward, always forward.

~ Kindle

…..to be continued…..

One barrier dissolved.....

It has been a while since posting here but that is not to mean all has been quiet in my life.

This week is the final week of employment at Radford University for both my wife and I.
We venture North to begin orchestrating the next phase that will provide for us while hiking the trail.
Working on financial independence.
The job barrier has dissolved.

We both managed to go from full time to part time with little hiccups and now we venture back to where we grew up to assist our families concerning family matters.
The taste of time freedom has been a welcome taste. 
I desire more of it.

South Western Virginia has served as an awesome place to raise the children to adulthood while allowing us to reacquaint ourselves to each other.
Each new day, we begin the rest of our lives together.

Fear is making its presence known and we accept it for what it is,
thank it for its feedback to our situations and chant:
"Oh, - What The Hell, - Go For It Anyway!"

That phrase alone has allowed me to continually become a human being and not just a human doing.

To The Trail is becoming etched in my soul as something that I want to do NOW more than when it was contrived several years ago.

..... to be continued.