43 Days-First Stop: El Paso

About a week ago Portrait and I sat down and started the search for plane tickets.  We had no real date in mind—just a vague notion that we should start sometime in April.  Not too early and not too late.

We consulted calendars, checked the phase of the moon, checked when other hikers were starting out, we checked with Trail Angel Sam Hughes.  I started the PCT on April 22 which gave me five and a half days to make it to the first town and hitch back for Kick Off, but the CDT has no kick off party.  Hikers will be starting in ones, twos, and threes all spring and Portrait and I will be among them.

Our fly out days came down to picking the best flight:  cheapest, limited amount of stops, reasonable departed and arrival times.  A flight into El Paso, Texas on April 9^th had what we were looking for.  That afternoon from El Paso we will take Greyhound to Deming, NM where we will be picked up by Sam Hughes.  Sam will let us tent in his backyard for a night and then the next day he will drive us down to Crazy Cook on the Mexico Border.

From there it will be onward to Canada.