How it all started

About 3-4 years ago, I was watching tv on pbs or some travel channel and came across a documentary on someone hiking an island in Japan (Karen Muller, Japanland). She talked about hiking to 88 temples and getting a stamp from each one in a special book. She traveled the island with a backpack and walking stick, exploring different parts of the island. At the time, I wrote down the name of the island on a slip of paper, noting that this would be something that I would want to look into someday.

Sometime in 2007, I decided that I was going to hike Shikoku island. The 88 temple pilgrimage is no walk in the park. It would be very demanding on the body and was something I'd like to do while I was still relatively young. I calendared myself and friends for September 2009 to embark on my adventures. Timing to coincide with a 5 year sabbatical that my work would've given me to take 2-3 months of unpaid time off, but while holding my job for me. In 2008, the global economy collapsed. I changed teams, and having just started in a new role, decided to push my journey back a year.

Fast forward to last week. After months and years of talking about hiking Shikoku, I finally asked and got approval from my manager to take the 3 months of time off i need for the 900 mile trek. So here I am now, 2.5 months away from an early March departure. I'm starting this blog to document my travels because I know this is something I will definitely want to look back on, and i know if i kept a physical journal, i would surely lose it or misplace it.

So that's how it all started. This blog is mainly for myself, but if you happen to follow or stumble upon it, I hope it's somewhat entertaining or enlightening.