My pack weighs 25 pounds. Tomorrow I will park my car where I could walk no further one year ago. I will walk into the woods, companioned by only my dog, Paulo. I will walk south, attempting to cover another distance on my journey to Georgia before I return to school for the spring semester.

The lines under my eyes are thicker than I have ever seen them. My lifestyle here is going to kill me. Late dinners, late nights, late mornings. Its time to take control again and get back on track.

I don’t know how far I will go. I have yet to look at the map lodged in my hip pocket. The goal is freedom and peace. And this is the only way I know how to get both of those in one fell swoop.