I'm reading along here Trail Journals to follow a friend's younger sister's hike of the Applachian Trail. It's a continuation of a hike she began four or so years ago that was halted by a broken foot. The AT apparently has more nicknames than a Clinton County softball tournament, and Gator Goat drops them like she's at a Hollywood Red Carpet event.
There's a term she's used during both hikes, a 'trail term' I guess you could call it that I need to adopt: A Zero Day. This is a day of rest, where no hiking is done and the hiker allows her/his body to recoup. I take days like this, but I never had a name for them.
"We're not going anywhere today," I'll state to the kids, while we have a day of no commitments or errands. I usually try to swing the calendar so the zero days fall on Monday - always good after the weekend, I figure, and even the kids who don't usually nap can be convinced to 'just rest a bit' on Monday.
This morning, as I was shooing the girls off to put on some play clothes E3 asked, "Where are we going?"
Nowhere.
While combing her hair, E2 casually queried, "So. Where are we going today?"
Nowhere.
And, late this morning, after the third time E1 had asked, "What can I do now?", I asked her, "What would you like to do?" To which she hopefully suggested, "Go somewhere?"
Nope.
It's A Zero Day, people. Hunker down.
2 comments:
Don't forget to tell them to "smoke 'em if they got 'em". I thought zero days were descriptive of the work I get done on the weekends.
We love our Zero Days and make a point to have at least one during the week and at least one on the weekend.
Thanks for posting the link to Gator Goat's journal. Rodney and I both enjoyed reading her journal during her first attempt at the trail (geez, I can't believe it's already been four years ago!!!) and we've both bookmarked her current journal so we can follow her progress.
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