[at-l] Taking care of business

[daveh@psknet.com (Dave Hicks)]

Sorry.

I'm missing a url and grabbed the wrong one.  Jim created a list of homefire
questions that I thought were a good check list.

The following is an extract that I have in a word document on my machine.
It may or may not be an exact quote, as I am not sure what I did with it
once I copied it.

So, where it is insightful, or helps with the getting organized, credit Jim.

Where it is a problem, blame me.

>>
Do you rent an apartment or house? Will you move out? Sublet? If not, how
will you pay the rent? What will you do with your furniture and belongings?

Do you own a house? Will you move out? Have someone house sit for you? Sell?
Rent? How will you pay the mortgage and property taxes? Who will take care
of necessary repairs and maintenance while you are gone?

Do you have furniture? What will you do with your belongings? Are you sure
you'll know where to find everything when you get back? Will you make a list
to remind you where it is? [Stuff walks]

Do you own tools? How will you make sure you still have them when you get
back? [Tools walk faster and farther.]

Do you have the time/energy to sort through your belongings before you leave
to figure out what you don't really need any more? How many books do you
have? Will you get rid of some of them? How? Where will you store the rest?

Do you own a gun? Who'll keep it - in a safe place?

Will you have a storage locker? Where? How big? How much will it cost? How
long will you keep it? How will you move your belongings in - and out? How
will it be paid for? Can you get a "deal" on it? Who'll know where it is and
who'll have access? ["Access" means more than just giving them the key - it
also means "authorization".]

Do you have pets? Who'll keep them, feed them, take care of them while
you're gone? Who'll pay for food, vet bills, etc while you're gone? How?

Do you have a car? When does your car registration need to be renewed? When
does your drivers license expire? Before you return from the trail maybe??
Where will you store the car while you're gone? Who'll drive it while you're
gone? [Cars deteriorate rapidly if they're not driven periodically]

Does the car need to be inspected before you get back? Who will do it? How
will they pay for it?

When does the car insurance expire? Will it be paid up for the time you'll
be on the trail? If not, who will pay it? How?

Do you have household insurance? Will it be paid up for the time you'll be
on the trail? When does it expire? Who'll pay for it? How?

Do you have clothes you can wear after you get off the trail? [If you lose
weight or change shape - your pretrail clothes won't fit.] Where will you
store them? How will you get them after you've finished the trail?

Do you/will you have a safe deposit box? Who has the key and authorization?

Who will have your checkbook? Will they have bank authorization to use it?

Do you have a current will? Do you need to give someone power of attorney?
[If so, write it with a time limit or automatic revocation clause]

Have you done your income taxes (both State and Federal)? Are you expecting
a refund? Who will keep an eye on your mail and deposit it for you?

If your "on-trail" mailing address is in a different state, what does that
mean with respect to auto registration, income tax, voter registration,
school financial status, etc?

Where will your mail go? Who'll pay the bills? (last-month bills, on-trail
bills, credit cards?)

Will someone monitor your mail for important stuff - like tax refunds, IRS
audit notices, jury duty notices, etc.?

What credit cards do you have? Which one(s) will you use on the trail? What
will you do with the others? Who'll pay the bills while you're gone? How?

What magazines do you subscribe to? Where do you want them sent while you're
gone? Which ones do you want to cancel? Which ones need to be renewed while
you're gone? Who'll pay for them? How? [Can you prepay them?]

What organizations do you belong to? When do the membership dues/fees need
to be paid? Who'll pay them? How? [Can you prepay them?]

What kind of medical care do you need before leaving? Podiatrist?
Chiropractor? Dental? Medical checkup? Optometrist?

Will you be able to continue your health insurance while you're gone? How
will you pay for it? What are their policies about getting service
out-of-area?

How will you get prescriptions filled along the trail? Will you buy six
months worth of medicine ahead of time? How will it be stored (should it be
refrigerated?) and mailed? Will you get a small quantity of certain
prescription medicines for your first aid kit before you go (i.e. epipen,
pain killer, altitude medicine?)

Do you have a spare pair of glasses/contacts that can be mailed to you or
put in the drift box?

For the PCT and CDT - Do you have prescription dark glasses or glacier
glasses? Where will they be when you need them? How will you get them when
you need them?

What kind of training will you want to get before you go on the trail? First
Aid? CPR? Map & compass? Wilderness First Aid? Winter mountaineering? Learn
to use an ice axe? Or crampons? Snowshoes maybe?

If you're married and your spouse is staying behind to act as support, have
you thought about how the hike will affect them? Do they understand what
you're doing and why? What can you do to help them understand? What can you
do to help them realize their dreams? Are you/they sure they can handle
things without you there? What do you need to do to be sure that they can?

When will you tell people at work that you're leaving? Will they support
you, or will planning to leave get you fired? Or will they gradually take
away all responsibility so you are left with nothing to do for the last few
weeks or months?

Can you get a leave of absence? Or will you have to quit or retire?

Have you updated your resume? [Do it before you tell your boss you're
leaving!]

What do you need to do to clean up your life before you can leave? What
unfinished business/loose ends are you leaving behind? What can you do about
them?

When you get off the trail:

How much money will you have left?

How long can you survive without a job? What kind of job will you be
qualified for? How soon will you "have to" go back to work?

Do you want to go back to your old life, or start over someplace else?

What do you want to do with the rest of your life? What changes will you
want to make?

Where will you live? Location (what state/ town?) What kind of housing?
Momma's house? Apartment? Rent or buy a house?

Will you need to buy a car?

You may need medical attention - will you have medical insurance?

Remember to revoke the power of Attorney you left behind.

Especially after the first few weeks, friends and family won't be at all
interested in your hike/pictures/slides/stories. How will you handle this?

Your family and friends will expect you to be the same person and act (and
react) in the same ways you did before you hiked. But you won't be the same.
So how will you handle this? How will you go about finding out who you are
now?
<<

Chainsaw

BTW -- here is a url for a set of mostly on-the-trail Questions:

http://trailwise.circumtech.com/atlthruhikingquestionsandd




----- Original Message -----
From: Amy <askowronek@mindspring.com>
To: Dave Hicks <daveh@psknet.com>
Cc: AT-List <at-l@mailman.backcountry.net>
Sent: Sunday, January 06, 2002 8:49 PM
Subject: Re: [at-l] Taking care of business


>
>
> Dave Hicks wrote:
>
> >>>What do you folks do about the rest of your lives while you're gone?
Do
> >>>
> > you not own houses?  Do you not have pets, children, other
> > responsibilities?<<
> >
> > If you have not seen it, you might want to check out Jim's site on
> > consideration:
> >
>
>
> Hadn't seen it before, and just looked now.. but I don't see how
> it addresses my question, other than a vague HYOH..
>
> Or did you mean it was an inconsiderate question?  If so I apologize.
>
> -amy in md
>
>
>
>