Dreaming with my tax return…

A bus ticket to Maine. See the real America.

How about a plane ticket to Europe to the Alps.

How about dreaming that next year you'll have no refund because you didn't give the government an interest free loan for the year?

(just kidding – I'm such a party pooper troll : )

+1 airfare

Steophan,

I'm in Texas now. I thought this WAS the real america?? Unlike, say, Chicago. Or California. Or New York.

MMMM…..the alps…….

The challenges for physicists, artists and hikers are the same: time and space. Buy time, get space!

If there is nothing you need, give some away to the the needy and wilderness protection and put the rest in the bank.

Get a cuben shelter…then get the airfare to a sweet place to use it. Just sayin'…

"MMMM…..the alps……."

Try the Bavarian alps. Start in Munich and work your way through Garmish, Bertesgarten, Salzburg, and cross over to Vienna. Lots of great hikes but I suspect you'll have to leave whatever your shelter du jour is at home and suffer through the horrible food and beer you'll find in the gasthaus. And by horrible I mean awesomely heavenly decadently wonderful.

"I Lead" is the state motto, what does Texas have…"We're bigger than y'all"?
Beauty of the coast, solitude of the forests up north.
Great donuts in Brunswick, too.
Go before it turns too trendy.
Bus trip to breath with land and city, road, woods and people trying to wash the grit from their souls. Humanity is both alien and predictable as you pull into a bus station at 3am for a 2 hour lay-over; soooo far removed from a thru-hike but not really.

Put it in the bank. There will be a day, probably sooner than you had hoped, when you really will "need" something.

A Christenson Ocean Pro 3 would be a solid choice.

Pamper your pup at the doggie spa?

Sounds like you are doing well financially and have a field that will only grow (ie. physical therapy). Maybe gear or soft goods to extend your hiking range in lower temperatures? I'd say more mileage but you have pooch. Spend that travel money for transport out West.

Oh yeah – this is just a dreaming thread. I want to owe nothing to anybody so I can comfortably take off 5 months next year to do the PCT. So that (and the PCT account) is where most of it is going…

It's just nice to get a big chunk of change at one time and dream a bit………..

>"I'm in Texas now."

Well, then, only one place to go for more guns, more oil, less people, and way more glaciated mountains.

When I'd been to all 50 states, Alaska was the one I went back to the most often.

(Health care is a pretty good gig here – good wages (no HMOs) combined with low land prices make for a financially flexible lifestyle. And your boss and your co-workers all understand that you have to take time off to be outdoors.)

I say remote control helicopter with a wireless GoPro so we can seek out hot springs, fishing spots and amazing camping spots up ahead on the JMT.

…just sayin'. ;O)

KJ

…then go there and learn how to scuba dive.

I took my then-girlfriend (now wife) there for a week in 1993 to teach her, and we stayed for ten years.

You could always buy one of the Top Ultralight Tents:

http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/ultralight-tent-review-mcdevitt.html

Dave U seems to have a bee in his bonet about that article ;)

I'd second the plane ticket to the alps, it's my favourite place in the world, any time of year.

Dude, just get a REALLY big pack and fill it with all the newest gadgets:

Yards of cuben and Xpac for MYOG and a bunch of hardware. MYOG gets me though the downtime between trips.

A nice road bike. Seasonally appropriate, and good fitness which won't hurt your ankle.

How about a packraft? (if you are interested in that sort of thing)