Afraid Of The Night

Part 1

January 3, 2024

Just like every other Wednesday morning, Amanda's alarm went off at 4:30am. She loved her little apartment in Newport, Tennessee. Newport was a small town in rural Tennessee, population of about 4,000.

Her apartment was small and affordable, it was all she really needed; it had a on site gym and laundromat. She had lived here for 2 years already and had no intentions on moving anytime soon.

She got up early every day to go to a job she loved! She was a daycare worker in the nursery room, where she worked with kids from 6 weeks to 6 months old. At the present moment, there were 8 kids in Amanda's nursery room. She really loved her life and the kids she worked with!

Amanda made coffee, and got dressed. She watched the morning news while packing up her lunch and her backpack for work. Amanda spent so long wrestling a backpack, she never really carried a purse. She always wore a backpack, and carried it as her every day bag. It was just so much more comfortable for her!

She got everything together, locked her door and walked to her car. Luckily there wasn't any snow, but it was about 12 degrees outside. So she took her time, letting her car warm up before she pulled away.

She got to work 15 minutes later. All Care Daycare has a class maximum size of 10. Luckily for Amanda, she also enjoyed working with Lily.

Lily was 19, and had just joined All Care Daycare a few weeks prior. She was proving to be a great addition to the team. The daycare had been growing rapidly the last few months! So the extra hands were appreciated, and Lily had a way with the babies. Maybe because she couldn't wait to have a baby herself. Lily was being trained to have total control of the nursery for three weeks.

Those three weeks were coming up in late April! Amanda was taking her personal time off then, to fulfill one of her goals for the year. It was only one of many goals but she was super excited about this one. She was gonna be spending three weeks section hiking the Appalachian Trail(often referred to as the AT).

Amanda was a 24yo college drop out. She realized that the debt wasn't worth the profession it gave her, so she decided to work at the Daycare. She also realized that her profession greatly effected her hobbies. She had many, but her one true love hobby wise had always been backcountry hiking and camping. Amanda was fortunate to live close to the Great Smoky Mountain National Park. Which she frequented often!

Her mom, Lydia, instilled a love of hiking in her early on. Amanda started hiking at 3 years old in the Pacific North West. Lydia started her with short days hikes, just to get her little legs used to all that walking. Her mom reminded her of that first hike, often... "She had nearly gotten lost." her mom reminded her every time.  Her dad had nearly lost it when he found out.

Amanda was conditioning herself already for her trip on the AT! She walked 2 miles a day, and hiked 5 miles on one of her days off! When the weather was poor, she hopped on the treadmill in the gym at her apartment.

She was gathering ultra light gear too, frequently her birthday and Christmas gifts included some form of hiking or backpacking gear. Her birthday was coming up on March 12th. She couldn't afford the high end gear, so she just requested whatever she knew she could get by with. She wanted to do a couple test hikes to figure out what she wanted to request for her birthday.

Hammock sleeping was a much more comfortable solution for her. So Lydia got her an all weather amazing setup last Christmas! Rain fly and under quilt included plus a 0 degree sleeping bag from her dad, James.

Her sleep system was gonna be tested soon. She had a weekend off coming up, and she was going back county camping! She loved her job, but she loved her outdoor adventures too. Everyone needs some personal time off occasionally!

Amanda intended to enjoy her time off! She had agreed to check in every week at work, just to make sure things were going smoothly with Lily and the babies. Also, her parents insisted that she carry a emergency GPS locator. The GPS locator was solar charged, so there was no fear of it dying. She had her cell phone and a battery bank, for her weekly check in calls.