{"id":282,"date":"2025-07-03T15:21:20","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T19:21:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/goforthintotheworld.com\/?p=282"},"modified":"2025-07-03T15:24:29","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T19:24:29","slug":"what-are-my-plans-for-the-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goforthintotheworld.com\/?p=282","title":{"rendered":"What are my plans for the future?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I am still recovering physically but feeling much better today after some great meals, rest, and time with my family. Marion Hoffman and I communicated multiple times yesterday, and I am very hopeful that he will be able to join me in thru-hiking the Florida Trail from Pensacola to the Everglades in the near future. Knowing that my responsibilities are covered for the next 6 months, I want to take advantage of this window and think the Florida Trail is the way to go. Since this trail is fairly flat (max elevation about 200 feet), I believe hiking 15-20 miles hikes per day is possible. The trail is 1,400 miles, so we should be able to finish the Florida Trail within 3 months. My family could join me often since we will be in Florida, and I will be available for Thanksgiving and Christmas 2025. After finishing the Florida Trail, I have time for another AT section hike, cycling, a cruise, SCUBA diving or other adventure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Since I have already done significant portions of the Appalachian Trail (Springer Mountain to Neel\u2019s Gap, Georgia; Presidential Range in White Mountain, NH; Mt. Katahdin to White Cap Mountain, ME), I still think completing the AT with multiple section hikes (1-2 week hikes) is possible over the next 5-10 years. Kathy thinks we can arrange vacation locations around sections needed to finish the AT. Like the trail angel I met last week following his thru-hiker wife, she could meet me along the way since road crossings tend to occur every 5-10 miles. Stay tuned!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Our family will again participate in the Florida Frontiersmen\u2019s Alafia River Rendezvous in Homeland, Florida in mid-late January 2026. I love cycling and do have plans to do the Ends of the Earth Cycling Fort Myers to Key West Tour in March 2026. I also have plans to lead a Volunteers in Medical Missions team to Roatan and Olanchito, Honduras in April 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lastly, I hope to return part-time to Shell Point Retirement Community to care for my former patients at least 2-3 days per week in February 2026. Kathy doesn\u2019t think I would do well sitting around the house during retirement, and I truly enjoy practicing medicine. Therefore, working is not only therapeutic for me but makes retirement even more enjoyable!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I am still recovering physically but feeling much better today after some great meals, rest, and time with my family. Marion Hoffman and I communicated multiple times yesterday, and I am very hopeful that he will be able to join me in thru-hiking the Florida Trail from Pensacola to the Everglades in the near future. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-appalachian-trail-thru-hike-2025"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/goforthintotheworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/goforthintotheworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/goforthintotheworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goforthintotheworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goforthintotheworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=282"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/goforthintotheworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":289,"href":"https:\/\/goforthintotheworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/282\/revisions\/289"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goforthintotheworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/goforthintotheworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goforthintotheworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/goforthintotheworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}