Arik Ashborne

I've been talking to this cute punk girl online for a few months, and eventually I asked her to move in with me. This was 2008, and websites like Myspace were in full swing. We met on a site called VampireFreaks.com, which was basically Myspace for emos, punks, goths, and metalheads. I stood at the Greyhound station, excited to meet my once-online, now real-life girlfriend, and really hoping she was who she presented herself to be. The moment she stepped off the bus, I melted.

My wife and I always dreamed of living off-grid on our own land, but we were never able to afford anything—not even a small quarter-acre lot. We were sick of paying rent for shitty houses and apartments that charged way too much for the condition they were in, so we started wondering if there was anywhere we could actually afford to live.

Hiking has been an obsession of mine for a while. Finding a new trail and exploring the woods just makes me feel alive. I remember living in Birmingham, Alabama, and hiking the trails at Oak Mountain State Park. The blue trail was my favorite cause it led to a waterfall at the end. It's been a dream of mine to hike the Appalachian Trail, which stretches across 14 states, and tomorrow I was going to start my 2,198-mile hike. The start of the Appalachian Trail begins at the top of Springer…