OXFORD – Rick and Sally May are taking the hike of their lives.

On Monday, they will board a bus in downtown Lewiston with only a pack on their backs and set off on a six-month journey that will lead them from Georgia back to Maine. They are hiking the 2,175-mile Appalachian Trail.

“You can always go to work and make money,” said Rick May as he and wife, Sally, spoke about their upcoming adventure in the garage they run on Allen Hill Road. “We’re doing something for us.”

The idea of hiking the entire trail had been on their minds for years, but the day has finally come. Their business was closed on Thursday. It wasn’t a simple transition. For Rick, waking up last week without a job to go to was not as easy as one would think. “Now what do I do?” he asked himself.

The answer was simple. Pack up and move on out.

The Mays will spend a day and a half on a bus to Springer Mountain in Georgia where they will begin their trek. The trail ends at mile-high Mount Katahdin, near Millinocket.

The couple agree that the hardest part may be the 12- to 16-hour days on the trail. “It’s the day after day,” they said of the drudgery. But then that’s part of the excitement, they added.

“There has to be a carrot every day,” said Sally of the need to mentally psyche themselves up for the day-to-day walk. The carrot might be a spectacular view or a hot shower and meal at a local hostel.

The couple will be carrying gear that will weigh some 25 to 30 pounds on their backs. The packs will include their sleeping bags, a tent, food, dried meals, instant oatmeal and hot chocolate, a propane cooking stove and plenty of socks.

“You have to keep your feet happy,” Sally said.

Every six or seven days the couple will visit a town to pick up a supply package, get a meal or maybe even spend a night at a local hotel. They have set up mail drops so that packages will be waiting for them at local post offices along the trail. The packages have been pre-packed and will be mailed from Oxford by family members who will be staying at their home and caring for the couple’s cat while they are away.

There will also be people all along the route willing to extend help to the “thru hikers” – those who hike the trail from start to finish.

They are particularly excited that their young grandchildren will be keeping track of their trip on a map.

The Mays said many people have asked them why they want to go. At the end of the day, they say they want to know that they did more than just work in their lifetime, that they did something for themselves.

“Enjoy the journey. It’s not the destination,” Sally said.