the NEXT big thing

winter gets me down.

don't get me wrong. the winters down here are way mild compared to those of new england. daytime lows rarely drop below 40, and in the sun it can still be downright balmy. but it's definitely winter. and winter gets me down.

which starts the chain of thoughts that leads to my non-traditional lifestyle. namely, long distance self-propelled travelling.

john and i moved to asheville with the intention of escaping the northern climes of our youths, enjoying the community of a hippie town, and putting down temporary roots while we planned our next adventure; plans are in the works. i hesitate to write them down, because, notoriously plans change, especially when they are as far off as these, but they are so exciting, and writing them makes them feel more real.

the short-hand version is "PCT 2012." gotta get it in before the world ends, obviously. the longer version is more exciting, tho. our goal currently is to leave asheville early (possibly as early as Jan 1) 2012, and head south by bicycle, escaping the cold mountains for the beaches of south carolina, georgia, and florida. travel all the way to key west (the southernmost city in all the continental US), and then make our way (by bicycle, of course) across the southern portions of this country to SoCal, probably closely tracing the route mapped by adventure cycling. all told, we should arrive in Cali with comfortable time enough to ship our bikes up to BC and make our lives once again about walking.

of course when we finish the PCT we plan to continue travelling, but where exactly and to what end is not allowed to be on the radar yet. that's just too far off. but with skill and forethought we're hoping to make this next trip last upwards of 2 years, ideally even longer.

so the question becomes: can we convince ourselves to stay put for that long? 2 years is longer than i've lived in any one home since moving out of my parents house at the start of college nearly 8 years ago (actually i believe the current record is held by a dover, nh apartment at 15 months), and i'm obviously already feeling the itch, considering how much planning i find myself doing for a trip that's supposedly 24 months away. lately my average seems to be about 6 months in one place or doing one thing, which will only get me a quarter of the way there.

anyway that's our current plan for the next big thing. assuming we can wait that long.

i've got a bike you can ride it if you like

first order of business upon arrival to asheville: finding adequate modes of transportation. john and i both vowed, somewhat coinciding with the time line of our at hikes, not to own cars anymore. this worked out fine for me living in boston, and fine for him living in new york, but the rest of the world is hardly so self-propelled/public transit friendly.

living in boston, everything i could conceivably need was within easy walking or bus/train riding distance. my mile walk to and from work passed a grocery store, the laundromat was around the corner, as were all manner of restaurants, and let's face it, there wasn't much else i wanted. there were many a time i took 2 hr walks to get to a luncheon date, enjoyed a meal, and walked the 2 hrs back home--but this was for pleasure, not ever out of necessity. after walking for 8+ hrs/day for 6 months straight, walking for the better part of a day doesn't feel like a waste of time.

moving to asheville sight unseen was risky, given my commitment to not owning a car. that, and the fact that i didn't own a bike or any other means of transportation other than my shoes (which were brand new thanks to an awesome return policy from patagonia!). but, with some generous help from chaco and wak, john and i were both able to procure cheap old 10-speeds at reasonable prices. my bike is a red schwinn world, with a white water bottle cage and white handlebar tape. it looks pretty awesome.

biking in asheville is moderately challenging, because it's so mountainous, and there are a few places that are less than convenient to get to (i'm thinking of crossing the french broad to get over to west asheville, specifically), but generally speaking it is a very manageable town. so far my coveting of 4 wheeled rapid transport is mostly connected to my coveting of freecycle furniture that requests "must be picked up today." biking up to the real mountains for a hiking trip is also self limiting: by the time you get reasonably out of town you've already climbed over 2000 feet, and you're downright exhausted. this is, in part, a result of the quality of our bikes. but it also means we don't have to travel far for bicycle based entertainment: a 7 mile climb out of town means a 7 mile descent back down.

when it began, choosing to be self propelled meant having less impact on the world. i'm finding, tho, even more important, it is a way for me to remain present in my life. it's hard to remember that the journey is the destination when you're trapped inside a car, zooming to a destination, or stuck cursing in traffic, separated from the rest of the world; travel becomes only the means to an end. being forced to ride a bike to get anywhere (everywhere) reminds me daily that it's important to slow down and appreciate all the moments, because they are ALL part of life. and no matter how grumpy i am when i wake up in the morning and have to go to work (and believe me, i can be a grumpy ass grump in the morning) by the time i get to the hospital, after 15 minutes of pedaling hard and wind in my face, i couldn't feel better. rainy days included.

southern living

it's been a long time since i've posted on this blog, and recent updates in blogosphere (namely maury's blog resurrection) caused me sufficient blog envy as to push me back into blogging mode. there are a lot of things i've been meaning to catalog, and for as many things to write i've had as many excuses.

turns out excuses are lame. so i'm writing again!

first and foremost, i've moved to the south. and i'm not talking connecticut, it's technically new england but not really, "south." i'm not even talking delaware, the state no one (except my great-aunt, apparently, and john's parents' beach house) actually lives, "south." i'm talking several states south of the mason dixon line, south. i'm talking, if someone passes you in the street and you make eye contact get ready for a half hour conversation, south. i'm talking grits loving, barbeque loving, tempeh loving south.

wait... did i just say "tempeh loving south"? OH, yeah, that's right, i moved to asheville: hippie capital of the south east.

asheville is beautiful. for those of you who don't know, it's up in the mountains of western north carolina (wnc), about 40 miles north east of the great smokey mountains national park. it's far enough south that it doesn't suffer from debilitating winters that last 6 months, but high enough in the mountains that it still boasts beautiful fall foliage and occasional snow storms (that melt the same day). but don't let that fool you. i didn't move here for the weather... (or did i?)

asheville is one of the most progressive towns in the south. many of it's 70,000 inhabitants are transplants from around the country, drawn to the open, free spirit and insane amounts of street musicians. oh, and did i mention vegan food? yeah, they have that here. lots of it.

asheville is the kind of town that felt like home as soon as i arrived, which is impressive for a native new englander in a southern town. don't get me wrong, the southern stereotype is alive and strong in the surrounding communities (i come into contact with them a great deal at work), and no doubt this is the buckle of the bible belt, but people don't look at me funny if i'm wearing my patch pants walking around town, or question that i don't own a car and ride my bike everywhere for transportation, and dug up my whole back yard to make a vegetable garden, and *gasp* don't eat animal products. who wouldn't love a town that has a drum circle downtown every friday night, a bike recyclery where you can get free help and advice on fixing your bike, and unbelievably cheap parts (both new and used), a local whole foods type grocery store that sells bulk tofu for $1.79/lb, a thriving artists community and downtown art scene, and street musicians on every corner? well, i'm sure there are people who wouldn't love that, but i do!

so i'm settling up for a while. two years of travelling and living with one foot out the door is enough for a while.* besides, i'm out of dough. time to re-try my had at the domesticated arts and nesting.

*this is my current opinion and is subject to change without notice

journey's end

to fill in the final details:

the evening in johnson was filled with an open mic concert out in the town park, complete with a town drunkard's rendition of "rockin' robin" and highschool death metal garage band.

we hitched in the dark back out to the trail, and walked up a road about a mile to prospect rock, which apparently was a cool spot to the locals, since there were "no camping" and "no partying" signs up everywhere, tho honestly i was nonplussed. we camped there, because it was late and it was going to rain.

eventually we made it to the road crossing for eden, vt, which is a town made of a general store and a highway. there is an rv campground not far up the road, that let us set up a tent, take showers, and do laundry all for a total of $20, which is pretty good. the owner was a very nice woman who just happened to be a little crazy, also. she gave us a ride back to the trail the next morning, and was very firm in letting us know that we were about to hike the MOST difficult part of the entire long trail (the 10 miles between eden and hazen's notch, over belvidere mtn), and that we should be aware that it would take us no less than 2 full days, and that should we find it too hard we could take this or this blue blaze to a road with people where we could call her and she would come pick us up. oh, and also, if it rained she wouldn't let us leave her campground.

so we crossed our fingers that it wouldn't rain, since obviously we didnt want to have that argument, and made it to hazen's notch by 1pm the next day (after about 4 hrs of hiking). perhaps because of her goading, or perhaps because we were just ready for real showers and cotton clothes, we decided the last 30 miles, which we planned to hike in 3 days, were definitely going to be a 2 day hike.

and so on saturday we embarked on an 18 mile sprint to the finish, up and over jay peak (which may have actually been the hardest climb on the whole long trail), where we unexpectedly encountered bathrooms with running water and had a washing and drying party of unsurpassed awesomeness. and after hauling through several 3+mph miles, at less than 1/4 mile from the finish, on a slab of algae coverered wet rock, in downpouring rain, my feet decided they didn't want to be under me anymore and the next thing i knew my head had collided with something that was decidedly not air. john was terrified, i didn't really know what had happened, but apparently i was bleeding from my head (just above my left eye) and my hip was pretty messed up as well.

so after getting cleaned up, i hobbled to the finish, we took some mediocre 'summit' photos, and then limped the last .6mi to journey's end camp, where we cooked dinner and went to bed.

then what should have been an epic hitch-hiking journey began, but instead, we got a first car hitch with another hiker back to his car (about 20 miles south on the trail in hazen's notch), and he drove us nearly the entire length of the state of vermont back south to bennington.

and then we got a 3rd car hitch to my parent's house and now i'm getting kicked off the computer.

but we're home and neither of us are dead! hurrah!

johnson, vt

two town days in a row. awesome.

so we managed to delay hiking until about 530 last night, and then walked 3.4 miles to a pond on top of the smuggler's notch ski mountain...which was awesome. then we explored the warming hut .1mi away, to find it filled with garbage and totally disgusting (although someone did bring a large amount of rope and hang a couch from the ceiling...that was interesting). so we decided to cowboy out on the top of the ski hill, and had only been settled in for, maybe, 10 minutes, when i thought i saw lightening out of the corner of my eye...we all know how i feel about that.

so i stared at the horizon for 15 minutes or so, and saw nothing, gave up and decided to get back to getting to sleep, when john thought HE saw lightning. so then we BOTH stared at the horizon until we were able to confirm that neither of us was crazy, and we both saw lighening at the same time. and then we packed up our stuff and night hiked to the .3 miles to the nearest shelter, which was a fee site ($5 each). sort of a bummer, especially considering it didn't rain at all overnight, and we had to shell out $10 to sleep on the floor of a pretty crummy shelter, listen to mice eat the caretaker's food, and the section hiker's snoring.

oh, but then the caretaker said he would make us pancakes for breakfast as a special thru-hiker trail magic treat...which he did, but we had to wait around for nearly an hour for him to wake up (which was a bummer, given our desire to start hiking early and beat the heat), and then add to that, they were probably the grossest pancakes ever created and consumed by a human being (i venture to guess...i imagine if ever worse pancakes were created, they were most certainly not consumed but rather turned into trash or compost as they rightfully deserved to be).

in any event, we managed to climb the two small mountains in our way and make it down to johnson, vt, where we have so far spent about 2 hrs trying desperately to avoid the heat and eat food. guess how hot!? keep in mind, this is vermont, and practically canada:

94

yup. that's only 4 degrees colder than blue ridge parkway death heat.

on the plus side, tuesday is apparently the coolest day ever to be in johnson, because there is a farmer's market at 4, then a free open mic concert at 630, then bluegrass at the local pub/pizzeria in the evening.

oh, and we're only 50 miles from canada.

stowe, vt

it's been hot. not quite death heat hot, but hot, none-the-less.

we walked for a couple days over the tallest mountain in vermont, also known as mt. mansfield, and the home of stowe ski resort. pretty awesome day for it, sunny, clear, warm, etc, but the haze was so bad we couldn't even see back the 30 miles or whatever it was to camels hump, where we had been only a couple days earlier. supposedly we should have been able to see all the way to canada from there.

so last night we slept at the picnic area just down the hill from smuggler's notch, and are now spending the day in stowe, vt, where everything is overpriced and touristy. things are so overpriced, in fact, that we're NOT going to ride the alpine slides. at $20 each a ride, it stops being awesome and starts being a total rip-off.

i bought a sweet pair of socks to put on my pack shoulder straps to protect my bare shoulders from the abrasive heat induced pain they've been suffering. that's a picture of them there, with the bear. and i think our plan is to hike out of town tonight after dark, to avoid the heat of the day. something like 3ish miles up to sterling pond shelter. maybe spend the rest of the day today avoiding the heat in a movie theater...we already had thai food, which was my main town objective.

one week left til canada.

waterbury, vt

back on the trail again. we hiked over camels hump yesterday, which was a pretty awesome climb to an amazing 360 degree view of the green mountains. the hike down was LOOOOONG (we just passed the lowest point on the entire LT at 36o ish ft at the winooski river). tomorrow, or perhaps the next day, we pass the highest point on the entire trail, mt mansfield, which apparently is shaped like a face, and the peaks of it are so named (the forehead, the chin, the nose, the adams apple).

today we are in waterbury, where we will eat thai food, resupply, do laundry, and look like bums. we officially have less than 100 miles to go, and current plans put us in canada around the 23rd or 24th of this month. that's 10 days from now, and an average of 10mpd. awesome.