Schedule!? I'm on my own time!

This blog is a not-so-sly reference to a work discussing Time as the temporality of Being; as an active, cumulative, ever-present constant that accompanies it. However, given that, for better or for worse, someone once decided to map out days and weeks and hours in equal segments for the sake of convenience, it makes sense that quite a few people have been asking where we expect to be and when. So friends! In short, I am not sure. I have outlined a sort of tentative schedule, but so many factors will determine our pace that it seems silly to even pretend that I can guess where we'll find ourselves in a month's time. Included among these factors are weather, injury, illness, general lollygagging including but not limited to: Sarah is taking too many pictures, Sarah wants to stop and write something down every ten seconds, Pat is running low on cash and has started a poker game with some poor unsuspecting and soon-to-be-broke hikers, etc. etc. etc. I could be back on my couch in a month for all I know, ha. So, I will present the Possible First Half (question mark), according to a conservative estimate. By 'conservative estimate' I mean that I tried to guess acccording to a slow-to-normal pace. So, particularly in the later Virginian parts of this, we may be [quote] ahead of schedule [unquote]. So, if you're planning on sending something/meeting us, the best option would be to call my phone and leave a message. Bear in mind (Bears...oh my.) that I won't be able to check messages until I actually can call my voicemail in a town, so shoot for way early, please, thank you. Now then.

We are starting in Blue Ridge, Georgia, at Springer Mountain. My good friend and general All-star of Life, the lovely and talented Miss Homer, has agreed to house us and transport us to the mountain, which is approximately 2 hours from Atlanta. I am eternally grateful. And after that we'll just be...you know...walking. Northward. Here are my guesstimations:

Georgia to North Carolina
Springer Mountain: March 15. RIP Caesar. Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad.
Franklin, NC: March 25ish
Fontana Dam, NC: March 28ish
Great Smoky Mountains & NC/TN Border
Gatlinburg, TN: April 2-3ish
Hot Springs, NC: April 9ish
Erwin, TN: April 15ish
the Virginia quarter, incl. Shenandoah National Park
Damascus, VA: April 25-27ish
Troutdale, VA: May 1ish
Pearisburg, VA: May 10-11ish
Glasgow, VA: May 25ish
Waynesboro, VA: June 1-2ish
[bit of a stretch w/ no P.O. stops, though we'll be by Front Royal, VA in here]
The Unoffical Halfway Point and A.T. Conservancy headquarters
Harpers Ferry, WV: June 15-17ish

And thus concludes the psychological first half. Although, due to constant re-routing and lengthening and battles with landowners and conservation efforts, etc., the actual halfway point is about 3 miles south of Rt.233 in Pennsylvania. But you celebrate in West Virginia I guess. Meh.

Alright, I won't go beyond that- I'm too superstitious.

I hope you are healthy and well, dears.
Also thank you thank you thank you to my beautiful friends for the dinners and drinks and goodies. Undying love showerings to: Teenie, MK, James, Dan, Moon, Janine, Alysha, and K. Rems. And Mom and Dad. Thank you for my extra 7 unplanned pounds to carry... not in my pack. Hahaha. But more importantly, thank you for the conversation and the connection. It means a lot to me. You all are my heart.


2 days until departure for Atlanta. Apparently it's going to rain all next week. Oh well... welcome aboard, I guess.
I have been spending inordinate amounts of time with my guitar, which I will miss dearly. And though I always spend inordinate amounts of time with my books, I have been doing that too.

And I am so nervous that I am finding it difficult to swallow.

Related, only not.

I was thinking, today, about pieces I will miss from my life as it is now. I was looking at things. And I was working on a project. And I was reading Plato. And in this stewing jambalaya of life and thoughts and forms and objects and things and images and past and present and future and layers and dimensions and space and threads and coincidences, in a rapid succession of realizations, this photograph was born.



So, though it does not seem much related to the ostensible subject of this blog, which (until it is not) is presently hiking, it is actually closely related to the ultimate subject, namely, myself and my thoughts and whatever/wherever they come from and lead to. And you. The trail, you see, is long, meandrous and often labyrinthine, friends.

When I return, whether in three weeks or six months, and decide to explore a penniless life of expression, this will all make sense. Or it won’t. Maybe I will remake this photo with better lighting, alignment, whatever. But that might defeat the purpose. Maybe I will come back and launch a career as a stand-up comic specializing in philosophical self-reflexive humor. But then, only I will think my jokes are funny.

Peace babies.

Contact Deportivo

Hello dearests.

Here are many(!) points of interest regarding contact information. You will have to bear with me, as until recently I did not think I would be relegated to the “primary planner” role on this excursion. However, considering that I do not really believe in plans, but instead favor loose outlining, we are managing alright. In related non-technical news, there is a thought I had the other day tacked on at the end of this very long post. Those thoughts are more my style anyways. This planning business just makes the left half of my brain hurt. It too requires pre-hike conditioning, apparently. Grand.

Now then.

#1: You can always leave me voicemails, which I will check when I reach town(s). Let me know if you don’t have/would like the number.

#2: I have compiled a list of post offices that we will probably be stopping at, or ones that we will be very close to in our travels without straying too far out of the way (multitudinous extra miles = not desirable.) Should you wish to send some love my way (or Pat‘s way!), it can best be addressed as follows:

Sarah Wetherbee
c/o General Delivery
[Town Name, Zip Code]

…Also, best to write “Hold for AT Thru-hiker” somewhere off to the side. They will understand. They do this a lot. The magical world of General Delivery allows one to receive mail without actually having a local address or P.O. Box: a spectacular practice for a roving lifestyle. Also #2: try to let me know if you ship something along, so we make sure to grab it.

We will be stopping at or near the post offices of:
Franklin, NC 28734
Fontana Dam, NC 28733
Gatlinburg, TN*
*c/o The Happy Hiker, 453 Brookside Village Way, Gatlinburg, TN 37738 [don’t write ‘General Delivery’ if you’re sending something here… it won’t leave the post office.]
Hot Springs, NC 28743
Damascus, VA 24236
Troutdale, VA 24378
Pearisburg, VA 24134
Glasgow, VA 24555
Waynesboro, VA 22980
Harper’s Ferry, WV 25425
And, if you are a procrastinator, and/or you are optimistic that we’ll make it past the half-way point:
Duncannon, PA 17020
Port Clinton, PA 19549
Pawling, NY 12564
[here, if all my limbs are still intact, I will be taking a sweet vacation home in Boston] ...And then on to:
Hanover, NH 03755
Goreham, NH 03581
Rangeley, ME 04970
Monson, ME 04464
…And then on to Baxter State Park, via the “100-mile Wilderness” where there are no post offices. And hopefully Mount Katahdin.

My, it all looks so short in list form, no? Right.

So loves! If you’d like to send letters/cards/postcards, etc, that would be spectacular. Really. I mean this with the entirety of my heart: if you write, whatever you write, I will not think that it is weird. Please, I am the manifestation of weird and awkward. I would love and appreciate the gesture. I am undertaking this project for myself, but am not immune to loneliness, of course. The lengthy severance from loved ones will be particularly difficult. My personality is normally comprised of equal parts Loner and Socializer. The shift away from this balance might be the challenge that most intimidates me. I will miss my friends dearly.

If you are feeling especially motivated and could tackle an entire package, we could use things like: crush-resistant snacks, small bottles of Dr. Bronner’s, drink mixes, travel-sized contact solution, candy bars, travel-sized toothpaste, postage stamps, updates on events of interest, ziplock bags, you (see #4), brownies that cannot possibly have any more chocolate stuffed into them, general loving including rainbows, kitties, puppies, ponies, etc.

If you have way too much time on your hands and would like to attempt a project in food dehydration, you might be my new best friend. Details here: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/dry.html. These are the foods that we carry… no water = less weight. We re-hydrate them with the backpacking stove. Basically, it’s dinner: with all the moisture sucked out. Foods can be dehydrated in an oven on the lowest setting also, sans dehydrator.

#3) If you would like a postcard, please make sure I have your address before I go!

#4) And if you would like to send yourself!:
If you are the Hiking & Camping type: come trek for a few days. Although, fair warning- this will require quite a bit of equipment if you do not already have it.
If you’re the Dinner & Drinks type: I will make you a deal-- you come take us off the trail, and we will amaze you with a display of consumption the likes if which you have never seen. It is called “hiker hunger.” (i.e. Town Dinners: Option 1- Right half of menu. Option 2- Left half of menu.)

For any visit, and/or general stalking, these are helpful websites:
This one is an overall Google Map-ish look at the A.T., with reference to roads, state lines, etc.
This one will tell you the nearest road crossing from any gap on the trail. (Gap = low spot in a ridge, like a valley or where a river cuts, through, etc.) In the “AT Road” box, make a selection (they are listed South to North, which is our intended direction). It also has maps, etc, by state.
This one lists the nearest parking areas to the A.T., by state.
If you are bored at work, and/or you have actual interest in these things, here is a PDF with some general information about the AT. Also this site has just about everything, and has been tremendously helpful to me throughout my preparations. It has prep stuff, maps, tips, data & numbers, discussion boards, blogs, links, pictures-- things of that nature.

And, now, having waded through (or gingerly skimmed over), all of the above- ::cue theme music:: you have arrived at my little Nugget of the Day! I tumbled over this while traipsing through the Blue Hills Reservation, as I am wont to do when residual winter weather prohibits hiking more challenging for altitude gain, if not for distance:

When climbing, the common drops away. The only bits of settlement visible from atop a mountain are the tributes to something more- steeples on churches built in homage to the maker; water towers storing the elixir of life. In reverence, we build skyward; we look skyward. They say ‘the trail is life.’ On it, one has the opportunity to elevate oneself.

Happy trails, friends.

Peace and Much Love!
Bee

An Assortment of Rambles.

Hello, friends. Welcome.

I have begun this blog as a method of maintaining some semblance of contact over the coming months. Of course, I won’t often be by a computer, but should be able to find internet at least sporadically in my travels.

Now! I am, and have always been, given to mental wanderings. As I sometimes joke, the only difference in adult life is that no one chastises me for daydreaming. With age, I have entered frequently into spiritual and philosophical wanderings. And now I shall connect the dots with physical wandering as well.

I’m also prone to syntactic wanderings, which years of literary study never succeeded in correcting. However, I will try to keep them to a minimum.

We’ll start with the What & Why:
One month from today, Friday March 13th, I will be leaving for Georgia to embark upon an attempted “thru-hike” of the Appalachian Trail. The Appalachian Trail extends 2,178.3 miles from Springer Mountain in northern Georgia to Mount Katahdin of Baxter Park in Maine. It traverses parts of fourteen states, and has been marked for its entire length by 2”x6” white paint blazes. My best friend and I conceived of this trip in the early months of 2006, and have been seriously planning for the past year and a half. For personal reasons, my intended Partner in Crime recently opted out of the trip. This announcement came as a devastating blow. However, as I found myself occupationally, fiscally, equipmentally, and more importantly, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually committed to this trip, I decided to continue as planned. My brother, who had previously expressed interest in meeting us for a portion of the trip, jumped at the opportunity. As such, the circumstances and personnel have changed, but the endeavor remains generally the same. On March 15th, we will depart from Springer Mountain and begin northward. No, the sardonic humor implicit in date choice is not entirely coincidental. But then, it did also happen to work out that way.

Oh why, oh why?
I am not sure that I can entirely articulate all my reasons for wanting to do this. I do honestly think partial insanity is involved, after all. Questions of mental health aside, I have thought quite a lot about it. Obviously, at its most immediate level, this is about hiking. I enjoy hiking. I do it a lot. I like nature and solitude. I seek out both. However, in this trip, as often with myself, my concerns are only minimally present in immediacy. On high, this is a meditative act and an artistic representation of my personal philosophies. It is a celebration of life, made by being in it wholly and personally. It is a translation of my Being-- about the quest for challenge, the search for growth in self-understanding, and the ability to be present in a struggle. It is an experiment in individualism, performed with knowledge that the ecstatic dance of Self and Life is its own reward. The journey is meant as pilgrimage, as a test of will and character. It has become a dream from which, whatever the outcome, I will grow and learn. The only real failure would be to succumb to the fear that keeps me from trying; the fear that would inhibit me from leaving my comfort zone, remaining stagnant and stale and scared. This possibility frightens me exponentially more that whatever dangers might be encountered on the trail. This is the failure of regret.

So, friends, this is my translation-- my Zorba, my Howard Roark, my Zarathustra, my NotAllThoseWhoWanderAreLost. It is my ‘Song of Myself’. Of course, there are as many ways to celebrate the self as there are selves to be celebrated. This simply represents my most current chosen mode of personal expression. However, as the very witty and wise (and often strangely sexual-- however, that's not entirely applicable here) John Donne tells us, no man is an island, entire of himself, and I too, of course, am involved in mankind. This adventure is not meant as an escape from people or place. It's about running with and into, not running from or away from. Consequently, I hope to use this time to dialogue with myself, but also with those at home. It would be a most joyous addition to my journey if I had a letter or a thought or a long-winded musing (or a dinner off the trail, or a visit, or a large batch of baked goods... I'm sorry, what?) to share with a distant someone along the way. I certainly will have much time to think about any of these. I hope you’ll share a part of your experience with me as I intend to share mine with you. I have compiled a tentative lists of stops/post office visits, etc., and will be posting them in the coming week(s). Until then, friends, take care of yourselves, and feel free to ask me any questions, whether logistical, emotional, spiritual or other, and I will try my best to keep up.

Be well, stay well.

Love!
Bee