Date: 2013-02-04
To: (Foolish) dancing adventurers
Miles today: 0.0

Last weekend was my last dances at Birdsboro, PA and Arden, DE until November, if things work out roughly according to plan. It was also the last dance at Birdsboro for my friends Andy and Rachel. It's a shame we couldn't get another friend, Julia, up to this dance. Together we make up a ramshackle group of dancers that are setting aside a good portion of 2013 for adventuring. Each of us has our own personal unknown to set ourselves upon.Julia in IcelandJulia has departed today for a semester in Iceland, as well as some time there tacked onto the end of the semester solely for exploring that beautiful country. I was in Iceland for nine days last March. On that brief adventure I rented a car, and traveled around the country trying to do way too much in nine days. That trip was my biggest couchsurfing-centric trip - I spent the first half of the trip traveling with a Ala, a Polish woman I'd never met before but had coordinated travels with via couchsurfing.org. We traveled around the south of Iceland staying in guesthouses and hostels, and spent some time with a gentleman from Mexico City who we kept running into. (You tend to run into other travelers in Iceland much like you can on the AT, as there's only one road to bring you around much of the country!) The second half of the trip I spent staying with one host in Reykjavik and another host in Laugar. Laugar was an especially interesting stay, as Laugar is a town of about 100 which is many miles from anything else.I was very excited to learn that Julia was traveling to Iceland. I enjoyed my experiences there, and I loved to share my insights and to pool my excitement with her own. Now that I have replaced my old Cabelas backpack with a new Deuter one, the old pack has ceased to have a purpose for me. I was pleased to see that it was adequate for Julia's packing needs, and that it will be returning to Iceland with somebody else. I am however not pleased that Julia gets to eat all the skyr (Icelandic strained yogurt - like Greek yogurt but better), while I will probably not be able to find any of that on the Trail. Consider this my first blunt attempt at yogi-ing, I suppose. If I see a cooler full of skyr sitting on the Trail, I will be counted amongst the happiest people on that day.Andy in France, and probably elsewhere in EuropeTomorrow Andy leaves for several months in Europe. He will be based in France with his significant other, Stephanie. I imagine he will wind up all over Europe. I cite his track record - he's already had an excellent adventure wandering around the States via hitchhiking and other means. I am not sure what his French adventure will become, but I look forward to hearing about it. I know there will be dancing - he and Stephanie are great dancers, and they if they find any of the contra dances in France I bet they will teach the dancers over there a thing or two about being ridiculous in a social dance.Andy also functions as my twin in the contra dance community. We have a similar build, and can dance with similar levels of ridiculous. At the Birdsboro dance, I gave him a soccer jersey - the Guatemala national football team's away colours. Hopefully that gets into his pack and heads to France with him. I retain my Guatemala home jersey, and that is coming with me on the Appalachian Trail. Hopefully some confusion and chaos are the results when we appear in photos from the Appalachian Trail and from France when we appear with these jerseys.Rachel in Yosemite, and the trip thereIn a week, Rachel leaves for Yosemite. She is working at the park for the summer, but must leave extra-early so she gets there on time. She is getting there by no 'normal' means. Her and one of her friends are riding bicycles across the country to get her to Yosemite! Rachel's friend has done this before, but Rachel has not done this herself. Their travel will be a mix of biking, camping, and couchsurfing - and then when that's all accomplished, they are in Yosemite!While I am envious of all of these adventures in spite of my own, I am most envious of spending a few months in Yosemite. I will doubtless see many excellent photographic sites myself, but I have never witnessed anything quite like the rugged mountains of the West. Rachel is an excellent photographer and is bringing her DSLR on her bicycle. I've seen a few of her shots from a backpacking trip in Montana last summer, so I know she get some excellent photos from Yosemite and the cross-country bike ride thereMy adventure, well, you know alreadyIn 24 days I take a midnight train to Georgia. A couple days later I begin my walk up the Appalachian Trail and all the auxiliary dancing along the way. The hiking and the dancing both become more exciting the closer I get to the approach date.Whenever I go to the Birdsboro dance, I stay with Rachels' folks, who are great dancers and excellent people. This month I pitched my hammock on the hikk behind their house. I spent a few hours sleeping there before I was summoned to join the other young folk in the hot tub. It was 20 degrees outside, and I stayed fairly warm in my 15-degree sleeping bag. I think if I find the room in my final pack arrangement, I will add the silk sleeping bag liner I was eyeing last time I was at REI. The added warmth may come in handy, and the ability to easily wash that with the rest of my clothes will make for a welcome bit of cleanliness. It might even be something nice to use on its own in the hot summer months. My kit is almost finalized - all I need are new trekking poles, replacements for a few well-worn articles of hiking clothing, and to replace a couple old dry bags / stuff sacks that I'm currently containing some items in.The opportunities to dance are also gradually increasing. I don't think I will do many more special dance events, but I am already planning to do plenty of those. Dance Flurry is February 15-17 in Saratoga Springs, NY. This is before I start the Trail, yes, but I am excited to be meeting Warren Doyle at this event. Appalachian Spring is March 27-29 in North Carolina. Whitewater Whirl and Almost Heaven are in West Virginia at the beginning and end of May, respectively. Pinewoods American week is the last week of August in Massachusetts, and Dawn Dance happens immediately afterward in Vermont. Assuming my hike reaches Katahdin, I will dance to Perpetual e-Motion at their first weekend ever in Maine at the beginning of October.Beside those events, I hope to find myself at many more dances along the Trail. The night before I start walking from Springer, I will attend the Atlanta contra dance. After that, I have a few days to walk to a trailhead near Sautee, Georgia to attend the Tuesday night dance there. If I start at Amicola Falls, that is about 46 miles. If I start at the parking lot just north of Springer, that's about 39 miles. I look forward to getting started.Peace,