Date: 2007-11-10
To: HOME AND A BOOK
Miles today: 0.0

Let it never be said that there are no adventures after thruhiking the AT.I thought it might be interesting to offer an update four years after summiting The Big K. What do thrus do after a year "afoot and lighthearted," as Walt Whitman put it?Like many, I floundered around awhile after my '03 summit. I tried a few different occupations, moved around a lot, hiked some. From the outside, life looked fine, but on the inside, I knew I had not found my groove yet.One focus I settled on was finding permanent digs. In '04 I found the perfect piece of property for an ex-thruhiker - a few acres on the edge of a old-growth longleaf pine preserve, a primitive state park. I cleared off a few scrub oaks and brought in the cutest little yellow modular cottage on God's green earth. I love my house! However, building a home, even a modular one, is a frustrating and eye-opening process I don't care to repeat. Glad that is over with.Next on the agenda was improving the sterile quartz sand soil with lots of horse manure and lime, and soon I had the start of a fine organic garden. This produced so much that thisa spring and summer I brought extra produce weekly to our local farmers market. Growing vegetables on my tiny scale does not support a person, but it did get me outside and dirty again, plus paid for the seed, tools and a small greenhouse - and I eat very, very well. Dinner these days involves going to the garden to see what can be picked - oh, look, here are some late green beans, and a squash to saute with some vidalia onions, and several eggplant to dip in sesame oil and soy sauce and slap on the grill, along with a sweet potato or two. Grill up some shrimp, chicken or portobellos, and you have a fine, filling and wholesome meal, with nary a processed, over-sprayed, aged, genetically modified bite in the whole supper.After several years of withdrawal, I got involved in community affairs again. The latest project was to work with the town council and the local Farmers Market to bring a market to the center of downtown Southern Pines, in our town square. As we watch oil prices spiral out of control, with nearly every aspect of our lives now dependent on fossil fuels - food production in particular, more than most people realize - I felt moved to strengthen the community at least on the food front.Buying local, fresh produce preserves the open land we all love - if there are profitable farms, then farmers and landholders don't sell out to subdivision developers. It also brings the freshest possible food directly to consumers, and gives the farmer a greater share of the return for their (extremely physical and long-hour) efforts. And it all happens within 50 miles, instead of 1500.I'm happy to say that the downtown market was approved. It's not enough, but it's a start toward strengthening the local "food-shed."The biggest shift was that I produced a book, a backpacking adventure.I wanted to write for anyone who has longed to take off on Big Adventure of freedom and exploration. Journeys are often about reinventing ourselves, but also about confirming values that never change.I wanted to write about all the flux, feelings and changes that happen when one commits to an undertaking such as a thruhike. I also wanted to let folks know that there are adventures to be undertaken that offer renewal and excitement THAT DON'T INVOLVE QUITTING THE DAY JOB.Adventure is available to anyone with the stones (or eggs? ;-) ) to undertake it. Because there IS courage involved in shaking off the rut of inertia that everyday life encourages, and moving into one's "edge," beyond which "there be dragons" - the unknown. The edge, of course, is where all sorts of rich, scary, rewarding and dangerous alchemy happens.The archetype of "journey" has existed in story and fable since time immemorial. It's an archetype because the principal of renewal and adventure lives INSIDE every one of us. I don't think it's necessary to take to the Trail to experience renewal, but because you're reading this, it's a safe bet that hiking or nature is one means of rejuvenation for you! I think the "preparation period" is just as significant as the journey itself. In some ways, it's even more so, because that "rut of inertia" is tugging a body back into the same old-same old.I also wanted to write a practical book - one rife with how-to clues of simple outdoor-living methods that worked for me, and also those that I discarded. Everyone settles on their own system eventually, but it was interesting to me to revisit my experiments. I also wanted to show frankly how difficult it is to hike with a partner (in my case a friend - I would think a romantic partner would up the ante even further!). And I also wanted to show how walking with another can also deeply enrich the experience. Paradox is a big part of hiking!Finally, I wanted folks to experience - as much as is possible through the written word - what it is like on a long-distance journey.I wanted the reader to feel that ever-shifting balance between deep joy and profound discomfort.;-)I chose to write about my Long Trail thru-hike because it was there I learned that I could hike the AT if I wanted to. Before I blew up my life - before I sold my stallion and show horses, abandoned my business, released my most-excellent rental farm and training facilities, put everything into storage, left my pets with friends and became homeless - I wanted to be sure I could do this thing called long-distance backpacking. The Long Trail is the story of that learning.I had lots of seasoned editorial help from AT and LT thruhikers, and educated people such as my most-excellent editor Nina Baxley-Rogers, Cindy "Mrs. Gorp" Miller, GMC stalwart Smith "Old Ridge Runner" Edwards, Linda "eArThworm" Patton, and more.My publisher is another AT thru-hiker AWOL, whose help was invaluable. If you ever desire to write a book, God help you, David is your man.See his Jerelyn Press website:http://www.jerelyn.com or check out his account of thru-hiking the AT in 2003, "AWOL on the Appalachian Trail." It's one of the best AT books out there.Writing a book was harder that hiking the AT. That is a truth for me. But like completing the AT, I'm glad I did it. I'm glad I finally stood on that metaphorical mountaintop.The book is called "The Ordinary Adventurer: A Primer for Baby Adventurers and Other Musings on the Nature of Journey"If you'd like a look, check out the book's website at http://www.FunFreedom.comAnd thanks for dropping by after all these years.-- "The Ordinary Adventurer"A new backpacking adventure bookhttp://www.FunFreedom.com