Route Planning IV - Tension in the Expedition Party

I’m a little bit frustrated with Rory right now. I probably shouldn’t be writing this, but let’s face it, he’s probably not going to take the time to look at the blog anyway. I suspect I’m safe from being discovered. If I’m wrong about that, it will be yet another example of how bad I am at predicting the future, but I’m pretty sure I’m on solid ground this time.

I’m frustrated because of our morning phone conversation. I’m frustrated because I think I’ve been doing a pretty good job of planning and preparing for the N2N-TCP while holding down a day job with a non-trivial commuting burden. I’m frustrated a little because he has what I perceived to be loads of discretionary time. He also seems to want to wax philosophically about planning, but he doesn’t seem to want to do any of it.

Today, he laid out the case for the fact that “we” haven’t planned enough and that all we’ve really done is to put together a “vision” for the N2N-TCP. On that assertion, I agree that we really do need to buckle down and start planning the final details associated with the pilgrimage. Here’s where I think we need to focus our efforts:

1. Drafting a general letter of introduction to people or organizations that may be in a position to help with the execution of the pilgrimage. Like a logo or a brand, time spent on this type of activity has a very good chance of paying off in multiple locations an multiple scenarios. For example, I think we would be well served to introduce our proposed effort to the Cities of Newport, RI and Newport, OR. I’m not sure if this pilgrimage is going to generate any public interest, but if it does these two cities might want to capitalize on the publicity. I also think a letter of introduction would be useful in trying to drum up support for major logistics companies like Amazon or Sam’s/Walmart. Logistics in Nebraska seems to one of Rory’s major concerns since he keeps bringing it up, but other than research a pull cart, he hasn’t done a whole lot to address the concern. Getting a professional organization to help with the logistics aspects of the walk would be a real coup d'etat. It would also be a whole lot less physical work than pulling a cart.
2. We need to start purchasing our gear for the walk. There’s a couple of reasons behind this push. First, it would be nice to get a little experience with the equipment before we strike out in the event that we decide it needs to be replaced. Second, this is going to be a pretty expensive endeavor, and spreading out the burn rate is probably going to serve us well. When I refer to gear, I’m really talking about the major items that we’re going to need to accomplish the trip. In my mind this includes packs, sleeping bags, sleeping mats, and shelter. I’d thought Rory and I had decided to start off the trip with a single two man tent. This is by far the most weight efficient set-up. I’m pretty sure I asked Rory if he’d like to do enough research to make a recommendation. I’m not sure we ever closed out that perceived action.

Long story short, I think we’re getting to the stage of the project that we need to start closely coordinating and EXECUTING our planning process. For whatever reason, Rory and I don’t seem to be in alignment on what aspects of the planning execution need to be prioritized. I’ve asked him to provide an initial comprehensive list of focus areas by the end of the week. That will give us both a good picture of the differences in our approach (if any). We’ll see if he follows through on putting together the list. It’ll tell me a lot about how much work we have to accomplish.

I Am....

One of the greatest gifts that planning for the Newport to Newport Transcontinental Pilgrimage has delivered to my doorstep is the way that planning for the walk has shaped the way my internal dialog proceeds. One of the reasons I started walking at all was to shrink my world down to the one meter around me in my immediate vicinity. Somehow, I thought that slowing down and moving through space at a bipedal pace would allow me to connect a little better with the moment than I’d been able to previously accomplish in my life.

I didn’t start small. The first training walk I tried for the N2N-TCP was a seventeen mile jaunt on the Baltimore & Annapolis Trail that follows the old rail line that used to run from, you guessed it, Baltimore and Annapolis, MD. Needless to say, the tracks are (mostly gone), and they’ve been replaced by a nine foot wide asphalt mixed used path that’s about eighteen or nineteen miles long.

On that first walk, one of the things I noticed right off the bat was that I had an internal dialog going on in my head. I’d never really paid that much attention to it, if I’d noticed it at all. For the first several miles of that walk, I remember asking myself and answering a series of questions. Weird, huh? I thought so at the time. Some examples of questions were, “I wonder what this is going to feel like at the end of seventeen miles?” “Is this a crazy idea?” I’m pretty out of shape...I wonder if I can even make it that far?” What am I going to do if I can’t go the distance?’ Since this is an out and back, am I going to realize early enough that I’m not going to make it and be able to turn around in time to avoid calling a cab? Probably not, and oh, shit...I didn’t bring any money. That was dumb.”

Interestingly enough, I tried to answer some of those questions, but the answers I came up with for any particular question were often mutually exclusive and, as such, pretty nonsensical. Fortunately, after about the first three miles the committee in my head quieted down, and I started to pay more attention to what was going on with my feet. When you’re on a seventeen mile walk and your feet start hurting about three miles into it, you think you might be in trouble. You’re not wrong about that.

Anyway, after a lot of reading and a lot of soul searching and talking to a lot of people much wiser than me, I’ve decided that if I’m going to be stuck with this internal dialog, and I haven’t found a reliable way to get rid of it yet, I might as well use it affirmatively to bolster the pursuit my goals.

In this regard, I’ve started to use the phrase “I am….” as a starting point when thinking about where I am going and what I’d like to accomplish. What I’ve found is that if I can say, “I am….” in pursuit of a goal, the phrase shifts my mindset in subtle ways and makes accomplishing those goals a little bit easier. Instead of questioning my own experience, or even sanity, it allows me to get beyond those moments of doubt and start taking action in pursuit of a dream.

In pursuit of the Newport to Newport Transcontinental Pilgrimage, I’ve managed to mostly convince myself of the following things.

I am a pilgrim.
I am a long distance walker.
I am an ultralight backpacker.
I am a photographer.
I am a writer.
I am a cartographer.

I am an explorer.
I am an expedition leader.
I am able to talk to strangers and ask them for help.
I am observant.
I am tougher than I think.
I am a yoga master.
I am creative.
I have something to share.
I am a graphic designer.
I have a vision.
I am a marketer.
I am an advertising executive.
I am a survivor.

Now, I don’t know if all of these affirmations are true. There are probably some pretty credible arguments out there that I’m not really a yoga master. That said, after six months of continuous practice, I’m a lot closer to mastery now than I was back in January of this year.

I’m not sure I would have believed I could be any of these things if it had not been for the epic framework of the pilgrimage to force me into taking on some of these challenges.

What is your internal dialog telling you? What might you accomplish if you just assume that you are the thing you want to be? Do you have a dream that you’ve ignored for some time due to fear or responsibility or because you think someone might think it’s silly?

Go after that dream. You might be surprised when you find the talents your mind and body have been hiding from you. Speak what you want to be boldly and tell the universe that “I am….” The universe will come to your aid.

N2N-TCP Custom T-Shirts

Today the T-shirts with the N2N-TCP logo arrived in the mail. We ordered eight large and four medium to meet the minimum order of twelve shirts for a custom two color screen print job from Merchology. Under Armour has apparently selected Merchology for their official custom screen printing and embroidery provider. Apart from the minimum order of twelve shirts, which I totally understand, I am really pleased with the product.

N2N-TCP Custom T-Shirt Being Posted to Rory Conlan

The two color screen printing in white and light grey really pops on the black shirt. My Merchology customer service representative Katie did an outstanding job guiding me through the process of transitioning the five color logo to a grayscale two color logo for this particular application. All our interactions were via email, and we managed to work through the details in just two days after my order posted to the Merchology site.

I’m pretty sure we could have wrapped up the details in one day, but I was grinding out work in my current day job and did not have easy access to my pilgrimage email account. They offered to complete the work on the phone, but again, my choice probably led to a longer process than was absolutely required. Long story short the company and Katie in particular did a great job getting me just what I was looking for in this first round of pilgrimage shirts.

One other thing on the transaction. These custom shirts were priced at the Under Armour MSRP with the logo and setup fees included in that cost structure. Although I had to buy a minimum order of twelve shirts, that’s a really good deal. While it is possible from time to time to find Under Armour gear for less than MSRP at some of the outlets and occasionally on sale at retailers, my experience with the best of their tech clothing is that the prices are pretty sticky and you have to get really lucky to get any performance gear for less than MSRP. That’s because they make really good gear. I’ll be using UA undergarments and my first layer of outer garments exclusively for the pilgrimage. I’ve field tested both their ColdGear and HeatGear in actual winter and summer walking conditions extensively over the last four years, and there really is nothing better. Customized gear at a good price. I’m grateful this is the approach they’ve decided to take.

Finally, it feels pretty good to start getting some custom logo gear to go along with all of our pilgrimage planning. For some reason, these shirts give me a feeling of being just a little more legit. It sounds silly, but I’ve been learning through experience that attaching a brand or a label to an enterprise is a pretty important part of bringing a vision to life.

If you have any interest at all in getting in on the ground floor of the Newport to Newport Transcontinental Pilgrimage as a supporting partner in the effort, drop us a line at bwalthrop@gmail.com. There may even be an extra T-shirt in it for you. We’ve got more than we need after all!

Route Planning III - "Stealth Camping"

The plan Rory and I are counting on is a combination of hotel/motel stays, couch crashing, and stealth camping. The majority of that time will be spent stealth camping.

Stealth camping is the art and practice of finding a nonconventional place to set up your camp and sleep without leaving any trace of your being there and without getting caught. It sounds illegal, but this is not universally true. That said, when I talk about stealth camping with my cubicle mates, they pretty quickly conclude that stealth camping sounds a lot like being homeless. That’s because stealth camping is exactly like being homeless, but at least you have a tent.

Although Rory and I are planning on the tent/sleeping under the stars version of stealth camping, there are actually at least a couple of versions of the ninja camping arts. Stealth camping really got it start in the long distance bicycling community. This foray into the art was followed closely by through hikers and long distance walkers. Finally, the van life folks got involved and started stealth camping in their vans within the confines of urban areas.

From the research I’ve done, it seems that stealth camping really is more of an art than a practice. There are only a few rules.

1. Stay one night
2. Leave no trace
3. Don’t get caught

Rory and I plan on attempting mostly legal stealth camping. Options for this type of stealth camping are plentiful, and we plan on taking advantage of them to the greatest extent possible. Federal land offers a couple of options for legal “stealth camping.” In National Forests dispersed camping is an option. On Bureau of Land Management this practice of dispersed camping or camping outside of designated camp areas (within the rules set forth by each district manager) is generally called boondocking by the full time RV crowd. Generally speaking, you are allowed to stay for up to 14 days in the same campsite on BLM land unless prohibitions on camping are posted.

Borrowing another technique from the full time RV band of nomads, Rory and I intend to “stealth camp” legally by using an exotic technique known as asking for permission. The RV’ers call it moochdocking, and I really like the idea conveyed by that name. Though we haven’t had the opportunity to test this approach in real life, there are a number of folks who have used it to great effect.  The plan is to find a promising location, knock on some doors, and ask if the owners or tenants know of any place in the area that might be available for a night of camping.

Other folks that we’ve talked about contacting in a populated area for ideas on where to camp are police and fire stations, churches, and even locally owned businesses. We’re basically counting on the social nature of people and putting our night’s sleep in the hands of the trail angels we meet along our path.

At least one important aspect of this pilgrimage is to reconnect with the people of America that Rory and I have somehow lost touch with in the day to day grind of our working level existence. I’m looking forward to the opportunity to meet new folks and the prospect of asking them for help along our journey. Wish us luck, and if you have a campable piece of ground somewhere along US Highway 20 that you’re willing to share for an evening drop us a line (bwalthrop@gmail.com). We’d love to hear from you!

Route Planning II - Where to Live?

As discussed in Route Planning I, the average miles per day travelled is an important metric/planning factor, and Rory and I are still working our way through an agreed upon philosophy of the pilgrimage. We’re still discussing the issue of daily progress, but let’s be honest. That dilemma is going to work itself out because if it doesn’t, there’s not a chance we’ll be able to cover the distances were imagining.

A second problem that we’re going to face on the first day of our pilgrimage is the question of where we’re going to stay at night. The options in front of us essentially amount to camping, bumming places to stay from like minded nomads and couch surfer friendly supporters, renting a nightly location to rest like a hotel or motel, or having a support vehicle of some sort follow us along the route and provide a place to sleep and recover in the evenings.

As things stand right now, we don’t have a clear path to a support vehicle. I’m honestly not sure we’d take up an offer to drive along with us and provide the nightly shelter, but if you’re interested we’d love to at least discuss the possibilities. Unfortunately for us, we don’t have a line on a vehicle or a person willing to be the drive so for now this is not an option we’re seriously considering.

Renting an nightly location to sleep really sounds good to me in the planning stage of things. We’d might have to carry much less equipment, we’d get an opportunity to spend most, or perhaps every, evening in an air conditioned location in a soft bed that is mostly insulated from the worst impacts of rain, cold, and heat. We’d have access to clean water. We’d be able to take a daily shower and shave.

Though staying in hotels or motels have some significant advantages, there are some non-trivial downsides as well. For one thing, we’d have to plan each day to start and end at our planned lodging location. This is probably workable in the population dense areas on the coast or around cities, but there is a great deal of our trek along US Highway 20 where the ability to access developed areas will be curtailed. In Nebraska, it won’t be unusual to travel almost one hundred miles without hitting even the smallest of towns. There are areas in every state we intend to cross where multiple days of walking may be required to go from one civilization point to another. Finally, there is the expense of pursuing this option. If we’re able to travel our targeted twenty miles per day on average, we’ll spend something on the order of 150 nights on the road. At a very modest $30 per night which I think we’ll all agree may land you in a relatively shady motel, the expense would be nearing $5,000. Even split between two people, this is more money that either of us are willing to budget.

Nope. Staying in hotels or motels will be part of our plan to make the pilgrimage, but not the primary plan for finding a place to stay. We’ll hit the hotels when we need to improve the quality of our rest or get cleaned up after days on the trail. It will be a luxury we look forward to using, but that kind of living isn’t in the cards for us right now. Again, if you’re interested in providing hotel rooms at greatly reduced, or perhaps even free, cost, get in touch (bwalthrop@gmail.com) so we can discuss the possibilities.

Couchsurfing or the practice of staying for free at the invitation of trail angels, like minded nomads, and supporters has many of the same advantages and disadvantages of staying in a hotel or motel. The expense is greatly reduced with this option, so again, we’re hoping to be able to access this mode of living. Rory, in particular, is looking forward to interacting and becoming friends with a diverse group of people, and the practice of couchsurfing seems custom made to facilitate this type of “cultural exchange.” Again, if you’re a prospective trail angel, drop us a line. We’d love to talk about spending an evening swapping stories of the journey in exchange for a place to rest our heads.

Having examined the options, Rory and I are both pretty firmly convinced that we’re going to be left with camping as the mode of living for the vast majority of the time during the pilgrimage. Camping, especially of the “stealth variety” is a broad enough topic that it deserves its very own posting. We’ll cover what we’ve learned about the stealth camping way of life in Route Planning III.

Independence Day 2018

Fireworks are better when you help with the setup. It's quite a bit more work than I anticipated. At the end of the work, the show was definitely worth it. There’s probably a deeper lesson in there somewhere. Happy Independence Day!

Route Planning I

Now that we’re about nine months from the kickoff date of the Newport to Newport Transcontinental Pilgrimage, Rory Conlan and I have decided that it’s probably time to really get down to brass tacks and start a serious route planning effort. It seems a little silly that we’ve put things off this long, but in our defense, it’s a difficult challenge to agree to and plan for an effort that covers this much scope. We’re also discovering that we are both taking slightly different “philosophical” approaches to the pilgrimage. Getting these philosophical differences out on the table where we can discuss them is starting to be an important part of the planning process.

Now I don’t want to make it seem as if we’ve done no planning at all. Thanks to modern technology, Google Maps in particular, we’ve managed to lay out a route that is pretty detailed and appears to be executable on foot. This is the overview of the route.




One of the first planning factors that this overview route gives us is the total distance from Newport, RI to Newport, OR that we’ll have to cover to successfully complete the pilgrimage. This particular route chalks up at 3,109 miles. Now this is not the only route that we’ve plotted, and it’s interesting to note that for a journey this long the overall distance is pretty sensitive to route changes. The planning factor that we’ve settled on using is a route distance of 3,350 miles.

Once we figured out the overall distance, we begin to break down this distance into daily goals. Based on the walking I’ve done over the last several years in preparation for the pilgrimage, I think that an average daily target between twenty and thirty miles per day is what we’re going to have to accomplish in order to be successful.

Twenty miles per day for 3,350 miles yields a duration of about one hundred sixty eight days. Assuming a mid-March departure, this duration indicates we can expect to complete the pilgrimage sometime in late August or early September. If we’re able to average twenty four miles per day, we can complete the route in early August approximately twenty eight days earlier than the twenty mile per day average. An average daily progress of fifteen miles per day has us finishing the trek in late October with a mid-March start.

After defining these ranges of outcomes, the details of the walking philosophy really begin to become important. For instance, Rory and I both agree that we’re probably going to need a rest day every now and then to make sure we have the physical stamina to finish the pilgrimage. Where we haven’t reached an agreement yet is how we should plan for this short or no walking day.

We’ve basically agreed that we really ought to shoot for an average daily progress of no less than twenty miles per day. One of the factors associated with this decision is weather. Another one is money. We think that if we finish in about one hundred fifty days, the weather will remain reasonable and we won’t run completely out of money to support our families while we chase this adventure.

To average twenty miles per day, you’ve really got to plan the “down days” that both agree we’re going to need. Do you notionally schedule these down days every five days, every week, every ten days, or some other longer duration? It makes a real difference to your walking day targets. For instance, if you plan on one day off every five days of walking, you’re going to have to cover one hundred miles every five days to keep to the twenty mile per day average. That’s four twenty five mile days in a row. On the other hand if you’re willing to extend the rest day out to once a week, you only have to cover about twenty three and a half miles every walking day for six days in order to rest on the seventh. Extending the rest days out even further or deciding to walk a non-zero reduced day for your resting days also makes a big difference in execution.

Rory and I noodled on this dilemma for about forty minutes this morning, and we weren’t able to come to an agreement. It’s not like we’re arguing over these details, but coming to a conclusion for planning purposes is proving elusive.

This is one of many details we’re going to have to nail down over the coming nine months. Wish us luck because we’re going to need it.

Yoga

I mentioned yesterday that I’d recently started the practice of yoga.  I really don’t know why it took me so long to get started on the practice of yoga.  That questioning outlook on my apparent procrastination is particularly relevant when I start to consider the number of positive things that I’ve learned over the last six months since starting the practice.  A 2012 study indicated that somewhere between eight and twelve percent of the population practices yoga on a consistent basis. If you’re part of that lucky or far sighted minority. If you haven’t yet pulled the trigger and given yoga a try, I recommend you consider the opportunity.  

Without further ado, here are some things I’ve learned over the last six months while practicing yoga.

1. Even on a “bad” day of yoga practice, I manage to learn something or accomplish something that I didn’t really know I could accomplish.  This happened today. I don’t know what was going on, but my back was sore and my whole body was tired today when I showed up for my AllVibez yoga class.  I could go into the details, but you don’t want to hear about my whole body stiffness, epic sweating, or any of my other complaints. Suffice it to say, I was not feeling it.  This happens from time to time, and the yoga teachers will tell you just to listen to your body and deal with what shows up for you. I wanted to quit and go home about half way through the one hour class.  Unfortunately for me, I was deep into the room away from the exit, and there was no real way to extricate myself from the class without causing a ruckus. Toward the end of the class, we finally got to the bridge and wheel pose sequences.  To date, I’ve only been able to get myself into the bridge pose. I was having such a miserable time of it, that I decided that I had nothing to lose and would try to lever my upper body up into the elusive wheel pose. Much to my surprise, I was able to lift myself onto the crown of my head and from there straighten my arms and resolve into wheel for the very first time.  I like to think it looked a little like this, although I’m sure it was not as graceful.

This is not me...I'm pretty sure I looked more awkward than this person.

The moral of the story is that even though I was having a “bad” yoga session, I was able to stick with what showed up.  What showed up for me was progress.

2.  The strength and flexibility benefits of yoga are well documented, and I’m not going to waste a whole lot of your time describing them.  I will say this. I turned forty five years old last week. I thought the type of strength and flexibility that I’ve been able to see develop with a disciplined and consistent yoga practice over the last six months were a thing of the past for me.  I’m not going to say it’s the fountain of youth, but the practice has certainly started to slowly reverse the consequences of some very poor health choices that I made in my thirties. Again, I wish I’d started this twenty years ago. It’s a hell of a lot easier to keep your health than to try to get it back at a later date.

3.  This is for the guys out there.  As a caucasian male, I’ve never really had to deal with the visceral feelings of what it’s like to be a minority until I started yoga.  Those same studies referenced earlier indicate that of the Americans who practice yoga, only eighteen to twenty five percent of them are men.  I can tell you that my anecdotal evidence indicates that this is probably still about right. If you’re a male going to a yoga class, you can expect that there will be between three and six women practicing for every man practicing in the class.  The other thing you can be fairly certain about is that most of the women are going to more skilled, more flexible, better balanced, and not nearly as funny looking as you’re going to be when you first start. In other words, you’re not only going to be an obvious minority, but you’re going to be in a room where almost everyone is better at yoga than you.  They are likely to be skeptical of your motives as well. This is a humbling experience, and is one of the greatest lessons that participating in the practice has taught me. You are going to have to get over yourself to survive and keep going in this environment. Don’t believe me. Just wait until you’re rolling up from your back through your knees into tabletop and you rip a loud fart.  You’re going to want to melt into your mat and disappear. It’s at this moment you’re going to have to decide whether to get over yourself and keep going so you can learn something or take your fragile ego and hide away in a place where you’re comfortable. I chose to stay, and the benefits have far outweighed the cost.

That’s enough about yoga for now.  If you haven’t given the practice a chance, I highly recommend giving it a shot.  I’ll always view the yoga practice I stumbled upon as part of my training for the N2N-TCP as one of the great physical, intellectual, and spiritual challenges that I’ve faced along this journey.  It’s quite a bit of fun once you start developing some of your own flexibility as well.

Homecoming 2018

It’s been over a year since I posted in this space.  I had to look it up myself, and I’m a little surprised it hasn’t been longer.  Be that as it may, consider this my homecoming post. First the developments over the last year.

1. The Newport to Newport Transcontinental Pilgrimage is still planned for spring and summer of 2019.  When I last left you, Rory Conlan (my pilgrimage partner) was working on healing a foot injury, and I had just taken on a new two year assignment at work.  I’m happy to report that Rory’s toe has healed nicely, and he’s recently discovered the magic of an aloe ointment that’s continuing the process. I’m a little more than halfway through the two year assignment, and I’m still looking forward to the trek across the United States.

2. Back in February of this year, I was plagued with another stress fracture on both the fourth and fifth metatarsals of my left foot.  This appears to be an ongoing condition that is healing nicely but will have to monitored on the walk.

3. Rory and I have had a couple of logos for the Newport to Newport effort made, and I’m happy to share them here now.  The first shows the Newport, RI lighthouse and two characters heading west from that location. Here it is:

The second is a little more abstract, but I’ve come to think of it as our trademark:

I really like this one.  The stones that make up the feet and the TCP of the logo represent the pebble beach at the back of the Vanderbilt mansion in Newport, RI as well as the cobble beach on Yaquina Head leading out to the lighthouse in Newport, OR.  Both of these beaches make a rattling noise when brushed by the waves and the tide.  I’ve only personally heard this “magic rocks” sound in Newport, RI, but I’m looking forward to experiencing it on both ends of our cross country journey.  It seems a little trivial writing it, but this sound speaks to my soul, and I think it’s worth making the trip to experience it for yourself.

4.   Both Rory and I have started to practice yoga.  I’m only speaking for myself, but I wish I had started this practice about twenty years ago.  I picked this up in February when the stress fractures in my foot reappeared as a way to stay active and work on my upper body strength and my overall flexibility.  Even in this short time, it’s been a journey of discovery where I’ve made both physical and spiritual improvements. I’ve been challenged in ways that I would not have imagined, and made progress on certain poses that I would not have dreamed possible.  It took a few months, but here’s a picture of me finally conquering the Crow Pose. Crow is a relatively straightforward arm balance that requires a bit of shoulder and wrist strength, but mostly some flexibility and balance.

I was pretty excited to make make this progress.  While I’m not sure how it will help with the pilgrimage, I keep telling myself that it can’t hurt.

That’s probably enough discussion of past developments for this particular homecoming post.  Suffice it to say that I’m back, and I plan on being a little more regular in my posting here as we really start to ramp up the preparations for the N2N-TCP.