What I love the most about being an author
I love being an author. I love the fact that I can work from anywhere in the world. I love the challenge of bringing a book to life, of creating something from nothing other than my thoughts. As I mentioned in Unexpected benefits to being an author, I love getting a more organized mind, the diverse creativity…
Day 10: (25 June) Sutton’s Place
Jeff from Green Mountain House dropped us off at the post office where we forwarded a couple of packaged to upcoming towns. From there, we stopped at EMS to see if the driver had returned our poles. No luck. As we were leaving, Dennis started talking with “Proud Foot,” who was thrilled to meet the…
Day 8 and 9: (23 – 24 June) Green Mountain House
One of the advantages to sleeping in a shelter is a quick morning start. No need to take down and stow the tent. We were on the trail by 7:20 AM. We had about 11 miles to the intersection of the LT and Vermont 11, which would take us into Manchester Center where we had…
Day 7: (22 June) Stratton Pond Shelter
This morning Stratton Mountain loomed 3,940′ (1,201 m), the tallest peak so far. The air was cool but the steady uphill climb soon had is sweating. Dennis and I long for indicators on the trail telling our location. Though the map indicates a stream or pond, there are enough of them to cause uncertainty. I no longer believe…
Day 6: (21 June) Story Spring Shelter
Today’s elevation profile looks like a bleeps on a cardiac monitor with many ups and downs. I feared that last night’s heavy rains would leave the trails gushing with water, but they were just normally muddy. When Dennis came through here in 2008, the mud was knee-deep. At one point, the mud sucked off his boot and he had…
Day 5: (20 June) Goddard Shelter
I’m still hacking away. Perhaps I should have chosen “Hacker” as my trail name instead of “K-Fun.” We are getting a little stronger each day and improving our time. Instead of a mile per hour, we are doing it in about 50 minutes. With thunderstorms threatening, we decided to stay in the shelter. Since our…
Day 4: (19 June) Melville Nauheim Shelter
We left Bennington, VT around noon. It only took us a few minutes of hitchhiking before Steve, a salesman paying a cold-call at the hospital, stopped to give us the 7-mile ride to the trailhead. I enjoyed the walk, the sun peeking through the canopy, the sense of accomplishment after plodding uphill. I sound like…
Why are we hiking the LT?
You may wonder why Dennis and I are attempting to hike the Long Trail, the oldest trail in the US. Dennis, a seasoned hiker (having completed the Appalachian Trail), is doing it for the challenge, the pleasure of being in the woods, the camaraderie among hikers, and getting back to appreciating the luxuries of modern-day…
Unexpected disadvantages to being an indie author
Previously, I wrote about the unexpected benefits to being an author. As an indie author, I found these disadvantages. The stigma Many people in the reading community believe that indie books are inferior, having poor editing and formatting. As a result, some readers automatically shun indie authors. Though this bad image is not always justified, there are enough self-published writers…
On the Vermont Long Trail (Day 1 – 3)
Doug McKain from Green Mountain Hiking Club chauffeured us from the North Troy Inn at the end of the Long Trail (LT) to the start in Williamstown, MA. Though only 273 miles, it took us 7 hours to drive, with a short stop at the Green Mountain headquarters in Waterbury Center and then to eat. When we…