Be Groovy - Or Else!

Days Walking - 15

We're getting a pretty late start today - equipment problems. We probably won't start walking till noon.

Robin asked many very good questions and they deserve answers! Here goes.

What does the group talk about?
There are times when we discuss Highbrow Issues, like morality, religion, ethics, politics, and the fate of the planet. I should probably relate some of those discussions, instead of just rambling daily about my random thoughts and wacko dreamings. Next time we talk about something Important, I'll take notes.

But largely, we talk about what people usually talk about, minus the routine. Your average bullsh*t. We're not talking about last night's episode of Sex in the City, or how the dog trashed the laundry room - again, or how our boss is an assh*le. All of that 'watercooler' stuff is not there. We talk about old movies, and try to quote as many lines as we can ("No Horsesh*t, Jack? No Horsesh*t.") we talk about our lives growing up, and what brought us to this point (though a lot of that was covered in the first few months. We trained together for months before starting the trip, so a lot of the 'getting to know you' sh*t took place a while ago. There was a blog for that period, but it has gone poof, hence this new blog.

We complain about the weather, the shortness of the days (the sun doesn't even rise very high before dipping back down, and noon doesn't look like noon. You're tapping your watch going - "It can't be noon, this thing is busted!"), equipment problems (something is always rubbing. And if it aint rubbing, it's pinching. And if it's not pinching... well you see where I'm going.) How we should have brought more pepper and less salt, etc.

A big topic is "When we reach civilization, I'm gonna..." It's almost like we're in prison or on a desert island. You get strong cravings for stuff you don't have. Me, I want those Orange Hostess Cupcakes. "Boy, when I get to a real town, I'm gonna have four orange cupcakes with two glasses of milk." I vow. So everyone has cravings. For food, snacks, tv shows, porn (not me), a warm bed, a rousing LAN party of Quake/Unreal (video games), chance to visit a church / temple / synagogue, the list is endless.

How would your trip be different without technology?
The trip would not be possible without technology. I wouldn't even consider it. Without GPS, emergency locator beacons, satellite phones and PC uplinks, rechargeable battery packs and crank dynamo's, there's just no way. We would die, and no one would ever find us.

So that covers the tech-necessities.

Things like iPods and GameBoys are nice, but in no way necessary. They just help distract us when we're resting. When I listen to my iPod as I walk, I have to keep the volume low, so I can hear verbal cues from the group - "I've fallen and I can't get up, I've fallen through the ice, a Polar Bear is eating my face", that sort of thing.) Books are heavy, so being able to listen to audiobooks on the iPod are a real weight-saver. There are 3 different religious books I'm listening to right now. They are each based on a different faith, and it's really interesting to compare the themes. Underlying them all is really a sense of order and purpose, and a 'Be Groovy and Things Will be Groovy' sensibility. But I digress. How unlike me. (is there a text-based smiley symbol for rolling eyes?)

What are you hoping to get from the trip?
Allow me to ramble as I answer this one...

The first one is unfun. Just skip down a few lines to Deep Breath and keep reading from there, k? My Mom vanished one day when I was six years old. She went out for groceries and never came back. The car was found in the grocery parking lot - trunk full of groceries, engine running, door unlocked, no sign of struggle. So yeah. Nothing was ever, found. No clue, no witness, no idea. Clearly, my mother is dead. But I'm still looking for her.

Deep Breath.

I hope and pray for an expanded appreciation for the planet, its vastness, and our place in it. I want to see free animals and unfenced trees and wild water, and mountains and canyons. When I'm done walking, I want to be able to look at a map and see not just lines and letters, but remember the smell of the ground exactly there. In that precise location. The earthy-ness of it. To rake my fingers through it and see the beetles scurry and the worms wormy and get it under my fingernails.

To smell the vitality of the earth, untouched by urban haze and carbon monoxide. If that means that a mud pot or geyser belches out sulfur, that's fine, I want to smell it. If a bat-filled cave smells of guano, I want to smell it. And I want to smell the caribou and the bison and the deer. And the fields of flowers. I want to sink to my knees, curl on my side and pass out in a field of poppies and dream dream dream of Nirvana.

I want to become a better writer.

I want to meet people, Earthlings all, working hard in their daily life, working the farm, the orchards, the mines, the bars and diners and rock climbers and white water rafters. I want to meet the Native folks with their ancient ways, boats and snowmobiles, humility and pride. I want to meet the hermit meditating in his hut, solving the mysteries of mysteries in the wilderness. I want to shake his hand and share his breath and ask him about his favorite jazz song.

How does the experience compare to expectations?
We're not making as much progress as I'd hoped. We planned for 10 miles a day, and usually do around 8. We're not lazy, the days are really short. Some of the drifts and deformed multi-year ice make the terrain a lot less flat than we expected, from examining the topo maps. So far, there's been no earthy soil for me to play in, or caribou to smell, or poppies to dream in. Since leaving Barrow, we've only bumped into one person. Happy, Mournful Sigh. And he was very very cool, so the 'interesting peeps encountered' box gets a 100% score. So far, there hasn't been a lot of stimuli, not much to write home about. The third day was largely like the fourth day, and et cetera. Once we work our way farther south, and the weather improves, and we reach the treeline, I'm sure things will get a lot more interesting.

What do you plan to do after the trip is over?
I really don't know what to expect. No idea. Maybe I'll find a village that I fall in love with somewhere in Central America, and join the Peace Corps and help the locals. Devote my life to teaching and tending. Maybe I'll fall into an ice crevasse tomorrow and die. Maybe a sexy Martial Arts instructor in Brazil will sweep me off my feet, and I'll settle down, raise kids, and teach interpretive dance. Maybe I'll catch the fever and join a diamond mine in Argentina, forsaking my Americano Fait and sifting for sparkly carbon bits. I'm sorry that I don't have a better answer. I'm not sorry that it's a big, frightening exciting unknown.

Do any of the Walkers write a blog?
Caeled (our IT guy) does, but he's frightfully private. It's not shared, it's one of those 'online-but-no-one-can-see-it' ones, which makes no sense to me. That's like putting a classified ad in the paper, but putting it in some weird code that no one can read. Why, Caeled? It's a social medium. S h a r e! I'll work on his resolve and see if I can get him to be a little more open with the world. Also, Church keeps a journal, of the old fashioned, pen and paper ilk. Spiral bound at the top, and she writes in the purplest of inks. I don't know if she ever plans to type it all up for the world to see. She enjoys her music player, but isn't much for technology beyond that.

Planning the trip -
Were the members chosen to get along and work well together?
The hardest part was finding people who were interested, truly interested in spending five years of their life away from their homes and families. After that, it became a weeding process looking for the right skillsets. We needed a survival expert, we needed a medical type, and a technology guy, and like that. Beyond that, the right people sort of chose themselves. And we get along because we're the type of people who would choose to do this. It's like Rocky Horror. If you show up, all in costume, and hang with all the other wonderful freaks in costume, you're likely to get along, because you're interested and willing to go to that place, to be silly and fun and just go with it.

Litany Webb, signing off

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