"The Ordinary Adventurer"

[Jan LiteShoe]

Whew! Hey everyone, I just dropped back into the conversation after three solid months of work submersion.
What ever happened to the simple life? I want to live in the woods again and worry about blisters and whether I have enough Snickers to make it through the Smokies.

But - the immersion produced a result. My book has been delivered to the PUBLISHER! HOORAY!
(Sorry, it was a total bannana moment).

I feel like I gave birth to a whale. Who knew writing a book was so hard, or took so long? But the end result is something I am really proud of.

"The Ordinary Adventurer" A Primer for Baby Adventurers and Other Musings on the Nature of Journey is the story of my learning curve for the AT - all the uncertainty and self-doubt of a newbie ("Can I do it? Do I have the right stuff?"), all the unknowns, all the new gear, the over-loaded maildrops.
An August End-to-End thru-hike of Vermont's Long Trail served as my apprenticeship.

The LT was the longest thru-hike I could undertake at the time without quitting my "day" job, and it was a terrific prep for the much-longer AT.

Ha! If you can do the Long Trail, you can do the AT.

Anyway, I feel like helium. I am ready to CELEBRATE at Trail Days this weekend. Woohoo!

See ya there!

[RiverWarriorPJ]

..A hardy congrats & good luck..

[Creek Dancer]

That is so cool Jan. Let's us know when the book comes out. I want to be first in line for a copy!

[Jan LiteShoe]

That is so cool Jan. Let's us know when the book comes out. I want to be first in line for a copy!

Ha! The first 30 people who pre-bought my book would probbably chop my hands off!
;-)

How about you be 31st?

[Marta]

Congratulations!!! I am really looking forward to getting a copy. (Reaching in and getting out wallet...)

Marta/Five-Leaf

[Cuppa Joe]

Good on ya Jan! ... Looking forward to it. Hope to run into you at Trail Days.

[TJ aka Teej]

"Anyway, I feel like helium."
Super news Liteballoon!

[Mini-Mosey]

Hey, that's great!! I plan to get my hands on it, as your writing is very enjoyable.

[Quoddy]

When I saw this thread it reminded me just how much I'd enjoyed reading your LT journal a few month's ago...so I began re-reading it again this morning. I'm heading out on July 31st for a thru hike of the Long Trail and hang on the varying thoughts of those who've thru hiked previously. Your journal was very special. I'll be looking forward to reading the book.

[Jonesy]

Congratulations! I saw your journal for the first time due to trailcasts. Sounds like a wonderful accomplishment. I will have to drop in an take a look at your LT journal for now.

~Jan ProudFoot, I mean, LiteShoe~

Cheers,
Jonesy

[Jan LiteShoe]

Hi all,

Okay, officially, I'm happy to say that
MY BOOK IS HERE!

It's been a long, long road. LOL.

I just got my shopping cart and website working smoothly yesterday with a few test orders, and was intending to make an announcement today here anyway.


The "national rollout" won't be until late October, when reviewers have had their chance to read it and write reviews. Until then, the book will be available on my website http://www.FunFreedom.com

For hikers considering the Long Trail, there's also some useful resuppply info and a map on there as well under "Trail Info." I tried to put up the stuff I wanted to know before I hiked it, and couldn't find.

In the book I tried to portray that newbie enthusiasm/obsession/preparation/freakout one gets when first smitten with the notion of long-distance hiking.

Though at the time I couldn't hike "The Big One" - the A.T. - I was able to carve a month from my working life to tackle the venerable Long Trail of Vermont to see if I had "the right stuff" for a six-month-plus hike. My friend Clyde joined me for reasons of his own, mainly to see if his heart could survive 1,500-foot ascents without bursting after a major heart attack five years earlier. ;-)
He was challenging his own "Big One."

Though we were perhaps not the best match-up - in many ways, wildly mismatched - the trek, as the book says "frog-marched us to an unlikely journey of adventure and friendship."
We have remained friends to this day.

You can read the Preface to the book online
at http://www.longtrailfestivalvt.com
by hitting Events/Program on the right, and then "Ordinary Adventurer".

If anyone is in the area of Rutland, VT on or around August 17-18, stop by the LT Festival2007. I will be speaking and presenting "The Ordinary Adventurer", and "THEE" MAF Clyde "Right Turn" Speilberg has also agreed to "put in an appearance."

The first Long Trail Festival is also promising to be a mini-Ruck, with many friends and hikers planning to come. Free food and camping!


Thanks,
Jan "LiteShoe" Leitschuh
LT '02
AT '03
Book '07
;-)

PS I apologize in advance if you see this on other lists, I'm just trying to get the word out, not to be obnoxious.
And, if you like the book, would you mind telling someone else? I'm doing this on a shoestring, and Word of mouth is the best endorsement of all. Of course, if you hate it, you can use it, as one friend suggested, as fire starter at The Gathering. ;-)

[Cookerhiker]

Good luck - I hope sales break a record!! Good timing - I'm starting Long Trail End-to-end hike on Aug. 14. I'll miss the Festival because I'm on the Trail!

http://www.trailjournals.com/CookerhikerLT07

[Mags]

Ha! If you can do the Long Trail, you can do the AT.

Ain't that the truth. I think the LT is PERFECT for anyone looking to do the AT. Gives you the essence of doing a thru-hike (planning resupply, good chance you'll be out in all kinds of weather, hard and rocky trail, etc.) without having to quit a job.

Congrats on your book! It is a milestone to say the least!

[gold bond]

I just bought my copy!! It says it will be signed by the author! I am really excited and looking forward to reading it. Thanks for sharing your story.

[Cookerhiker]

Ain't that the truth. I think the LT is PERFECT for anyone looking to do the AT. Gives you the essence of doing a thru-hike (planning resupply, good chance you'll be out in all kinds of weather, hard and rocky trail, etc.) without having to quit a job. .......

Not only that but the 274 mile LT has something not found on the 2,175 mile AT. I'm referring to the constant views of Lake Champlain first picked up from Mt. Abraham and present all along the Lincoln Ridge as well as Camels Hump and Mansfield. I think the Butler Lodge setting is the best shelter siting on either of the Trails overlooking Champlain with the Adirondacks in the western sky, making for a marvelous sunset. There is no comparable lengthy vista of a large natural lake elsewhere. Maine features some mountaintop views of smaller lakes e.g. Nahmakanta and in the South, I don't count the phony lakes of Fontana & Watauga.

[Mags]

I'm referring to the constant views of Lake Champlain first picked up from Mt. Abraham and present all along the Lincoln Ridge as well as Camels Hump and Mansfield.

The view from Camels Hump on my first LT trek was extrmemely memorable. Views to the south towards where I have been. Views to north into Canada. Could see the Whites and the Daks. And not too far in the disance? Lake Champlain! Yes indeed. Great view. Great trail.

I'd love to do it again sometime. Start in the Fall going southbound and walk an additional 20 miles to fnish at Greylock just over the Mass/VT line.

Yep..time for an Eastern hike.

[Jan LiteShoe]

Ain't that the truth. I think the LT is PERFECT for anyone looking to do the AT. Gives you the essence of doing a thru-hike (planning resupply, good chance you'll be out in all kinds of weather, hard and rocky trail, etc.) without having to quit a job.

Congrats on your book! It is a milestone to say the least!

Exactly, Mags.
It became my proving ground for the AT.
It was a pretty, sociable/isolated and testy trail in its own right.
It kind of has it all - long green tunnels, bare winswept peaks, a solid walk of the AT for the first 100 miles, historic Inns, high ridges, remote country - all crammed into one month.
of course at the end, I never wanted to backpack again ... LOL. That didn't last long.

[superman]

OK, how does this work. I send you a dollar three eighty now and when the book is printed I'll get one? Did I ever tell you about the time I bought a book from Wingfoot? I sent him a button and a rabbits foot and he said "don't worry...be happy." So I left for my AT hike with a data book from the local EMS. I stopped by and talked to WF and told him not to worry about the book...consider the money a donation to his cause. All good...and I hiked on. When I finished the AT I went home and there on my dining room table was the WF book. It had come in a couple months after I started the AT.
You may be asking "what", if anything, this has to do with your book. The answer is nothing. I'm already hard at work collecting cans and bottles to raise the money for your book (but that's another story).

[Jan LiteShoe]

OK, how does this work. I send you a dollar three eighty now and when the book is printed I'll get one?

Nope, book is already printed, Jim.
Come to the Long Trail festival in Rutland on August 17-19 and see for yourself..
Check it out: http://www.longtrailfestivalvt.com/
Heck, you're not far away. I walked to New Hampshire from Rutland once.

Bring Winter!

[superman]

Nope, book is already printed, Jim.
Come to the Long Trail festival in Rutland on August 17-19 and see for yourself..
Check it out: http://www.longtrailfestivalvt.com/
Heck, you're not far away. I walked to New Hampshire from Rutland once.

Bring Winter!

The checks in the mail.