a week at the beach

this post is coming to you from corolla, north carolina, a beach town on the northern tip of the outer banks where our family has rented a beach house for the week. in the two days that we've been here, i got my first sunburn of the season, played my fair share of pool and ping-pong, and have started and finished two books - an out-of-date book about basic backpacking (not worth a read), and "the lost explorer", about the finding of george mallory's body on everest in 1999. mallory and his partner, sandy irvine, made an attempt on everest's summit in 1924, 29 years before the official recorded summit by sir edmund hillary, but never returned to camp the night of their attempt. since they were alone on the day of their deaths with no witnesses but the Vestpocket camera they were rumored to be carrying (it has yet to be found), the likelihood of their having reached the top has been debated for years. the discovery of his body rekindled the conversation and added some important information. conrad anker, a member of the 1999 expedition and one of the book's authors, seems like a bit of a jerk, but the book is worth a read anyway. (sorry, amazon, for stealing your graphic.)


we just booked 4 nights at the city groove backpackers (hostel) in auckland, another step in making the trip seem more like it's actually happening. we arrive on a thursday morning, and plan to spend at least the weekend in auckland to make final purchases and arrangements for the beginning of the hiking portion.


we're encountering some frustration with the very first part of the plan - what we'd like to do is take a basic coach from auckland (bottom of this map) to cape reinga (unmarked, but the far northern tip) in one day. unfortunately, the stretch above kaitaia, which is called ninety mile beach but is actually only sixty miles long, is accessible only by driving along the hard-packed sand on the beach and is not serviced by the intercity buses that serve the rest of the islands. we can take an intercity bus to kaitaia, but then would have to stay there for the night and hop on a tour bus the next morning for the remaining stretch, adding more cost and time than we'd really like. the planning is fun, though - this is what traveling is really about. in the end, the bus issue will probably end up as another "figure it out when we get there" item.

-rachel

we've arrived at our second stop of the trip, my parents' house in dc, and have spent the evening celebrating my mom's birthday and listening to classic records (the monkees, the beatles, the beach boys, jesus christ superstar) on her new record player. from the airport, we drove directly to a crabhouse on the potomac that's clearly intended to welcome visitors from the water rather than from land, as guests have to walk across a busy set of train tracks to get to the restaurant when the parking lot is full (which tonight it was). the crab legs that i ordered were certainly well worth the drive. thanks, mom and dad!

we flew through minneapolis this morning, and though we decided not to hop on the light rail for one last visit of the mall of america (by the way, did you know that there are billboards advertising the mall of america in omaha? that's two states away!), our pilot sure gave us a grand farewell tour of the city. we could see the mall (and, therefore, our old apartment) to our left as we took off, following 35w up past the chain of lakes and directly over the city skyline. we could even clearly make out miller hall and the rest of north central down below us. why would anyone choose to live anywhere but minneapolis?

tomorrow we're planning yet another visit to REI to purchase some remaining essentials. we have a surprisingly long list, especially given how heavy our packs felt as we lugged them around the airport today. weight has been a critical factor in the decision-making process for most of our equipment, but as this is our first real backpacking trip, we know that we're still holding onto unnecessary items because we just don't know better yet. hopefully we'll have shed some packweight by the time we hike the PCT with adam and stacy in a year or so :)

after the shopping trip, we're heading straight to the library to secure a stack of reading materials on wilderness first aid, navigation, and general new zealand information. we're leaving on saturday for a week at a beach house in the outer banks, and somehow it just seems more appealing to read about magnetic north from a hammock by the ocean than it did from our apartment in minneapolis. we're embarrassingly underprepared in some areas, and are giving ourselves a crash course during this last week and a half. i've decided to stop stressing myself out about this, and instead try to maximize the time that we do have.

one more note before i go - i now possess actual new zealand dollars, courtesy of my fantastic brothers! this one, as you can see, is a $5 featuring the late sir edmund hillary (just ahead of peter jackson as the most well-known kiwi?), famous for being the first to summit mt. everest along with sherpa tenzing norgay in 1953. the $20 note displays a picture of queen elizabeth II, and the $10 note shows kate sheppard, who, i just learned, was a prominent figure in the woman's suffrage movement. new zealand was the first country to give women the vote, in 1893, and has a proud social justice history. for those of you who are wondering, as of today, nz$1=us$0.67. it's not a bad exchange rate, but i wouldn't mind if it it dipped back down to the $0.50 rate that we saw in march.

have a wonderful friday!

rachel

traveling on beautiful I-80

heads up, student lifers - you're about to get an amazing postcard in the mail. it's similar to this one, but it makes interstate 80 look even more thrilling. we found this gem at mahoney state park, nebraska's third most visited attraction (the henry doorley zoo is, rightfully, number one and cabela's is, questionably, number two) and the location of a family camping trip this weekend.

the camping was luxurious - the tent had three rooms and was tall enough to stand up in, the fare included some delicious campfire cobbler, and the park featured a mini golf course, paddleboats, and an indoor auditorium. we were treated to a matinee showing of "mr meany goes a-courtin'", which is an intentionally over-the-top experience during which the audience is encouraged to throw popcorn at the villain and cheer whenever the hero enters the room. this is certainly not the kind of camping that we will be doing in new zealand, so we tried to enjoy it while it lasted. our navigational skills were in question, however, when we found ourselves terribly lost somewhere near the one forested trail in the park. i think we discovered a few new species of spider on our way back to civilization.

we spent a good portion of yesterday afternoon planning our meals for the trip in 4-day increments. i'm relieved to have some semblance of a plan in this area, but by our current estimates, we'll be spending upwards of $85 a week on food alone - and backpacking food, at that! once we actually arrive in new zealand, we'll spend some time perusing grocery stores to find out what we can purchase cheaply there, because the budget will certainly not accomodate the current plan.

we'll hop a flight to baltimore on thursday morning to visit my side of the family and spend some time at the outer banks in north carolina. we do have a layover in minneapolis from about 10:30 am-12:45 pm, so give bryan's phone a call (612-865-1643) if you want to meet us for coffee at the starbucks in baggage claim or something. since, you know, none of you work or anything. :)

rachel

from the library.

looks like i had time to squeeze out one last post before heading down to wahoo, nebraska. i'm at the library, jotting down notes about our flights and waiting for bryan to get back from the post office. we just checked out of our apartment, which is still surprising to me, as it's not even noon yet. the credit goes to bryan, who started cleaning the kitchen at 7:30 this morning while i stayed in bed and read about the battle for helm's deep. just realized that i left a yogurt in the fridge. oops.

we had a collection of wonderful friends come over to help us move yesterday - with the exception of one near-death experience (sorry, jeremy!), it was the best (and by far the quickest) move we've ever had. thanks to everyone who came to help us out!

since this is what's in front of me at the moment, and some of you have been asking about it, here's the scoop on the flight to new zealand.

leaving: 6:22 pm on tuesday, august 18 from baltimore (flight time: 5 hrs, 38 min)
layover: 9:00-11:45 pm in los angeles
arriving: 7:30 am on thursday, august 20 in auckland, new zealand! (flight time: 12 hrs, 45 min)
total flight time: 18 hours, 23 minutes

auckland is by far the largest city, but not the capital (this distinction goes to wellington). it lies just west of the international date line, which is why we're skipping wednesday entirely during our flight. they often claim the distinction of being the first country to see the sun rise each morning, though the award really goes to the islands of kiribati and tonga. new zealand is, if i remember correctly, 17 hours ahead of minneapolis, so don't call us before 2 pm central time if you want us to be excited to hear from you :)

-rachel

crowds.

during these last few workless days, we've been packing, cleaning, and visiting our favorite spots one last time before we take off. this landed us at the twins game last night, where we were pleased to witness a win against the white sox because of some surprisingly successful at-bats by the usually mediocre gomez and casilla. though i love baseball games (and especially twins games), the most entertaining part of the evening was overhearing a conversation taking place in the row behind us.

i should preface this with an explanatory and apologetic note. one of the more positive side effects of deciding to take on such a long hike is that we will be able to take a break from people, and especially crowds, for a while. you may already be aware of my crowd phobia, as evidenced in my loathing of the mall of america on saturday afternoons and my skillful ducking through throngs of people to find breathable air at the expense of others who may be traveling with me. bryan and i have noticed in ourselves a budding disdain for others that we don't think is healthy, especially for two people planning to pursue "helping" professions. let's hope that the fresh air of the southern alps and some reflective solitude brings us back with greater patience, understanding, and love.

back to the chattering in row 20. if you are unfamiliar with the fantastic comedian brian regan, especially his "dinner party" sketch, you should stop reading right now and watch this video instead. during the early innings, we caught the introductions of the two families involved in the conversation. one of them was from a town that i've never heard of, but apparently near enough to the twin cities to consider themselves local, and the other family had moved from minnesota to california and was in town visiting family (also something about a lake house?). the discussion showed signs of one-upmanship from the very beginning ("the company that built the metrodome is owned by a family friend"), but it was the mother of the california family, a classic "me-monster", who made the exchange so enjoyably uncomfortable. these are all actual quotes.

"have you heard of kirsten dunst? she went to school with my oldest daughter."
"have you heard of gary sinise? his daughter goes to school with my kids. they're great friends."
"have you heard of shia labeouf? he's from our neighborhood."
"do you remember lucy from seventh heaven? she's our neighbor. she comes over to play with the kids all the time."
"have you heard of steve martin? he's good friends with our neighbor so we see him regularly."

there were more, but i did try to watch the game from time to time. i echo bryan's sentiment that the saddest part is that the other family will now be claiming these stories as their own, i.e. "our friends know steve martin".

i should go - i need to swing by nordstroms rack for another smartwool t-shirt and then head back home to help my hard-working husband finish cleaning. my next update will most likely be from nebraska, where we'll be hanging out with bryan's family until august 6th. au revoir!

-rachel

panic.

during church on sunday i experienced the first of the week's many mild panic attacks. they strike unexpectedly and echo the sensation of terror, freezing my heartbeat for an instant and restricting my breathing for a few seconds afterwards. thankfully, we have as much excitement about our trip as we have fear, and are somehow able to look forward to the crazy uncertainties of how we'll find the trail, if we'll have enough money, what we'll do when we're done hiking, and what will happen when we get back to the states.

today i started sending e-mails to a few churches that we'll pass along the way, in the hopes that some of them will let us come and work with them for a day or two, doing odd jobs or office work, whatever's needed. our hope is to connect with other people along the way instead of living an isolated trail life, and we'd love to serve pastors and their congregations while we're at it. i guess we'll see if anyone takes us up on the offer. thanks to sarah for helping me make sure that my e-mails don't sound creepy and weird :)

this week has held a lot of "lasts": last time hanging out with friends, last day of leaving for work at 4:30 am (that one is bryan's), last week of sleeping in a comfortable bed (sorry mom and dad - the pull-out couch just can't compare), last week of netflix (so sad!), last week of teaching elements and preschool, last visit to my favorite museum...

we really love minneapolis, and i am slowly coming to terms with the possibility that we may never live here again. at this point, it's probably most likely that we'll end up back here in the cities in a year, but it seems dangerous to make promises, especially to myself. i mentioned earlier that i'm reading the lord of the rings again, which offers some notable parallels to our current situation, though i'm not at all happy about the potential of relating to frodo at the end of the book when he finds that his great adventure has changed him so much as to make him unable to return to his home.

sorry about the emotional post - i'll try to put something more factual in next time :)

-rachel

28 days later

we've got just 4 weeks left before boarding the plane for auckland, so i thought i'd give you guys an update about what we've been up to in the last few months and what's ahead in the coming weeks.

this weekend we sold my beloved toyota echo. fortunately, the sale process was quick (it sold within 24 hours of the craigslist posting) and we were able to get the full amount that we'd asked for it. that will certainly help us finance the last portion of the trip, as we will need to dip into our house and emergency savings for our remaining funds. may the echo bring the same great joy to julie, its new owner, as it has to me. may its already generous gas mileage be multiplied a hundredfold.

we've also been wrapping up the purchasing of our remaining items for the backpacking portion. things still on my list include long underwear (they appear to make these only for basketball players), a headlamp, camp shoes (suggestions, anyone?), a stuff sack or compression sack, some first aid supplies, and a few other things that i'm forgetting at the moment. we're planning to buy our stove and fuel when we arrive in new zealand in order to avoid potential confiscation by airport officials.

some of my favorite recent purchases include the books that we chose for airplane and trail reading, c.s. lewis' letters to malcolm: chiefly on prayer and ernest shackleton's south: the endurance exploration for me, and an interesting-looking (i'm not allowed to read it until he's done with it) book called the film club: a memoir for bryan. we'll also bring our bibles along (maybe just one, to save weight?) and a to-be-determined series of maps. if weight weren't a factor, i'd also bring along the lord of the rings, but instead i've decided to give them one last read before i go so that i can begin my journey with the hobbit spirit.

speaking of weight, i'm pleased to announce that my estimated pack weight is 22 lbs. this is my base weight, so it does not include fuel (or, for now, a stove), water, or food, which would bring my total up to a maximum of about 45 lbs. i'm trying to find ways to cut my base weight to 20 lbs and my max weight to 40 lbs, which i'm sure will come with more experience on the trail.

we each have 4 days of work left. bryan is planning a celebratory burning of his greasy panera clothes, but i am currently less able to express joy at our departure. i have much more work to do than will fill my remaining 32 hours, and would rather not leave my successors with less than fond feelings towards me if i'm not able to complete their training or if i have to pass off my files in their current chaotic condition. sorry, guys.

i'll try to keep this to a readable size - more to come later. if anybody wants to help us with the moving process, we'll be loading up our u-haul next wednesday evening and will then take it to our storage unit in burnsville. and if anyone wants to get together before we go, let us know - there are still plenty of days available for friends.

rachel