PCT Travel Days

Stepping Away and Back Again

Leaving home was difficult. Penny and Brianna had the truck fully packed well before noon. This gave me a lot of time to sit and think about what I might have forgotten to pack, which from the perspective of someone who didn’t help do any of the packing, is an especially pointless venture. Brianna and I have moved 7 times in our 12 years of marriage, so we have a lot of experience with packing up and saying goodbye, but it’s more like a foot blister that must be endured than it is a skill that can be perfected. Separation is the reaction to an action, the prime unavoidable consequence for any and all who would be so bold as to create personal connections.

Our first few travel days have been pretty uneventful. Crossing the Mackinaw Bridge during a high wind advisory Thunderstorm at 0100 in the morning was fun and sleeping in our yurt at the TikiRVPark in St. Ignace was more comfortable than a hotel room. The yurt had a bed and some end tables inside, we had to bring our own bedsheets and use our sleeping bags for blankets.

Taking the northern route to Washington made the first couple of travel days into a pilgrimage of sorts. We drove by the Western UP section of the North Country Trail that we hiked back in 2020. The road through northern Wisconsin had us crisscrossing towns and trails we were in and around during last year’s Ice Age Trail adventure. I don’t think the intent of Penny’s planned route was to pay homage to the adventures that came before, but it’s been a fun drive down memory lane.

Road-trip Itinerary 

• June 30 – St. Ignace, MI
• July 01 – Barron, WI
• July 02 – Glendive, MT
• July 03 – Missoula, MT
• July 04 – TBD

Q&A

With many uneventful hours ahead of me in the car, I wanted to take this time to answer a few blog-related questions. 

Q1: What is the difference between the Wanderingmindfully blog and TheTrek blog?

A: Not much.  TheTrek blogs will post 24 hours before Wanderingmindfully, the content will be mostly the same.

Q2: Why are you posting daily blogs in two different locations?

A: I applied to write for TheTrek because it felt like a fun opportunity to reach a large audience of people who also enjoy hiking. TheTrek liked my style and accepted. 

Q3: How much do you get paid?

A: $0.  TheTrek ads on my pages do nothing for me. While I do not get paid for writing on TheTrek, I will say that it has brought a lot of value to me as a writer who uses WordPress – they sent me a 30-40 page pdf document for how to use features and how to write effective posts. Community win!

Q4: Why keep writing @wanderingmindfully.com?

A: It’s my page to do whatever I want with.  I’ll stop posting at TheTrek long before I ever stop posting on my page. Plus, ads are dumb, friends and family should have a non-ad option.