Props to the crew who humped the lumber up a mountain to build a picnic table so I could have a nice place to sit my ass down and view another mountain.

The peak in the distance is Katahdin. Here, the over two-thousand mile journey to (or from) Springer Mountain in Georgia ends marking the full extent of the country’s most storied thru-hike, the Appalachian Trail.

I’m an experienced hiker. I’ve done my share of camping and, yeah, living full-time in campgrounds for the better part of the last six years. I’ve hiked plenty of back country miles and camped there too. But I’ve never completed a thru-hike.

All told, I’ve maybe hiked a hundred miles of the AT. More or less. I used to track my hikes in the AllTrails app, but would often forget to shutdown the app when I was done. It would then record my miracle 50 mph sprint back to base camp (logging my driving activity as trail activity) and muck up all the data.

I figured out that when I hike, I tend to ignore the tech unless I absolutely need to check my coordinates. I take plenty of pictures. But rarely do I unlock the phone to do it. And I’m absolutely not one of those people lugging around professional cameras and ring lights so I can stream from a peak or what not.

I love y’all dearly, but I’ve got no need to be connected to everybody at all times. In fact, I’m pretty much the opposite.

It’s probably why I’m one of those people who dreams about accomplishing a thru-hike. Months out there, exploring the wilderness, seeing every peak and every hollow. Serious respect to those who can pull it off.

Part of it is the sheer amount of time involved. I’m envious of anybody who can check out of life for six months or so. But also, I’m not quite sure I could make that commitment.

I’ve done the shift work and prolonged TDYs before. Leaving family behind too much got me to walk away from that life. But six months away at this age feels different. The kid’s all grown up and doing fine. My wife? She might even appreciate having a summer to herself.

So maybe one day. Of course, I’m at that point in my life where every day forward makes physically demanding tasks more difficult. A hike like that seems like a retirement stretch goal, but I have no idea what my retirement would look like.

What? I stop telling stories? As if.

This recent trip to Katahdin wasn’t to scout for a future thru-hike. We were putting our motorhome through the paces. The engine trouble did in fact turn out to be a blown turbo. I was prepared to change the actuator, but when I figured out the turbo was seized as well, I had to take it into the shop.

Many obscenely expensive man hours later, Discovery is running like a champ again and ready to tackle our next epic journey out West for the winter.

We’re calling this one the Grand Tour (yes, the wife and I are both fans of Top Gear – the OG British version with Clarkson and crew.) It’ll have us gone from our idyllic little homestead for a bit longer, but we need to see a few things we’ve missed out West.

During all our back-and-forth trips, we kept missing the Grand Canyon. Usually because we were in Arizona in deep winter and too far south. Then there’s the entire parks area of southern Utah we have yet to experience. We’ll wrap up with a trip to Yellowstone. Another on the bucket list which we’ve missed in the past due to fires and such.

By then, we’ll be ready to haul ass home. It’s a tricky excursion. We can’t move North too quickly due to winter weather, so we’ll end up hanging out around Sedona for a bit while things warm up. Then we’ll edge our way across the Arizona/Utah border and by late spring, slip into Wyoming.

I’ve been aching to see the high desert again. Those expansive vistas and the painted skies. I’m eager to leave but already eager to come back home.

All this travel will be fuel for my next series. I’ve gotten a start on the outline and banked several book ideas. Another thriller, naturally. A series I’m developing with a well-known publisher in the space.

In the meantime, I hope everyone is enjoying Russian Hill, the final entry in Kade’s saga. No promises, but I might revisit the character someday. And the new series will take quite a bit of inspiration from Agent Black’s exploits. I think you’ll enjoy it just as much, maybe more.

Any new release won’t happen for a while, so keep an eye on the page or subscribe to my mailing list for all the latest. With trail updates, books and other projects, I may not be a 24-7 “influencer” but I’ll stay in touch!

Thanks again for reading,

Russ

Categories: Author News, Journeys

Tags: Appalachian trail, book series, fort black thrillers, hiking, new release, nomad, russian hill, self publishing, travel, Writing