Repping the crew with the brightest smiles…
Graffiti writers also love dental hygiene. NKO preparing to dehydrate some toothpaste dots – we will take these dehydrated toothpaste slugs and cut them up into single servings, then portion 2 per person per day in resupply packets. This is getting deep…
Infused oil curing.
We just finished processing & packaging 5 gallons of organic extra virgin olive oil. We’ll add it to meals as a flavor additive, and to get extra fat calories on the trail. We made a few different varieties: garlic, garlic & white pepper, rosemary, sage, and thyme. I took my friend Pol Rosenthal’s advice and added a pinch of salt to keep any organic matter that didn’t get filtered out from spoiling.
We’ll end up using about 2 oz of this a day between the two of us – 1 oz in savory oats in the morning, and 1 oz in our dinner. We’ll see how that goes for 120 days…
Sara finished sewing these silnylon shell mittens just before we left Seattle. There’re to keep the fleece mittens she made dry, and act as breathable bug protection in hot weather.
We’ve been trying to finish up the final details of our gear preparation. It’s hard to think about all the possible situations we’ll encounter, but nothing like fluorescent mittens comforts you when you realize you forgot yr toothbrush.
Stopped in Olympia to visit the homie Kate… Had to visit the freewall.
Sara and I managed to sneak up to my parents place last night for a final farewell dinner – baked quinoa stuffed peppers with a salad of new lettuce & other greens from their garden. I’ma miss eating their produce all summer. The roses were in full bloom, and the tomato plants were looking LARGE…
Finally! We’re on our way – just leaving the city limits. After months of prep, an estate/studio sale, a farewell party, moving out of the apartment at Cafe Mystique and trying to see all the friends and family it finally feels like this journey is starting. We’ll spend 4 days jn Portland with Sara’s parents working out mail drop details and fly out on a red eye Boston bound Monday morning.
On our way out we managed to get a final taste of Seattle culture – seeing Dan Hawkins’ show at Photo Center Northwest, then checking Ben Beres’ install/performance across the street at the Hedreen Gallery. A soft parting…
Jamie and Sara outside the Grinning Yogi studio, right next door to Remedy Tea
Sara and I just completed a mentorship program called the Grinning 20 at the Grinning Yogi yoga studio on 15th in Cap Hill. Jamie, the proprietor of the studio, signs students up for a 1 month unlimited pass and pairs them with an instructor to guide them through the practice. The goal is to complete 20 yoga classes in 30 days – and learn more about yourself and your practice.
Jamie mentored us for the last month as we prepare for the hike – teaching us simple forms we can lead each other through and working on our own physical problems. For me this means performing balancing exercises to try and strengthen my broken foot, for Sara it’s transitioning from a full time desk job to a more active lifestyle – which means intense IT band stretching.
Sara catches a half moon in camp during a recent gear test trip.
The experience has been great! Jamie is super thoughtful about making sure we are mentally prepared, as well as physically able, to embark on this journey together. And as people who only started practicing yoga 8 months ago, she has made our transition into yoga fanatics a fantastic journey.
-NKO
It’s the night of our going away party… in a few moments we leave to say “bye for now” to our friends at Vermillion Gallery and Bar. It’s a relief to get out of the house. The living room is in shambles with pyramids of vegan dehydrated food, piles of almost-finished sewing projects, and the contents of our packs spilling across the floor. We are madly in the process of inventory, fixing adding, subtracting items to our emergency kits, and toiletries kits, and sewing kits, and keep-warm kits.
The AT is a national historic trail running 2200 miles from Maine to Georgia
This Thursday, June 27 we set of on our journey. We’ll drive down to Portland, OR to visit with Sara’s folks a few days and give them our food stash so they can help us with mail drops. On July 1st we take a red-eye eastward. To Boston specifically. Two bus rides, two days, and two car shuttles later we will arrive at the base of Mount Katahdin, the northern terminus of the Appalachian Trail.
We are more than excited for the journey to finally begin. And can’t wait to share it with you. This homepage will be updated regularly with our thoughts and experiences. In the meantime, check out tabs at the top for some back story on why we’re doing this, what gear we’re taking, our cooking experiences.
xo Sara and Nko
Wrong Way Gang 