Is a hammock right for you?

I receive lots of fan mail from my ham radio friends that have read Three Hundred Zeroes. I received a very nice letter recently from Tom, WA8WPI. He wanted to know more about hammocks and long distance hiking. Here is my reply to him:

Thanks for the nice words. The book’s getting a great reception, and I’ve even had a few people tell me they got their ham license because of it. Thanks for spreading the word, as an unknown author, that is the best help I can receive. If you’re an Amazon customer you can leave a review there about the book, that actually helps the books ranking.

As for hammocks, you either love ’em or hate ’em. I love ’em.

On the plus side:

They’re light.
They can hang almost anywhere, and even though it never happened, you can even use it on the ground, like a tent.
They’re off the ground, so flooding is not an issue.
One can sit under it in rainy weather. I cooked several breakfasts this way. One can use the hammock as a seat, sitting in the opening.
A sleeping pad is not needed (unless some stays are in a shelter. In my shelter stays, I just piled gear under me as a mattress.)
The slit never opens. The hiker’s weight forces it closed and the Velcro seal does a good job of staying together. In fact, it is sometimes a nuisance to keep it open, it wants to close.
No bugs, unlike tarp camping.
The occupant can see in almost every direction, unlike a tent.

On the minus side:

Only one person can sleep in it.
It takes some getting used to. With practice you can even sleep on your belly (trick: sleep diagonally to the hanging axis.)
Changing clothes is easiest if one puts legs on ground and uses opening as a seat.
The backpack has to stay outside. I would “bear hang” mine and cover it with the rain poncho and never had a problem.
There is no “flat” floor to put things on. However, the rope along the top ridge is fabulous for hanging things on, such as damp clothes, lamps, etc. Mine also had some pockets up there to put stuff in.

I guess that pretty much sums it up. I would encourage you to borrow a hammock and try it out. If you were not so far away, I’d offer mine. Like I said, you’ll either like it, or hate it.

Maybe you have other comments on hammocks? Please do leave a comment, we bloggers love comments. Enjoy your hikes and stay safe out there.

Dennis, “K1”

When less IS more.

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Seth Godin, a writer of some acclaim,
blogged an interesting piece that I’d like to share. I’m on his
mailing list and without fail, he sends out copies of his blog each
day that are usually thought provoking and inspirational. The one
that caught my eye today was titled: Civilization.

As is Seth’s way, he can take a topic
that is mundane and obvious, and explore it and awaken you to aspects
of the topic you may never have considered. A good portion of the
world lives in “civilization” today, but many do not. People that
live in places where 14 year-old girls are shot for blogging, or
people have their heads removed because they “look different” are
not living in civilizations.

One line he wrote really caught my eye:
“We don’t need more stuff. We need more civilization.” How
true. When I wrote my story about hiking the Appalachian Trail, Three Hundred Zeroes, I finished the last chapter with that theme. I
discovered that, even though I was walking through some very remote
country, I was walking through a civilization that was comfortable
with itself. I started the walk in the deep south of the United
States and ended up in the farthest northern region and yet there was
a common bond to be found all along the way. Everywhere I went I was
greeted by friendly people and made to feel at home.

Many, if not most of those I met, had
very little in the way of worldly goods, yet what they had, they
shared willingly. Total strangers invited me into their homes, fed me
and asked nothing in return. They could all “use” more stuff,
many would be considered “poor,” but they didn’t measure their
wealth in the size of their car (if they had one) but rather in the
size of their hearts. I’ll never forget those people.

In the book’s last chapter I talked
about the impact all of this and the effect it had on me. When Jane
and I went off to walk the Camino de Santiago last year, we carried
our world on our backs, in our backpacks, and we were walking in
bliss. As long as we had enough to eat and a place to sleep at night,
we were content.

Sometimes, less, truly is more.

Civilization

Chance to win some nice hiking gear and fun reads.

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Philip Werner has an outstanding blog site for hikers, and things hiking related at:

Sectionhiker.com

He is featuring guest bloggers all this month (August). I had the privilege of being the first one and I wrote about Bears, Mice and other Ferocious Beast of the Wilderness. There’s been a really good slate of writers this month, such as Skywalker, Susan Alcorn and Tom Ryan, just to mention a few. Check them out.

Every Friday the Section Hiker is having a raffle. The prizes are extraordinary and valuable. Last week it was an MSR tent worth $399, this week a 15º lightweight down sleeping bag.

There are some really exceptional hiking authors being featured this month, take a look.

Dennis, K1

Being a writer can be an interesting journey, indeed.

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Those of you that have seen the movie, “The Way,” starring Martin Sheen, may recall a fascinating piece of artwork on the big screen. There is a scene where Tom (Sheen) and his walking companion, Jost, from Amsterdam, stop at a sheet metal sculpture of pilgrims in various historical poses. Even though the movie doesn’t spend much time there, the scene is captivating in it’s beauty.

The windy hill upon which the sculptured work sits is just west of Pamplona, Spain, the city famous for the running of the bulls each year. The hill is dotted with gigantic, modern day, windmills. The company that installed them, EHN, commissioned the artwork to the artist, Vicente Galbete.

In my next book, A Few More Zeroes, I mention how impressed I was with the art piece and wanted to know more about it. As powerful as the Internet can be at times, I could not track down Mr. Galbete. I posted something on a forum about the Camino de Santiago and a few days ago, I received an email, in Spanish, with a Google Translate copy of the message in English. Mr. Galbete doesn’t speak English, and I don’t speak Spanish, and yet we have been communicating these past few days, albeit with rough translations. How cool is that!

I’ve asked him about other works, and he has sent me a few links to web sites that have some of his other creations. Have a look and enjoy them.

Vicente Galbete plaque at an endurance running event at Roncevalle:

Roncevalles running event.

The plaque at the running event:

Running event plaque

Vicente Galbete work at Eneriz, in the plaza:

http://www.ayuntamiento.es/eneriz

Here is a closeup of that work:

https://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/53421297.jpg

The Eneriz piece is particularly noteworth at night. He tells me it has a powerful light in it and displays various heavenly bodies around the piece. This would be a must see on my next visit to Spain.

Another of his works is on a flickr.com site. In Spanish it is:

Al paso de Abderramán
Monumento existente en el parque eólico de Moncayuelo.

Which translates:

At the Abderramán pass.
Monument at the wind farm in Moncayuelo.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ramtag/191658

Enjoy everyone.

The publishing industry is evolving, quickly.

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There was an interesting piece on CNN today by Mark Coker, creator of Smashwords, and ebook publishing company. He discusses the Agency Pricing Model (APM) that several of the publishing houses and Apple have collaborated on. I think he worded the piece a bit oddly. He contends that he is for authors pricing their books as they see fit and that the Dept. of Justice lawsuit is a bad thing, but he failed to make his argument clear.

The way it was written, one takes it that he is in favor of the APM, but I think he really means he would rather not see government regulation of this, let the authors and consumers (you readers) decide where that happy price point is. I think he is right. This entire industry is in a state of flux and rushing in with this lawsuit just could upset the apple cart (excuse the pun, I didn’t see it until after I wrote it).

We authors, and you readers are determining, quite nicely I think, where all this is going. We write the books, you judge them with your word-of-mouth assessment and reviews and the book either succeeds or fades away. I suppose this is capitalism at it’s finest.

Speaking of which, THREE HUNDRED ZEROES can always use more reviews. YOUR reviews are what drives up rankings and helps generate more interest in an authors book. Those of you that have already posted a review on Amazon.com, Shelfari.com, Goodreads.com and other book sites deserve a big round of applause. Those of you that haven’t yet, please consider it, not just for this book, but for all of your favorite author’s books. Spread the word on what you have been reading lately. It doesn’t have to be a five-star review, it just needs to be an honest assessment of how you saw the book. Good, critical reviews, are always welcome.

Dennis, K1

Some readers write such inspirational letters.

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I received the following from a reader that just finished THREE HUNDRED ZEROES. I was so moved by his comments, I just had to share them. Thanks Ian:

Dennis, I just finished reading your book today. I never do this but felt it necessary to tell you what an influence it has had on me. I am an avid hiker in upstate New York’s Adirondacks, a father of two young childeren (5 and 4) with my third(and last) on the way in April.

Reading your book and your positive attitude about everything is a true inspiration to me and just went to show me how short and unexpected our lives can be. Reading your book has given me a new outlook on everything and has taught me to take nothing for granted.

I just wanted to say thank you from the bottom of my heart (no pun intended) I hope to hike the A.T. at some point in my life and I will constantly use you as an inspiration.

Thank you,
Ian Smith

Thank you again Ian, you’re the real inspiration.

Dennis, “K1”

Sarasota, Florida Author Featured In New Book: How They Did It

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I just received word that I was featured in a new book about up and coming bloggers and authors. Actually, it is more about the current state of publishing and represents a snapshot of what works for people at the moment, both traditional publishers and indie publishers.

HOW THEY DID IT: 25 bloggers, authors and writers share all their secrets about earning a living and how you can do it too

Chapter seven of the book is an interview with me and my approach to publishing. I don’t honestly feel that I’m of the caliber of some of the others in the book, but I think the book’s author, Diana Bocco, had a different opinion. I haven’t yet read the whole book, but what I have read is both interesting and informative. I’ll report back later when I have more time.

Dennis, K1

Climate changing?

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In this morning’s paper, it was talking about temperatures in the midwest running 30° F above normal. Chicago has been running like this for 8 out of the last 9 days! It claimed the low temperatures for the day are running above the high records for the day. It is still March folks! This morning I was looking at a trail journal report from some friends that are currently hiking the Appalachian Trail and they’ve been bothered by gnats:

“To add to the overall fun three quarters of the day anytime we stopped for more than 30 seconds we would be swarmed with biting gnats!”

Gnats? In March, at high altitudes? They should be complaining about knee-deep snow. Something very strange is afoot in our weather. If they’re seeing gnats already, I can just picture the mosquito population this year.

Dennis, “K1”

What’s Your “Klout” On The Internet?

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Authors are a strange lot. When we’re
not writing, we’re trying to figure out if we’re getting new readers.
Of course that translates into book sales, which can technically keep
an author from starving to death. I haven’t figured out how authors
that have free books find food. Do they live in a Salvation Army
Center? “Buy my book, and I’ll contribute a portion of it to the
center that I live in.”

Recently, I started using HootSuite.com
to follow my Twitter stuff and it has a “klout” (“klout”
is German for “klout”) factor that it displays. Twitter allows me
to take the pulse of reader interest in my book (soon to be books).
Now, take the following with a grain of salt, I may not know what I’m
talking about here (even more than usual!).

There are software tools that
Klout.com, which HootSuite uses to follow my Twitter account, which
uses, oh never mind, it gets really convoluted. Anyway, Klout.com
measures how much activity an individual “creates” on the
Internet. I suspect they’re measuring such things as Google hits,
Facebook views/hits, Twitter hits/re-Tweets, RBI’s, pork belly
futures, etc. Who knows, I wouldn’t be surprised they track how many
toilet paper rolls I use, and how much my followers use. Watch out
folks, 1-ply vs. 2-ply could really screw up your “klout!” When I
was hiking the Appalachian Trail it may have been a leaf count.

On a 0-100 scale (that Klout.com
actually uses) you’d think that an
average person would have a score of 50. But nnnnoooooooo,
not these guys. That would be too logical, an average person is, you
guessed it, 20. Twenty is the new fifty. Man, I could have used that
grading system in my school days, I would have been a genius! I’m
certain I broke 25 a few times. Those kinds of scores I did obtain,
although it was a struggle.

Anyway, they roll (excuse the pun) all
that data up and come up with some magic number that shows how much
“klout” you wield on the Internet. If you use Internet
steroids, can they tell? This could open up a whole new field,
Internet Drug Testing. Will my hard drive turn state’s evidence? I
wonder what Osama bin Laden’s numbers looked like?

In the old days of DOS we called people
with clout “Power users.” According to the Klout website,
there are places that use these numbers and mix them in a vat with
bat wings, newt toes, goat entrails and come up with some potion that
is consumed in a corporate board room during a full moon, along with
tequila.

As far as I’m concerned it is one more
thing that I’m not going to worry about. Oh look, I just posted this
and my Klout has jumped to 31! Maybe if I Tweet this….hmmm.

The Beginning of Another Appalachian Trail Season

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Things have been very busy here at the Blanchard’s residence. I often joke that I thought retirement was sitting on the porch, watching the grass grow. Nothing could be further from the truth!

First off, my other half, Jane, has been very busy working on her book in what spare time she has. She’s putting me to shame since she is much further ahead than I on her Women of the Camino book. She hasn’t let me peek at it yet, but from what little I have seen, it is going to be a winner. Jane has been smartly building her writing platform and if you’re an author, or just interested in the process of writing a book, check out her author’s blog at janevblanchard.com.

My next work, A FEW MORE ZEROES, is up to about 170 pages thus far. My goal is put together an even more humorous story than the previous book, and still retain quality information and guidance for the reader that might just go off and walk the Camino de Santiago. Authors should strive to have every book be better than the previous one, which means we’re always raising our own personal bar.

In addition to those efforts, there is the day-to-day author activity of Twitter, Facebook and keeping up with the fan mail. I love the fan mail, so keep it coming, either through email or snail mail.

On 17 March we had a nice celebration here: I turned 65. My best gift was by far Medicare. Hopefully that, and my Veterans health care, will allow me many more years of trekking and writing. We had a fabulous party here and I’m still hoarse from all the laughter with good friends, and their roasting me. Hint: never let friends know anything about you, they’ll use it on you at events like birthdays.

This coming Wednesday I’ll be doing a presentation at the local Appalachian Trail Club of Florida. Time ran out on finding a speaker for our monthly meeting so I’ve put together a program about the AT that should be fun. If you can be in the Sarasota, Florida area this Wednesday, 21 March, stop by the Sarasota Garden Club and check out our club. Meeting starts at 6:30, bring a pot luck dish to share.

Sorry the blog here has been kinda quiet lately, writing another book is an all-consuming effort. I promise, I’ll be here more often as soon as possible.