"We might actually pull this thing off"

HELLOOOOO BLOGOSPHERE!

I must apologize for my long absence. I have been in Mexico, where I was staging activist performance and messing with multinational evil-doers Monsanto, who want to own corn and soy and cotton and the world (they're really bad, and I say that completely objectively):

This is me, as corn

"Without corn there is no life"

I also worked with some incredible artists and activists and got to go to a party hosted by the incredible Zapatistas, where they talked about the ongoing struggle for autonomy and indigenous rights. When I say "party," I mean thousands and thousands of Zapatistas standing quietly and many hundreds of visitors standing impatiently in the rain for hours while incredible speeches were translated into three languages (Spanish, Tsotsil, Tzeltal), followed by a big dance party with Norteño accordion music.

Anyway, I was working 12-14 hour days for those three weeks, and so I dropped the ball on the blog. Know that I intend to pick up the ball. And I only have ONE MORE WEEK TO DO SO! Because while I was gone, Erin and Michael finished hiking through Oregon, passed Mt. Rainier, and are headed straight on to Canada! They should by done by September 3rd!!!

I am working on something special to commemorate this incredible accomplishment, but in the meantime, here's an update from Erin:

Hi Sisterfriend, 

We love you! Michael and I have spent that last day hanging with the parents, eating delicious french toast and cleaning some of the dirt off of our bodies. It has been a nice break but as always, we are getting a bit ansy to get back out to the trail. We just calculated how much longer we have and it will take us 12 days to get to the Canadian border. 12 DAYS! Wow. 

How was Mexico? And the rest of your summer? I want to hear all about it. But I suppose I might have to wait until after I finish walking. 

Here are some pictures of Michael and I walking through Washington. The bridge that we are crossing in one of the photos is the infamous "Bridge of the Gods" which goes from Cascade Locks into Washington state . The mountainous pictures are from Goat Rocks Wilderness outside of White Pass, WA. Goat Rocks is one of my favorite parts thus far. 

We were constantly being bombarded by fields of wildflowers, deliciously cold water from springs and waterfalls, and expansive alpine wilderness. Mt Ranier kept poking it's head out, and Mt Adams and St Helens kept appearing off in the distance from where we'd just walked. It was neat. 

We plan to finish on Sept 3rd and are meeting the parents up in Manning Park Canada. WAHOO! In between here are there are 266 miles through Alpine Lakes Wilderness, Glacier Peak Wilderness, the town of Stehekin, and North Cascades National Park. One of our friends reminded us last night that 266 miles is 10% of the whole journey. We might actually pull this thing off. Crazy. 

Love you lots,
Erin (and Michael)

 Longlegs and Jorge/George

 Mt. Rainier in the background

 You can do it, George!

 "What I Did on my Summer Vacation"

They're so close, guys. SO CLOSE. Then on September 3, they will reenter the wnPCT (world-not-PCT), move in with their best buddies, and begin seeking work. So, wnPCT, who wants to hire some strapping young people?

With the end of our blogging relationship rapidly approaching, dear reader, I begin to feel nostalgic for our time together.

Fondly,
Megan

A Letter from John-Henry

Dearest readers,

I have been somewhat lax in my social media intern duties. I blame the end of a tough teaching artist residency, a performance last weekend, several big projects at my several jobs, and an enormous puppet Statue of Liberty. Mostly good things. But I still needed some time to work on this blog entry.

Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, the People's Puppets, and Kolot Chayeinu celebrate Mother's Day and May Day (photo by Marjorie Dove)

First, the facts as I understand them. When I talked to Michael last weekend, he was about 560 miles into his little walk. He took an afternoon off to watch The Great Gatsby, playing now in theaters near you, which he recommends highly. He and his buddy John-Henry had a lovely time hiking together before John-Henry had to go back to the World that is Not PCT (wnPCT for short). While on the trail, John-Henry wrote me a delightful letter that reminded me that Whitman College either attracts good people or turns them into good ones (or possibly both).

Here is what John-Henry tells me. Apparently among through-hikers and the communities that love them, donning surnames such as Longlegs or Beef is kind of par for the course. J-H describes the hiking community as a friendly if somewhat liberally-monikered crew:

It's about 1:00 at a picnic table outside the Big Bear Lake Hostel, where we have just passed an exuberant 24ish hours. The hostel is commanded, seriously, by Sarge (not sir), an ex-marine gunnery sergeant   [...] with a penchant for Jameson and telling war stories to crustily be-blistered hikers. We piled into town yesterday via Michael and I's first American hitchhike experiences, along with a bunch of new friends from the trail. Since Michael skipped a few days for the kick off, he's had to meet a whole new cadre of hikers. This batch includes Moonshadow and Firedrill (newly nicknamed this morning after his alarm went off 5 separate times in our dorm room waking everybody but himself), a pair of cousins hiking to raise money for mental illness; Yazzi, who is videotaping everything and appears to be a veteran of no small number if LSD trips; Argentina, a self described weirdo, with a striking bowl cut, on his 8th PCT trip; Astrid and Ister, two quite beautiful British girls (at first I liked the blonde one and Michael liked the one with the black hair, but we have since switched) who we have spent quite a lot if time talking to without actually managing to understand very much; "the Ashland boys," who in my experience are either drunk and happy, or sober and not at all happy; and Sky Eyes [...]

John-Henry goes on to describe his experience of hiking with Michael on the PCT. I decided there was really only one way to do his narrative justice. (See brilliant artwork below.) A caveat first, for John-Henry: J-H (with one h, if abbreviated thusly), as you know, I am pretty sure we have never met. I could not find you on my Facebook mobile app. So I googled "John-henry whitman college," and this was my first hit:

If that's not you but is instead some other Whitman College John-Henry, I do apologize. You will have to imagine that claymation J-H (still only one h) looks more like you.

Love

Megan

Ps. Next weekend I am going to go find Michael on the trail as part of a vacation to Yosemite! Will I recognize him under all his body hair? Will he be at the general store at the appointed hour? Tune in next week to find out.