More Papers, More Books, and BOSS

It was hard getting work done during the holidays, but I have made a few advances nonetheless. As per the title, a few more papers have agreed to print my Texas Perimeter Hike column, I have read or started a few more books, and finally, I have submitted my name for an outdoor survival school scholarship.

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I am pleased to announce that my hometown newspaper the Corpus Christi Caller-Times has agreed to run my future column. In a bizarre twist, my contact person is Cynthia Wilson, formerly Cynthia Arbuckle, of W.B. Ray High School fame. She didn’t reveal her secret identity until the end of our first phone conversation, but I had suspected that it was her all along. In addition, I have garnered the support of the Clifton Record. To both of these papers, I thank you for your support and willingness to take a chance on me and this project.

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I have also been doing some reading, both historical and fictional, going back in time to get a feeling for what once was in the different regions of Texas. I recently finished The Captured by Scott Zesch which details the lives of abducted child settlers by Native Americans, mainly the Apache and Comanche peoples. The author’s distant uncle Adolph Korn, himself an abductee, inspired the research into what these captured children endured and the times in which they lived. Because of the perimeter hike, I became especially interested in the landscape of the Panhandle, a favorite meeting ground of the evasive warrior-nomads. The perimeter also passes within fifty miles of the farm of Dot and Banc Babb, two of the children featured in Zesch’s research. A fascinating and lively book, The Captured will have you longing for those fearsome times, which, truth be told, took place not so long ago.

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I have also started both Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (why, oh why, have I waited so long?) and Lone Star Nation by H.W. Brands. I am only a few pages into Lonesome Dove, but it promises to be an epic journey after my own heart. With an eye on the perimeter, I hope to rediscover the cattle trail “used” by Augustus McCrae. Lone Star Nation on the other hand is addressing Texas history with a wonderfully entertaining style. Brands’s facts are every bit as engaging as McMurtry’s fiction, illuminating and spotlighting our Texas forebears and the clash of cultures that took place leading up to the forming of the republic and, ultimately, the state.

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Lastly, I have added a new element to an already heaping project. I have applied for the David Buschow Memorial Scholarship to attend a Boulder Outdoor Survival School Field Course. The BOSS staff trains participants to survive in the Utah desert. The course is intended to be rigorous, mentally as well as physically challenging. It lasts twenty-eight days, and by the end, participants are expected to have a fundamental grasp of how to survive in the middle of nowhere. Water location, campsite location, and fire making are part of it, but the tougher part, working through “the wall” of your fatigue, hiking fifteen to thirty miles with little food and water, and figuring out just how to make things work, either makes or breaks its participants.

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I’ll hear back from BOSS toward the end of February. In the meantime, I’ve trying to improve my physical health. One of the things BOSS grades you on before starting is the Cooper 1.5-Mile Running Test. After a few trials, I have fallen comfortably within the “Good” range for 30 to 39 year olds. (I can’t believe I’m in the 30 to 39 bracket!) I’m also doing push-ups, crunches, sit-ups, and stretching, as well as jumping rope and hiking. The exercise feels good.

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There is much that remains to be done, and I will continue to update periodically to let you know where I am. For the moment, that’s all from the preparatory side of the Texas Perimeter Hike.

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Until next time, travelers… stay tuned.

This is NOT Texas!

As the title might have clued you in, none of these shots are of Texas. They are of Montana where my partner Annie and I are currently living. There has been snow on the ground for many weeks, and while the temperature has gotten above 40 degrees this week, I am still stinging from the negatives a few weeks back.















Lately, I have been taking photos on a regular basis in an effort to improve my photography. I was speaking with the Travel Editor of the San Antonio Express-News and the Houston Chronicle about running my column, and the editor made it clear to me that my photography had to be as good if not better than my writing. She explained to me that many writers don't have good photos to back up their written work. As I am an amateur photographer, I have become serious about getting better at this visual art form.


























Based on her suggestions, I started checking out books about photography, learning about composition, lighting, how to get what you want from a photo, how to focus on a subject, lines, and a host of other qualities of good photography. It's overwhelming, but luckily, I quickly discovered P, which is automatically finding available light for decent shots. So I am focusing on composition and balance in my work. What you see before you are some of my first conscientious attempts at real photography.




























All of these shots are from hikes into the mountains surrounding Helena, Montana. Trees are abundant in my frames, but I'm also trying to focus on other objects and the depth these images can create.

Several of these shots were taken in relatively shallow snow, perhaps a few inches, but the one with the long fence was taken in a couple of feet of snow! Annie and I have usually gone out together on these photo outings. She has been patient and supportive of this fervent desire to get better at photography, going so far as to hike miles and mountains, all the while stopping several times for shots, sometimes in the space of a few yards. If you think it's been easy for her, then take a look at this next photo. She had to go for grumpy- old-man chic to withstand the temperature, but at least she looks like she's having a good time. The blurs in the photo are falling snowflakes, and the trees in the background really did look like that because of our limited visibility. This shot was taken on January 1, 2009. It's hard to imagine a nicer way to spend the first day of the new year.

Until next time, adventurers, stay warm, stay happy, and stay tuned.

Phones Calls, Emails, and General Preparation

Since my first entry, I have made several advances into this project, though none yet measured in footsteps.

I have contacted or attempted to contact every major newspaper in Texas, every newspaper along or near the perimeter, and all the Texas newspapers that start with letters A through G (and some of H). I have also contacted several outdoor companies and one GPS company asking for sponsorship. The final tally goes something like this: a few letters, a few mass-emails to over 500 recipients, dozens of personal emails, and over 150 phone calls to editors. There is still much more to do, and in the inevitable haze of fatigue, I often wish for a secretary and staff.

I have reaped some rewards. I have had the pleasure of talking to many of Texas's overworked, understaffed, under-budgeted editors. Many have been enthusiastic, and a few have given valuable feedback and ideas. After plowing through several dozen rejections, I have happily secured the verbal or written commitment of the following twelve newspapers: the Beaumont Enterprise, the Burnet Bulletin, the Calvert Tribune, the Eden Echo, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Franklin Advocate, the Hearne Democrat, the Llano County Journal, the Port Arthur News, The Highlander, the Victoria Advocate, and the White Oak Independent. I owe much of my ability to persevere through the administrative part of this trek to the editors who are supporting me. A million thanks to them.

Besides the business side of things, I have been reading a variety of stories, on-line articles, and books. The internet offers an endless stream of information for the seasoned searcher, but what I've found recently I have stumbled upon inadvertently. I have been reading NPR's series on the USA-Mexico border, an Outside magazine post on finding water in the desert, and a National Parks article on Mexican nature conservation across from Big Bend National Park. They are all very different stories but all very helpful, especially to a city person like myself. I've been reading a few books as well, mainly Goodbye to a River, John Graves's historical exploration of the central Texas region and personal account of traveling several hundred miles along the Brazos River before it got dammed up, but also a kids' book called Watching Desert Wildlife by Jim Arnosky. Both have got me excited and nervous, building up the challenge in my mind but also drawing a realistic portrait.

I consider all of it preparation, as information will be scant in the middle of the desert. Mild doubts plague me the more I learn, though nothing has deterred me from my current path. I can think of a few solutions for every concern, and I can only hope that they work. My brother Charlie has suggested I hike various sections around the perimeter before starting, and it's a good idea. But a part of me believes I'll learn whatever I need to on the way, if I haven't learned it already.

It's a project that surprises people, and through their reactions, I'm able to gauge just how nutty people think it is. I can't say I blame them. There are days when I'm in their camp. I wonder what the first few steps will feel like, the Texas horizon introducing itself. I wonder about getting attacked by animals during the day, at night, when I'm not looking, and so on. I wonder about the quicksand along the Red River, if it's still out there, and I wonder what I'll do if I see a bear in Big Bend. I imagine that similar thoughts are occuring to my bewildered audience, and it serves me well to investigate their thoughts and fears. I appreciate their honesty because, the way I see it, it improves my chances.

Until next time...

On Starting and Strength

I conceived of hiking the perimeter of Texas in 2003. At the time, I was hiking along the 2200-mile Appalachian Trail, and it's a well-known fact that hikers enjoying themselves on one trail tend to start dreaming about hiking every trail known to man, especially long ones. My mind drifted toward the longer Pacific Crest Trail, the even longer less-developed Continental Divide Trail, the John Muir Trail, el Camino de Santiago in Spain, and so on and so forth. As I had nothing to do but walk and dream, it was an exciting time of prospects.

Since I was born and raised in Corpus Christi, I eventually settled upon walking along the edge of Texas. This seemed big enough, hot enough, and just crazy enough for a Texan. I decided that I would start and stop in my hometown Corpus, which is the city featured in the above photograph (taken by Annie Mascorro, my partner, and used with her reluctant permission). As I walked along the A.T., I knew for sure that I had stumbled upon something special in the contours of my mind.

Unfortunately, my reality was altogether incompatible with my dream. After having hiked for six and a half months and my partner Annie having hiked for three of them, we were not in a position to spend more money to support me just moving my legs. I took up some casual jobs in Texas and Montana, and in a wonderful twist, I started writing a column for the local paper in Missoula. I stopped thinking about the perimeter of Texas and instead concentrated on real world concerns like rent and food. Annie did the same, also squeezing a Master's degree out of our new arrangement.

Then we dropped everything and moved to Africa. We bought one-way tickets and didn't doubt ourselves. Within a few months, we were renting a home in Kankan, Guinea, hanging out with locals, spending our savings, and wondering what in the world we were doing with our lives. There's really nothing like being in an African village without a project to get your priorities straight. It's basically like summertime when we were kids, only without the obliviousness. Out of desperation, Annie and I started having daily talks about what to do with our lives, how to do it, why do it, when, where, everything. That's when the Texas hike came back into the picture.

We came home about nine months after we had told everyone that we were moving to Africa. Rashness works both ways, as this time our families were happy to have us back. Furthermore, we brought with us a steady determination. Annie started taking courses for a nursing degree, and I started planning my perimeter hike.

I wrote my original query letter to a list of twenty-seven newspapers along the perimeter of Texas. I wrote it in June of 2008. I measured the perimeter of Texas on a road map, calculating about 2500 miles with about 500 miles of error (This is not without reason. The coast, for example, is not straight, but I measured it as such. What I measured as 100 miles could very well be 125 or 150 depending on the irregularities of it. The mountains in the west will also add many miles to my initial base calculation.). I dreamed the idea into something fierce, got excited, but in the end, didn't do anything. I had so easily lost my sense of purpose.

This was not without some help from my friends and family. Had Ernest Shackleton received the amount of resistance I did for his idea of reaching the South Pole, he may have simply given up his life on the waters altogether. So I listened to the feedback, some of it quiet and withdrawn, and sat on my letter for a week. A week then turned into a month. A month turned into three. I picked up another menial job and was starting the same pattern as before.

Then something snapped. I got sick of sitting on the idea. In many ways, it is a life-extinguishing practice, trying not to live out a dream. So on October 5th, 2008, I sent out a mass email to the twenty-seven newspapers that I had found on or near the perimeter of Texas. And I waited.

Chris Cobler, the editor of the Victoria Advocate, wrote first. He was excited about the idea. We exchanged emails, me asking questions, Chris answering them, but the first real hurdle had been passed. My blood was flowing, and my head was clear again. I am grateful to Chris for his contribution of support without which I may not have had the strength to continue.

I am currently in negotiations with several newspapers across the state. This adventure will happen. It will be exciting. It will be hot.

Stay tuned.